Though little time has passed since the closing of 2006, I am just now beginning to reflect on the meaningful and powerful events came to pass during the year. My personal life was certainly packed to the brim with amazing milestones and events including my first full year as a father, an eye-opening trip to China and then another one from one coast of the US to the other, and the completion of my MBA studies.

2006 proved also to be an important year for many of the issues I follow, including the socially responsible investing (SRI) movement. At a time when the public’s knowledge of SRI and related issues such as business ethics, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and renewed concern in corporate governance, seem to be rapidly increasing, so too has its level of related cynicism.

While much progress has been made in bringing greater focus on such issues in the business world and society at large, those critical of the merits of each issue seem to find ample evidence of companies touting their new CSR or ethics programs, yet not practicing what they preach. Nonetheless, along with the inevitable negativity (justifiable and not) comes a host of notable examples of these initiatives actually creating positive change in society.

Social Funds compiled a list of the top five SRI stories of 2006, and all are well worth reviewing. My top pick would be split between the United Nation’s launch of the UN Principles of Responsible Investment (which I blogged about here and here), and Muhammad Yunus being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

TAGS: SRI | Socially Responsible Investing | CSR | Ethics

This entry was posted on Friday, January 12th, 2007 at 12:33 am and is filed under Business Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility, Socially Responsible Investing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.