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Corporate Social Responsibility
News
1.12.2005 ET
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Calvert Publishes Sustainability Report
Socially Responsible Mutual Fund Firm Links GRI Guidelines to its Own Social and Environmental Criteria
(CSRwire) BETHESDA, MD - Calvert, the nation's largest family of socially
responsible mutual funds, today published its first Sustainability Report
using Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines. The 50-page report
detailing Calvert's economic, social and environmental performance is
available on the firm's website (www.calvert.com).
"For years, Calvert has advocated greater disclosure and transparency
on the part of the companies we invest in. We believe social and
environmental disclosure is not only relevant but highly material to
investors," says Barbara J. Krumsiek, President and CEO of Calvert.
"We therefore felt it was important to report to Calvert's
shareholders and other stakeholders on how we are discharging our own
social and environmental responsibilities."
Calvert's Sustainability Report follows reporting guidelines developed by
the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), an independent institution whose
mission is to develop uniform Sustainability Reporting Guidelines for
voluntary use by corporations and other organizations reporting on their
economic, environmental, and social performance. Calvert is the first
US-based socially responsible mutual fund firm and one of only a small
number of US-based financial services companies to publish a
Sustainability Report following the Guidelines. (A list of organizations
reporting under the GRI Guidelines is available at www.globalreporting.org.)
The Calvert Sustainability Report attempts to integrate the GRI Guidelines
with the company's own social and environmental criteria, which it uses in
researching corporate performance for its own portfolio selection
purposes. The report focuses on Calvert's performance in seven issue
areas: (1) corporate governance and business ethics; (2) workplace issues;
(3) environment; (4) product safety and impact; (5) international
operations and human rights; (6) Indigenous Peoples' rights; and (7)
community relations. These correspond to the seven issue areas that
Calvert researches when analyzing corporate performance for its own mutual
fund portfolios. The Calvert Sustainability Report constitutes the
company's first systematic attempt to use those screens in assessing its
own social and environmental performance.
"As so much of our business involves assessing the social and
environmental performance of others, it was a natural progression for
Calvert to turn the mirror on ourselves," says Ms. Krumsiek. "We
hope it enables our shareholders, clients and other stakeholders to learn
more about how we conduct our business and how we measure our progress
towards corporate social responsibility and sustainability. We also hope
that it encourages other companies - in our sector and beyond - to rise to
the challenge of transparency and sustainability reporting."
Calvert is one of the nation's largest socially responsible mutual fund
firms with approximately $10 billion in total assets under management.
Best known for its family of socially responsible mutual funds, Calvert
offers twenty-nine portfolios that allow individual and institutional
investors to pursue a broad range of investment objectives within a single
fund family. Calvert launched the Calvert Social Index, a benchmark
for measuring the performance of large, U.S.-based socially responsible
companies. Calvert also has an extensive lineup of tax-free and taxable
fixed income investments.
For more information on any Calvert fund, please contact Calvert at
800.368.2748 for a free prospectus. An investor should consider the
investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses of an investment
carefully before investing. The prospectus contains this and other
information. Read it carefully before you invest or send money.
Calvert mutual funds are underwritten and distributed by Calvert
Distributors Inc., member NASD, a subsidiary of Calvert Group. (12/04,
5314)
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