LondonAccord:Farsight Award

The Farsight Award is a project between the Universities Superannuation Scheme, Gresham College, London Accord and Z/Yen Group Limited. The objective of the Farsight Award is to honour the best individual piece of analysis by an investment research institution that integrates traditional financial analysis with longer-term issues such as climate change, scarcity, corporate governance and human capital. The award is a ‘Man Booker’ Prize for the ‘best read’ in long-term research.

The winner receives a trophy, a lecture opportunity, positioning in The London Accord and a meeting with a top Chief Investment Officer and their team. Previous winners include Credit Agricole Cheuvreux (2006), Citigroup (2007) and Credit Suisse (2008).

The 2009 winner was Societe Generale with their report "Green New Deal"

The runner-up with highly commended was CA Cheuvreux with "Green Cars: Electrify Me!"

The Farsight Award judges are: • Alice Chapple, Director of Sustainable Financial Markets at Forum for the Future; • Melissa Brown, Executive Director of the Association for Sustainable and Responsible Investment in Asia; • Professor Gwen Griffith-Dickson, Director, The Lokahi Foundation; • Simon Mills, Principal Policy Officer for Sustainable Development, City of London Corporation; • Jan-Peter Onstwedder, Project Director of the London Accord and former Global Head of Risk Management of BP plc; • Professor Avinash Persaud, Chairman of Intelligence Capital Limited; • Pierre Stiennon, Senior Investment Analyst - Responsible Investment, AXA Investment Managers; • Professor Michael Mainelli, Executive Chairman of Z/Yen Group Limited, who also chairs the panel of judges.

Academic analysis indicates that a substantive part of a company’s value is related to its extra-financial performance or intangibles. Extra-financial issues are best described as fundamentals that have the potential to impact companies’ financial performance or reputation in a material way, yet are generally not part of traditional analysis. Extra-financial issues typically include, but are not limited to, climate change, corporate governance, employment standards, human resources, executive remuneration, environmental and social areas and reputation risk. They may be specific to a company, an industry or cut across several industry-groups.

All London Accord reports are automatically entered for consideration by the judges. Entries from outside London Accord participants can be made directly to the City of London Corporation.