Cover of the "EuroCharity Yearbook: The Future of Responsible Investing"

The 164-page "EuroCharity Yearbook 2010: The Future of Responsible Investing" has just been released and was presented to the international press, business leaders and members of EuroCharity at the 4th CSR Conference in Nicosia on Friday, July 1, 2011 and at the Old Athens Stock Exchange Hall in Athens on Tuesday, July 5, 2011.

Packed with tables, graphs, figures, facts, stats, keynote remarks, expert articles, quotes and corporate presentations, EuroCharity's new album aims at informing key stakeholders from around the world on the latest trends, research, indices, best practices, case studies, intelligence and viewpoints related to this important theme.

A total of 31 guest authors from the U.S.A., Canada, U.K., The Netherlands, France, Italy, Greece, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, South Africa, Australia, Bangladesh and other countries participated in the 4th EuroCharity Yearbook. These top experts have shared their views and expertise on a broad range of subjects, including how sustainability can uncover mispriced investment opportunities, sustainable finance, Rio+20 and financing the transition to a Green Economy, the Principles for Responsible Investment, moving to a low-carbon economy in 2050, corporate climate change disclosure, microfinance, the importance of environmental metrics, how pension funds can save the climate (and themselves), Canadian, U.S., European, Australasian and global SRI trends, ESG factors in investment decision-making, investing in social business, working towards a new and healthy relationship between finance and the economy, integrated reporting, and many more.

Statistics have been used from leading organisations and information providers such as UNEP Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), the Danish Ministry for Economic and Business Affairs, the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), UN Global Compact, Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA), European Sustainable Investment Forum (Eurosif), US SIF (The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment, formerly Social Investment Forum), Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), EIRIS (Experts in Responsible Investment Solutions), Bloomberg, FTSE Group, MSCI Inc., World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), and others.

NICOSIA PRESENTATION

The world premiere event of the 4th EuroCharity Yearbook launch took place at the Hilton Park Hotel in Nicosia, where Mr. Michael Spanos, Managing Partner, EuroCharity, presented this new album to a distinguished audience of business leaders, bankers, corporate responsibility and sustainability practitioners and press representatives. H.E. Mr. Charalampos Theopemptou, the Cyprus Environment Commissioner, and Mr. Peter Michel Heilmann, President, EuroCharity, also attended the conference and presentation, which was organised by IMH Ltd.

ATHENS PRESENTATION

During a warm summer evening, the second presentation of the new EuroCharity Yearbook took place in central Athens yesterday, where Mr. Peter Michel Heilmann and Mr. Michael Spanos opened the event. Mr. Tom NØrring, Ambassador of Denmark in Greece, also known as the "Green Ambassador" in Athens, delivered a speech, which was followed by Mrs. Anne Odgaard Grønbjerg, Managing Director, Maersk Hellas S.A. in Greece, Bulgaria and Cyprus. She presented Maersk Line's new sustainable Tripe-E vessel, which will set a new standard for sustainable ship building and recycling by introducing the most comprehensive material documentation system the shipping industry has ever seen. A profile of Maersk Line entitled "Maersk Line: Why it makes sense to highlight the issues" that focuses on "creating a ripple effect on sustainability in the container shipping industry" can be found in the EuroCharity Yearbook on pages 132-135.

The Maersk PowerPoint presentation and Tripe-E video was followed by a special video message by Prof. Jacqueline McGlade, Executive Director, European Environment Agency (EEA), who was one of the contributors of the EuroCharity Yearbook (her keynote remark can be found on pages 26-27). Prof. McGlade's message can be viewed on YouTube at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jENJL_e0BfY.

Following this video, Mr. Spanos moderated an interactive panel discussion consisting of three of the 31 guest authors of the EuroCharity Yearbook: Prof. Christos Alexakis, CEO, Invest in Greece S.A.; Dr. Panayiotis Papanikolas, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, GEFYRA S.A. and Development Director, South-East Europe, VINCI Concessions; and Mr. Dimitris Micharikopoulos, Co-founder and Senior Partner, Institute of Social Innovation.

Mrs. Sofia Bekatorou, double Olympic medallist who served as member of the recently-held Special Olympics World Summer Games ATHENS 2011 Organising Committee, was among the delegates of the Athens book launch event, which came to a successful close with a networking cocktail reception.

LONDON PRESENTATION

The "EuroCharity Yearbook 2010: The Future of Responsible Investing" will also be presented to the financial community, international media and numerous other key stakeholders in London in the fall. An announcement on the precise date and venue will be made in due course.

SUSTAINABILITY IN BUSINESS

A total of 16 corporations have been profiled in the "EuroCharity Yearbook 2010: The Future of Responsible Investing". The sustainability-driven firms that have been showcased in the album are as follows (in alphabetical order):

• AB Vassilopoulos (Delhaize Group) - "Nutritious, healthy, safe and affordable! We deliver the best for life!"
• ATHENIAN BREWERY - "Athenian Brewery's three-year plan to become the Greenest Brewer in Greece"
• COSMOTE Mobile Telecommunications S.A. - "How can we operate without harming the environment"
• DIVERSEY - "The future of responsible cleaning"
• FIAT - "Investing in the future of responsible mobility"
• GEFYRA S.A. - "The Rio - Antirio Bridge: Investing in the citizens"
• GENESIS Pharma - "A pharmaceutical company with corporate social responsibility in its heart"
• HALYPS CEMENT (ITALCEMENTI GROUP) - "Sustainable development as a key driver of environmental and social value"
• HELLENIC PETROLEUM - "Energy for life"
• HELLENIC TELECOMMUNICATIONS ORGANIZATION S.A. (OTE) - "For OTE, responsible business means building ties in the marketplace, in society, with employees and the environment"
• INTERAMERICAN S.A. - "On the right track to sustainability"
• JT INTERNATIONAL (JTI) - "Making a positive difference through effective partnerships"
• MAERSK LINE - "Why it makes sense to highlight the issues"
• MYTILINEOS GROUP - "Investing in sustainability"
• TT HELLENIC POSTBANK - "Little, everyday moves can make the big difference"

DISTINGUISHED GUEST AUTHORS

The full line-up of guest authors that contributed to the 4th EuroCharity Yearbook is as follows:

Keynote remarks

• United Nations (Dr. Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General; UNEP Executive Director; Chair, UN Environment Management Group (EMG)) - "Rio+20 and financing the transition to a Green Economy"
• UNEP Finance Initiative (Mr. Paul Clements-Hunt, Head) - "Sustainable finance: The future of doing business in complex, competitive global financial markets"
• Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) (Dr. James Gifford, Executive Director) - "Principles for Responsible Investment"
• European Commission for Climate Action (Mrs. Connie Hedegaard, Commissioner) - "Roadmap for moving to a low-carbon economy in 2050"
• Danish Ministry for Climate and Energy (Dr. Lykke Friis, Minister) - "Why investments required to achieve independence from fossil fuels are reasonable and well-spent"
• European Environment Agency (EEA) (Prof. Jacqueline McGlade, Executive Director) - "Information and data for greening Europe's economy"

Membership associations & foundations

• European Sustainable Investment Forum (Eurosif) (Mr. Giuseppe van der Helm, President; Director, Dutch Association of Investors for Sustainable Development (VBDO)) - "European SRI market doubles in spite of financial crisis"
• US SIF (Ms. Lisa Woll, CEO) - "SRI trends in the United States"
• Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA) (Ms. Louise O'Halloran, Executive Director) - "RI Academy: Shaping the future of responsible investment"
• Social Investment Organization (SIO) (Mr. Eugene Ellmen, Executive Director) - "Canadian SRI shows resilience in the face of financial turbulence"
• Bellona Foundation (Mr. Frederic Hauge, Founder and President) - "How pension funds can save the climate - and themselves"
• Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) (Mr. Paul Dickinson, Executive Chairman) - "Corporate climate change disclosure and responsible investing"
• European Federation of Ethical and Alternative Banks and Financiers (FEBEA) (Mr. Fabio Salviato, President) - "The future of responsible investing lies in ethical finance"
• Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) (Prof. Mervyn E. King S.C., Chairman) - "Responsible investing is no longer at the sidelines"
• Stichting Microkrediet Nederland (Qredits) (Mr. Elwin Groenevelt, Managing Director) - "A responsible way of microfinance in Western Europe"
• Sustainable Business Institute (SBI) (Mrs. Jessica H. Fullmer, founder and CEO) - "Socially responsible investing for a lighter footprint"
• WWF International (Ms. Yolanda Kakabadse, President) - "Governments must look at global financing sources to build a low-carbon world"

Intelligence & research

• Bloomberg L.P. (Mr. Curtis Ravenel, Global Head, Sustainability Group) - "The importance of environmental metrics"
• FTSE Group (Mr. David Harris, Director of Responsible Investment) - "Moving to the centre: ESG factors in investment decision-making"
• Initiative for Responsible Investment (IRI) at the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University (Dr. David Wood, Director) - "Three issues in responsible investment"
• MSCI Inc. (Mr. Gregory Larkin, Head of Business Development for North America, ESG Research business) - "How can sustainability uncover mispriced investment opportunities"
• SAM Indexes (Dr. Rodrigo Amandi, Managing Director) - "Sustainability investing: Strong dynamics at play"
• Vigeo (Mrs. Nicole Notat, Chairwoman) - "Working towards a new and healthy relationship between finance and the economy"
• Institute for Social Innovation (Mr. Dimitris Micharikopoulos, Co-Founder and Senior Partner) - "The current state of sustainable and responsible investment in Greece"
• Invest in Greece S.A. (Prof. Christos Alexakis, CEO) - "The future of responsible investing - FDI 2.0"
• Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Mr. Constantine Michalos, President) - "Responsible investing: The way forward for Greece"

Visionaries

• Volans (Mr. John Elkington, Executive Chairman) - "Europe's SRI sector in a period of transformation"
• CSRwire, LLC (Mr. Joe Sibilia, CEO) - "Language advances debate"
• Walden Asset Management, a division of Boston Trust & Investment Management Company (Mr. Timothy Smith, Senior Vice-President and Director of ESG Shareowner Engagement) - "Corporate commitment to sustainable and CSR reporting: Investors help create an enduring trend"
• Macrowikinomics (Prof. Don Tapscott, bestselling author) - "Enabling responsible investing"
• Grameen Bank (Prof. Muhammad Yunus, Founder; Chairperson, Yunus Centre; 2006 Nobel Peace Laureate) - "Investing in social businesses"

About EuroCharity Yearbooks

The idea to launch the first multi-stakeholder EuroCharity Yearbook germinated when, in 2007, Greece was experiencing an environmental and social crisis of unprecedented dimensions -- devastating forest fires. During the summer of 2007 this grievous ecological crisis created a huge social uproar and made headline news globally. EuroCharity's founders, who themselves had been surrounded by huge wildfire flames in the Peloponnese, decided to do something about this horrendous occurrence rather than be passive observers.

The inaugural "EuroCharity Yearbook 2007: The Spirit of the Forest" was published in Greek in June 2008.

A year later, the EuroCharity Yearbook 2008 focused on Sustainability & Green Development and how they have an impact on competitiveness, entrepreneurship and innovation.

The third "EuroCharity Yearbook 2009: It's a Matter of Culture...", published last year, highlighted the importance of corporate culture.

The latest "EuroCharity Yearbook 2010: The Future of Responsible Investing" was released in June 2011.

EuroCharity wishes to thank the following sponsors and supporters of the Athens launch event on July 5:

• Event Sponsor: TT HELLENIC POSTBANK.
• Event supporters: Embassy of Denmark, American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce, Invest in Greece Agency, Hellenic Fund and Asset Management Association, Union of Listed Companies, Hellenic Network for Corporate Social Responsibility and mba International of the Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB).
• Communication Sponsors: "Naftemporiki" newspaper and the "Scientific Marketing & Management", "CSR Review", "adbusiness" magazines.
• Internet Communication Sponsor: naftemporiki.gr portal.
• TV Sponsor: SBC TV.
• Radio Sponsor: FLASH 96.

To order the "EuroCharity Yearbook 2010: The Future of Responsible Investing", please download the following form in Word format http://www.eurocharity.gr/files/Order_Form_EuroCharity_Yearbook_2010.doc or visit http://www.eurocharity.gr/en/story/7869.

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