With eight of the top ten investment managers in Australia now signed on to the UN Principles for Responsible Investment, it would be fair to say that responsible investment has become mainstream. So what is responsible investment and why is such a large proportion of the investment market self-declared responsible investors?

At its most basic, responsible investment represents a commitment to looking at a broader array of risks and value drivers in investment decision-making than purely financial risk in acknowledgement that investment value is driven by many issues that are off balance sheet.

This includes company culture and management, brand value, good governance and corporate ethics, quality control, pollution control, carbon emissions, occupational health and safety, good human resources practices, stakeholder management and more.

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