Sophia Magazine vol.3 / SUMMER 2016

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Sophia University Signs the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment Initiative#03On November 1, 2015, Sophia Uni-versity signed the United Nations Prin-ciples for Responsible Investment (PRI) Initiative, an international network es-tablished in 2006 by Ko Annan, then Secretary-General of the United Na-tions. This means that Sophia University has publicly committed to making re-sponsible investments with due consid-eration given to environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors. That Sophia is the eighth signatory of the Initiative in Japan and the rst among Japanese higher education institutions made it a topic of many news reports.Proper evaluation of ESG factors in the selection of investment targets is considered to improve medium-to long-term investment performance. Be-coming a signatory to the Initiative is a commitment to adopt the investment policy that both corresponds to So-phia’s fundamental principle of helping solve global problems and is in com-pliance with the principles of the UN Global Compact, of which Sophia is a member in the eld of asset manage-ment. Sophia aims to promote collabo-ration to address various ESG issues with other domestic and international organizations through the network of PRI signatories in Japan. Campus NewsSymposium on the Environment Held in Response to a Letter Written by the Pope#02Graduate School of Global En-vironmental Studies and serv-ing as the symposium MC, introduced opening remarks by His Excellency Archbishop Joseph Chennoth, Ambassa-dor Extraordinary and Pleni-potentiary of the Vatican to Japan, and a keynote address by Father Patxi Alvarez, Jesuit Secretary of the Social Jus-tice and Ecology Secretariat at the Jesuit Headquarters in Rome. Father Alvarez pointed out that “the natural environ-ment is a hereditary property handed down to the children of future generations and it is necessary to change to a sus-tainable society.”Anne McDonald, Profes-sor at the Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, then moderated an informa-tive panel discussion held with Father Alvarez, Soichiro Seki, Vice Minister for the Global Environment, Ministry of the Environment, and Akemi Ori, Professor at the Graduate School of Global Envi-ronmental Studies.A symposium hosted by the Gradu-ate School of Global Environmental Studies entitled: “Pope Francis’ Lau-dato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home and COP 21 Agenda” was held at Sophia University on December 4, 2015, with about 200 people in atten-dance. On June 18, 2015, Pope Fran-cis issued an encyclical letter offering a vision for a sustainable future and calling for action to combat the com-plex problems of climate change. The symposium was proposed to broadly discuss the perspective of the Pope’s letter and that of COP 21, then being held in Paris.Huang Guangwei, Professor at the Above: Father Patxi Alvarez　Below: Panel discussionKeynote address by Father Patxi Alvarez4

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