1983 and 1984

Setup of Ethical Investment Research Service (EIRIS, 2003b)

Launch of the Friends Provident Stewardship Fund (Shepherd, 2001)

1991

Formation of UKSIF, which brought together key figures across the full range of ethical and socially responsible investment to cooperate in sharing knowledge and advancing the SRI agenda (Shepherd, 2001)

1993

The Goode Committee on Pension Law Reform highlighted the legality of ethical investment for pension funds and declared that trustees are “perfectly entitled to have a policy on ethical investment and to pursue that policy, so long as they treat the interests of the beneficiaries as paramount and the investment policy is consistent with the standards of care and prudence required by law” (Mansley, 2000: 14)

1998

All-Party Parliamentary Group on SRI set up with secretariat provided by UKSIF. Tony Coleman chairs the group (UKSIF website)

A group of university lecturers launches the “Ethics for USS” campaign to promote SRI as a viable investment strategy for their pension fund (USS) (Eurosif, 2003)

17% of shareholders vote in favour of a resolution at Shell’s AGM regarding its social and environment policy—engagement becomes a key trend within U.K. SRI (Eurosif, 2003)

1998

John Denham, the then Pensions Minister, announces proposals for amending the 1995 Pension Act, the SRI Pensions Disclosure Regulation, at UKSIF’s annual lecture in July (Eurosif, 2003)

UKSIF responds to the Treasury’s “Financial Services and Market Bill Consultation” document and argues that “trustees should incorporate certain environmental consideration as part of their financial considerations.” Advocates that regulated persons be required to “ask consumers whether they have any ethical, social or environmental concerns which they wish to have taken into account in financial advice which they receive” (Waygood, 2004)

1999

Stephen Timms introduces the requirement to Parliament

War on Want (U.K. anti-poverty NGO) launches “Invest in Freedom Campaign” aimed at union members, requesting support for the promotion of engagement with their occupational pension fund. The report “does not advocate disinvestments in those companies that have violated workers rights. Rather, we encourage and organise pension fund holders and their trustees to use their combined financial might to pressure companies to (establish and implement) a code of conduct enshrining ILO Core Labour Standards” (Waygood, 2004)

2000

The enactment of the SRI Pension Disclosure Regulation, under the 1995 Pensions Act, comes into effect on July 3, requiring occupational pension funds to disclose the extent (if at all) to which they take SEE issues into account (Eurosif, 2003)

A consortium “Just Pensions” is established in February by development charities War on Want and Traidcraft. The aim was to produce guidance material for pension fund trustees, pension fund managers and pension fund advisers on development-related issues and their links with investment and to communicate this guidance to the investment community. The consortium has been taken over by UKSIF (Waygood, 2004)

USS published its first SRI report (Eurosif, 2003)

2000

UKSIF survey in October finds that 59% of the largest pension funds, representing over £230 billion in assets, have incorporated SEE issues in their SIPs (Mathieu, 2000)

Various fund managers—ISIS (previously Friends Ivory & Sime), AMP/NPI/Henderson, Aviva/Morley, the Co-operative Insurance Society (CIS), Insight Investment, Jupiter and Standard Life—adopted SRI engagement overlays (Eurosif, 2003)

Dutch union FNV calls for pension funds to draw up investment codes (Eurosif, 2003)

2001

The Myners Review of Institutional Investment in the U.K. advocated shareholder activism across a broad range of issues (Blake, 2003)

Launch of social index—FTSE4GOOD family of social indices—to enable investors to compare social and environmental performance of companies (Eurosif, 2003)

The Association of British Insurers publishes new guidelines asking companies to report on material SEE issues relevant to their business activities (Eurosif, 2003)

Similar regulations follow in Belgium and France. European Union steps into CSR strategy (Eurosif, 2003)

2002

Over 250 MPs sign an early-day motion urging the government to enshrine policies in company law to ensure that companies disclose information on the SEE impacts of their business (Eurosif, 2003)

The Cabinet office publishes its Review of Charities Law ‘Private Action, Public Benefit’; which proposes similar regulation for U.K. charities with income of more than £1 million. (UKSIF website)

Institutional Shareholders Committee (ISC) issues new statements of principles for investors, which include monitoring the performance of and establishing a regular dialogue with investee companies; evaluating the impact of investor activism; and reporting back to clients/beneficial owners (ISC, 2002)

Germany adopts regulation for private pension funds (Eurosif, 2003)

2003

The Home Office accepts the recommendations made in Review of Charity Law, stating that the government’s review of the effectiveness of legislation requiring pension funds to disclose their SRI policies will inform the framing of the equivalent provision for charities (UKSIF website)

The Department of Trade and Industry’s Operating and Financial Review Working Group on Materiality publishes its consultation document, which recommends that company directors use an auditable process to determine which social and environmental issues are material to the business and should be reported (DTI, 2003)