As 2021 draws to a close, FCLTGlobal celebrates its fifth year in operation. Our mission is to focus capital on the long term to support a sustainable and prosperous economy, and we are rewiring capital markets to drive long-term value creation for savers and communities.
In 2016, we came together with leading businesses and investors around the world who recognized the consequences of short-term actions. In the five years since, we have worked tirelessly to provide evidence and tools to overcome short-term behavior that has long-term costs.
In 2021, most business and investment leaders now understand the importance of focusing capital on the long term, but many still struggle to do so. A two-year-long pandemic has irrevocably changed our economic landscape, but the data tells us that companies and investors still find themselves on different wavelengths. Rather than narrowing, their respective time horizons have grown further apart since the onset of COVID-19.
Looking ahead to 2022, investors and companies continue to grapple with the same issues—multistakeholder capitalism, funding a sustainable climate transition, and mobilizing capital for building value through long-term growth. These issues are critical to our members, to their stakeholders, and to all those who rely on a prosperous, sustainable, and well-functioning global economy.
We know, through data and experience, that creating long-term value for a broad range of stakeholders is the most effective way to build sustainable performance. Companies that invest in workers, suppliers, customers, society, or the environment— just like they invest in brand, technology, or property—build long-term value for their shareholders and other stakeholders alike, and time horizon is often the link between the two. Building prosperity for all stakeholders relies on pulling the levers of long-term value creation: governance, incentives, investor-corporate engagement, metrics, and policy.
Companies and investors that value long-term performance are wrestling with how to incorporate climate change into their strategies. As a result, they are setting climate goals in ever increasing numbers to demonstrate their intentions. Turning intentions into capital allocation strategy is the next step, and more work remains for companies and investors to determine how to deploy capital in support of these efforts. Success will require addressing the risks and opportunities of climate change in long-term strategies and working towards real-world decarbonization outcomes.
FCLTGlobal’s members continue to drive the movement towards sustainable capitalism. The size of that movement has grown considerably: we now have 73 in 14 countries around the world. We are tackling the most pressing issues in capital markets today with practical research, a collaborative problem-solving community, and broad outreach. While we have made significant progress and the world has changed since our start five years ago, FCLTGlobal’s mission has never been more important.
We are committed to drive that long-term focus, and we thank you, as always, for your continued partnership and support.
Sincerely,
Sarah Keohane Williamson
Chief Executive Officer, FCLTGlobal
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22 December 2020 - Many of you were able to join us in New York for our 2020 Summit to workshop the best ways to advance our shared mission of rebalancing capital markets to support a long-term, sustainable economy. But while the reality of daily life has changed enormously, the urgency of the issues we are addressing has not. Capitalism is at a crossroads—the next few years will surely shape its trajectory for the next few decades. A narrow spotlight on shareholders has given way to a renewed focus on...
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26 December 2019 - The conversation around the role of capital markets has changed. Around the world, companies and investors increasingly recognize the importance of long-term planning and the value of thinking beyond quarterly returns.