Global Child Forum Wins the Prestigious CFA Sweden ESG Award 2023

Stockholm, 26 April – Global Child Forum, a leading advocate for children’s rights and corporate social responsibility, is proud to announce that it has been awarded the prestigious CFA Sweden ESG Award for 2023. This accolade is presented annually by CFA Society Sweden to recognize outstanding contributions toward integrating Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) considerations into the investment process. Specifically, this award acknowledges Global Child Forum’s dedication to ensuring that children’s rights are a central aspect of ESG considerations, emphasizing the critical role that safeguarding young individuals plays in responsible corporate practices and sustainable investments

Global Child Forum is dedicated to advancing children’s rights and fostering a more sustainable society by engaging with global corporations, financial institutions, and policymakers. The organization’s influential work includes producing the largest global children’s rights and business benchmark, which investors actively use to inform investment decisions based on robust child rights and ESG criteria.

Katarina Mellström, Secretary General of Global Child Forum, expressed her gratitude following the award recognition: “We are deeply honored to receive the CFA Sweden ESG Award, which underscores the vital role of the investor community in advocating for child rights within corporate practices. Our benchmark empowers investors to hold companies accountable for their actions regarding child rights, aligning investments with ethical practices. This accountability fosters a sustainable business environment and offers substantial benefits for companies and investors alike by enhancing reputation, ensuring compliance, and building trust in the marketplace.”

Currently, investors with 7.9 trillion USD AUM are using our Global Child Forum’s data and insights. Matthew Goodwin, Head of Sustainable Investing at Global Child Forum, added, “This award is a testament to the vital role of transparent and accountable ESG practices in the investment community. Our benchmark provides clear, actionable insights that empower investors to make informed decisions that foster better outcomes for society, proving that good practices in child rights are not just ethical, but make sound business sense too.”

John Howchin, member of CFA Society Sweden’s ESG Committee and responsible for the Award’s nomination process, commented on the decision to honour Global Child Forum: “Children’s rights is an issue that is more important than ever due to a wide array of reasons: the post-COVID economic downturn impacting livelihoods deep down in the supply chains of many companies, the continued pressure of digital platforms focusing on children, and many more. Global Child Forum’s benchmark has focused on bringing the issue of children’s rights to the investment community in an accessible format for many years, offering concrete data that supports engagement with companies and responsible investment decisions. This year’s CFA Sweden ESG Award is a mark of their dedication to improving children’s rights worldwide and reminding us not to lose sight of this important issue.”

The recognition by CFA Society Sweden highlights Global Child Forum’s ongoing commitment to enhancing the integration of ESG considerations into the fabric of financial and corporate sectors. It also reaffirms the organization’s role as a pivotal influence in the global discourse on sustainability and corporate governance.

The CFA Sweden ESG Award was presented to the Global Child Forum at the Society’s Annual Forecast Dinner on April 25 in Stockholm.

Previous recipients of the CFA Sweden ESG Award are:

• 2022 – ChemSec – the International Chemical Secretariat
• 2021 – Anthropocene Fixed Income Institute and Ulf Erlandsson
• 2018 – Norrsken Foundation
• 2017 – Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (CHRB)
• 2016 – Örebro Kommun and Region Västmanland
• 2015 – Steven Smit, Morningstar
• 2014 – Mats Andersson AP4, Liza Jonson Storebrand AM and G. Hahn S. Kyrkan
• 2013 – Hennes & Mauritz AB
• 2012 – Peter Norman, Finansdepartementet
• 2011 – Gunilla Hjalmarsson, Meta AM. and Anna Nilsson, Swedbank Robur
• 2010 – Sasja Beslik, Nordea Investment Management

For media inquiries, please contact:
Linda Ravin Lodding
Head of Communications
linda.lodding@globalchildforum.org, +46 72 387 0248

President: David Krook, CFA
Vice President:  Alexandra Voss, CFA.
CFA Society Sweden: info@cfasweden.se

About Global Child Forum

Founded in 2009 by the Swedish Royal Family, Global Child Forum is a leading forum for children’s rights and business dedicated to innovative thinking, knowledge-sharing, and networking.  Global Child Forum believes in the power and responsibility of business, working in partnership with all parts of society to create a prosperous, sustainable, and just society for the world’s children. In addition to forums, Global Child Forum delivers research perspectives, best practices, and risk assessment tools designed to unlock opportunities for businesses to integrate children’s rights into their operations and communities. For more information, please visit: www.globalchildforum.org

About CFA Society Sweden:

CFA Society Sweden is a not-for-profit organisation of investment professionals based in Sweden, founded in 2003. It aims to promote a high level of professionalism among its members and the broader investment community. The organisation has 165 members who are CFA Charterholders. A CFA Charterholder is a person who has successfully completed the CFA program, which is considered amongst the most challenging financial exams in the world. There are currently over 150,000 CFA Charterholders worldwide. The CFA program is administered by the CFA Institute.

About CFA Society Sweden’s ESG Committee:

The CFA Society Sweden’s ESG Committee is composed of engaged members of CFA Society Sweden who have a strong interest in the promotion of high-quality education and in supporting sound ESG standards in the analysis of financial investments. The ESG Committee is chaired by Simone Hirschvogl, CFA. The committee’s longest-standing member is John Howchin, former Secretary-General of the Council on Ethics for the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Swedish National Pension Funds. Currently, he oversees sector strategy for the work on the Transition Decade project with a focus on the hard-to-abate sectors at IIGCC and for the Climate Action100+ project, among many other engagements. Howchin is responsible for the ESG Award’s nomination process.