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Goldman Sachs – Greening its investments
Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is one of the world’s oldest and biggest global investment banking firm. Its core businesses focus on investment banking, asset management & securities services, and trading & principal investments. The company provides a vast range of services under five major categories, namely: advising, research, investing, securities, and financing. It caters to a variety of clientele such as governments, companies, financial institutions, and wealthy individuals and families. As of 2007, Goldman Sachs has 34, 809 employees and generated revenues of $46 billion with a net income of $11.4 billion.
Goldman Sachs Building
A BRIEF HISTORY
The Jewish-German immigrant Marcus Goldman founded Goldman Sachs in 1869. The firm established its name in the business market by breaking new ground in the use of commercial paper for businessmen. In 1896, the company was then invited to join the New York Stock Exchange. During this period, Samuel Sachs, who was Marcus Goldman’s son-in-law, joined the company and it was renamed as Goldman Sachs. The New York-based company now has offices in some states across the United States and even extends to several chief financial centers around the globe including London, Paris, Sydney, Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul, Tokyo, Toronto, Beijing, Mexico City, Calgary, Monaco, and many more.
THE EXECUTIVE TEAM
Lloyd Blankfein
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Gary D. Cohn
President and Co-Chief Operating Officer
Jon Winkelried
President and Co-Chief Operating Officer
David A. Viniar
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Gregory K. Palm
Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of the Corporation
Kevin W. Kennedy
Executive Vice President and Head of Human Capital Management
Alan M. Cohen
Executive Vice President and Global Head of Compliance
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFORTS
*In September 2004, Goldman Sachs partnered with the Wildlife Conservation Society with a goal to ceaselessly safeguard an enormous region of wilderness located on the island of Tierra del Fuego in Chile. The alliance has established 735,500 acres of nature preserve for its inhabitants.
*In November 2005, Goldman Sachs established The Goldman Sachs Environmental Policy Framework, which pledges to consider the environmental impact of investments, promote the development of environmental markets, and seek sustainable market-based solutions to attend to certain environmental issues such as environment dilapidation, climate change and other ecological problems.
*In September 2006, Goldman Sachs bought a 10.1 percent stake in the UK-listed Climate Exchange PLC, which is the parent company of the European Climate Exchange (ECX), the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), and the California Climate Exchange (CaCX). By 2007, Goldman Sachs doubled its stake in the deal to 19 percent.
*The firm also established the Center for Environmental Markets, whose purpose is to coordinate with institutions such as the World Resources Institute, the Wood Hole Research Center, and Resources for the Future, to conduct extensive research on policy alternatives for US federal greenhouse gas regulations, assessment of avoided deforestation, and the sustainability of green technologies and biofuels. The Center issued major grants to these three institutions in 2006, which totaled $2.3 million.
*In late 2007, Goldman Sachs has invested more than $2 billion in renewable and energy efficiency projects in the United States, Asia and Europe. The sectors that they have invested in include IOGEN Corporation for cellulosic ethanol, Bond Companies for sustainable real estate, U.S. Geothermal Inc. for Geothermal Power, Horizon Wind Energy, Nordex, and Nordic Wind Power for wind power; Sun Edison, First Solar, and Sun Tech for solar photovoltaic power, and Ice Energy for load shifting.
*As a financial expert, Goldman Sachs helps clients create business strategies that are aligned with environmental policies; environmental impacts are seriously weighed in key business decisions.
*Goldman Sachs’ devotion to uphold environmental advocacy is also manifested in its operational facilities. The company has established green building standards and these are applied to all of their construction and major renovation projects worldwide. To date, the company has two existing LEED-certified green buildings and its new global headquarters, which is planned to operate in 2009, will be holding a LEED Gold Certification. The company has also increased its use of organic products, energy-efficient equipment, organic supplies, and recycled materials such as paper and print products.
*In July 2007, Goldman Sachs released a list of companies that they believe will be the top corporate players over the coming years. The list called GS Sustain incorporates objective metrics to gauge corporate performance on environmental, social and governance issues, implications of structural change in businesses, and strategies that foster enduring investment ideas. The list will help aid investors in determining companies that are well likely to endure challenges in the long run such as greater urbanization, climate change, fast growing populations, varying customer perspectives, and elevated demand for resources.
* The company also partnered with ASSET4, which supplies non-financial data to corporations worldwide that integrate ASSET4’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data into their investment research. Its task is to recognize the correlation between ESG standing and share prices.
*The Company’s Alternative Energy Research Team has a scope of more than 35 environmental technology companies and more than 70 alternative energy companies worldwide encompassing producers of solar, biofuels, wind, geothermal, and fuel cell technologies.
*In addition, its Global Economic Research Team investigates on the universal macroeconomic and market research on certain environmental themes such as climate change, energy efficiency, and energy policy.
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