Ethisch investeren. Aarzelend tussen groei en kwaliteit

Volgens bepaalde schattingen wordt in de VS ongeveer één dollar op acht ethisch geïnvesteerd. In Europa bereiken we zelfs niet 1%. Dit verschil heeft te maken met een strengere invulling van de notie ‘ethische investering’ in Europa en de relatieve afwezigheid van de institutionele belegger in de Europese context. Stilaan komt hier echter verandering in, de markt voor ethische investeringen groeit en ook de grote spelers lanceren ethische fondsen of ethische indexen. Dit gaat echter gepaard met een relatieve uitholling van het concept en een gebrekkige transparantie met betrekking tot de onderzoeksmethodologie die gehanteerd wordt om ethische van niet ethische investeringen te onderscheiden. De Europese markt staat op dit moment voor een dilemma tussen groei naar Amerikaans model of vasthouden aan strenge selectiecriteria en het risico lopen immer marginaal te blijven.

Does Government Performance Influence Public Trust? The Case of Sustainable Development Goals Policies at Local Level

In the recent past, governments have faced a number of crises (i.e. climate change, economic crisis, COVID-19, Russia-Ukraine conflict) that affect their overall performance. Crises directly impact citizens as they yield increased unemployment and debt crisis, lead to global warming, spark high inflation, and raise the cost of living. These issues which normally mirror the way governments perform, seem to have an impact on public trust. It remains unclear how and to what extent performance influences public trust. In addition, there has been difficulty identifying accurate ways to measure performance in the public sector, especially at the local level. Using data from IDEA Consult and Gemeente-en stadsmonitor (GSM), we propose to use Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a holistic way of measuring performance and show how this performance determines public trust. Results reveal that the performance in specific SDGs (such as SDG6, SDG7, and SDG9) positively influences public trust, suggesting that government performance in some areas may be more influential in shaping public trust than others. SDG16 has the strongest statistically significant impact on public trust

CSR in Belgium: the institutional context and practices

Corporate Social Responsibility is a quite recent concept in Belgium which has gained significant momentum since 1995. In May 1997, Belgium set up a legal framework for sustainable development. In April 2006, the government adopted a Reference Framework for CSR followed in 2007 by the CSR action plan. Next to governmental initiatives, the number of actors and platforms involved in CSR has significantly increased leading to the multiplication of CSR initiatives. However, it would be overoptimistic to state that CSR is a well and equally established concept and a set of practices among all Belgian companies. Indeed, CSR in Belgium offers great disparities and diversities. Based on multiple sources of information, the paper provides a descriptive and narrative view on CSR in Belgium, gradually leading towards reflection by the end of the paper. After a brief overview of the context for corporate social responsibility in Belgium, the paper investigates the different components that have been shaping CSR since the 1970s. Subsequently it zooms in to the CSR practices in Belgian companies. Finally, conclusions are drawn on the progress made in Belgium in the area of corporate social responsibility and the future prospects

Investing in Sustainable Development Goals: Opportunities for Private and Public Institutions to Solve Wicked Problems that Characterize a VUCA World

We live in a world full of global challenges, such as global warming, the COVID-19 pandemic, and only recently the Russia-Ukraine crisis, all of which confirm that we live in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world. Most of these challenges are considered to be wicked problems. For many decades, wicked problems have been viewed as difficult, even impossible to solve. This chapter examines how institutions can navigate the VUCA world through investing in SDG so as to solve wicked problems. The chapter argues that adopting socially responsible investment as a strategy allows both private and public organizations to improve economic, social, and environmental performance; and is a fine way of investing in SDG, which could be a long-term solution to wicked problems. Using a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), the chapter examines the relationship between SDG investment and climate change solutions at the local level. Results show a significant effect of investment in SDGs on a solution to wicked problems like climate change. The chapter concludes that the difficulty or impossibility of solving global challenges is likely to be caused by a lack of investment in the SDGs

Families - A Summary of the Situation in Europe Today

Information brochure No. 1 on the state of knowledge on contemporary family life in Europe and key issues for policy and researc

Soils of the European Union

This report make a detailed summary of the soil resources of the EU. Contents: Acknowledgements 2 1. Introduction 3 2. Materials and methods 4 2.1 Soil Geographical Database of Eurasia at scale 1:1,000,000 (SGDBE) 4 2.2 Nomenclature of soil types 6 2.3 Map legend and representation 6 3. Soils of the European Union: an overview 8 4. Spatial distribution of the major soils in the European Union 11 4.1 Acrisols 11 4.2 Albeluvisols 13 4.3 Andosols 15 4.4 Anthrosols 17 4.5 Arenosols 19 4.6 Calcisols 21 4.7 Cambisols 23 4.8 Chernozems 25 4.9 Fluvisols 27 4.10 Gleysols 29 4.11 Gypsisols 31 4.12 Histosols 33 4.13 Kastanozems 35 4.14 Leptosols 37 4.15 Luvisols 39 4.16 Phaeozems 41 4.17 Planosol 43 4.18 Podzols 45 4.19 Regosols 47 4.20 Solonchaks 49 4.21 Solonetz 51 4.22 Umbrisols 53 4.23 Vertisols 55 5. Concluding remarks 57 References 58 Appendix 1. 59 Appendix 2. 62JRC.H.7-Land management and natural hazard