TIIP was founded in 2015 by Steve Lydenberg—co-founder of the first index to utilize social and environmental standards—and William Burckart—a respected sustainable investing consultant—who were determined to help investors align their strategies and practices with the increasingly complex world of the 21st century. Not only did they want to show investors that everything—from the environment to healthcare to the financial markets—is interconnected, they also hoped to demonstrate that investors can play a major role in preventing environmental disasters and easing social unrest. They hoped that investors would realize that doing so is not only good for global sustainability and well-being, but it is good for their bottom lines.

TIIP has since worked tirelessly to encourage adoption of system-level investing, an advanced sustainable investing approach through which investors consider the bigger-picture environmental, social, or financial system context of their security selection and portfolio construction decisions.

Throughout 2015 and 2016, we established the theoretical frameworks for identifying systemic environmental and social challenges best-suited to investor action and developed and disseminated information about effective system-level investing tools. We have since broadened our efforts and are helping to meet industry demand for practical guidance on adopting system-level investing approaches and measuring investors’ impacts and influence on environmental and social systems.

We look forward to continuing to build the industry’s understanding of system-level investing and its capacity for addressing pressing systemic challenges; challenges that if left unaddressed, threaten investors’ long-term success.

The world is becoming increasingly interconnected and complex. The impacts of environmental, social, and financial issues on investors (e.g. climate change, income inequality, political unrest, demographic shifts, and technological developments) and of investor behavior on these issues are increasingly clear.

In response, many investors are adopting sustainable investing. They are focused on protecting and enhancing long-term value through addressing environmental, social, or governance (ESG) risks, investing in solutions to environmental and social challenges, and otherwise expressing ESG values. They are integrating ESG factors into security selection, avoiding unsavory industries or actors, and investing for social or environmental impact alongside financial return.

Particularly sophisticated investors are embracing more advanced sustainable investing approaches, including system-level investing. They are using a discrete collection of strategies and tools to intentionally and positively influence the wealth-creating potential of the environmental, social, and financial systems within which they operate and upon with they depend for long-term financial success.

TIIP supports the financial community in its pursuit of system-level investing to fulfill our mission of helping investors understand that healthy portfolio returns are not possible without healthy systems, and providing them with guidance and tools for supporting resilient systems that enhance long-term returns.

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TIIP profiles investors’ sustainable and systems-level approaches and to identify best practices. Profiles examine organizational characteristics, dimensions of sustainable system-level investing approaches, practical applications of approaches undertaken, and approach successes and challenges. They also provide insights into the spectrum of sustainable and system-level investment approaches undertaken and include information about key investment activities and tools used to expand the range of investors’ vision beyond the portfolio to a broader understanding of systems.

The database of profiles informs TIIP’s research and thought leadership and help us to refine enhance our related practical guidance; it provides a powerful engine that “turbo charges” everything that we offer.

It is the most comprehensive database of system-level investing approaches. We maintain our 100+ profiles in the database to ensure that our information reflects best practices by asset owners and managers around the world. 

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