Administration May 12, 2006

Calvert Puts Itself Under SRI Microscope

December 29, 2004 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Even though Calvert typically shines its socially responsible investing (SRI) spotlight on companies in which it invests, the Bethesda, Maryland fund family has now turned the attention on its own operations.

Reported by

Fred Schneyer

On Wednesday, Calvert released a 44-page Sustainability Report using the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines examining the company’s own economic, social and environmental performance.The Calvert Sustainability Report integrates 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, according to a Calvert news release .

The report focuses on Calvert’s performance in seven issue areas

corporate governance and business ethics
workplace issues
environment
product safety and impact
international operations and human rights
Indigenous Peoples’ rights
community relations.

These correspond to the seven issue areas that Calvert researches when analyzing corporate performance for its own mutual fund portfolios, the company said in the announcement.

“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,” Barbara Krumsiek, president and CEO of Calvert, said in the news release. “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. 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.”