Symposium on Corporate Responsibility & Responsible Investment: Past, Present, and Future

Introduction

Over five decades, Corporate Responsibility (CR) and Responsible Investment (RI)* have evolved from peripheral initiatives to institutionalized fields with a global influence on corporate governance, strategy, capital allocation, disclosure, and stewardship.

Yet, at a time of political polarization, climate acceleration, geopolitical fragmentation, rising inequality, and technological disruption, the question is no longer whether the fields have matured, but whether they can drive the system-level thinking and large-scale systemic change required to transition to a more inclusive, sustainable low-carbon economy.

This invite-only symposium proceeds from this system-change hypothesis: it assumes that the next stage of progress will require a commitment to a systemic change strategy that can engage the core of the capital market system and key industry value chains and policy ecosystems.

Day 1 focuses on diagnosis and stress-testing the current CR and RI fields and strategies for change.
Day 2 focuses on identifying key pathways for leverage, redesign, and a five-year strategic direction.

* Terminology: In this document, Corporate Responsibility (CR) and Responsible Investment (RI) are used as inclusive terms encompassing CSR, Corporate Citizenship, Corporate Sustainability, Sustainable Finance, SRI, ESG integration, and related approaches. 

Symposium steering committee

  • William Burckart – CEO, The Investment Integration Project (TIIP)
  • Caroline Flammer – A. Barton Hepburn Professor of Economics, Professor of Climate and of Business, Director of the Sustainable Investing Research Initiative (SIRI), Columbia University
  • Deborah Leipziger – Consultant and Author, The Leipziger Group
  • Steve Lydenberg – Founder and Chairman, The Investment Integration Project (TIIP)
  • Jane Nelson – Director, Corporate Responsibility Initiative at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government
  • Chris Pinney – President and CEO, High Meadows Institute
  • David Wood – Adjunct Professor of International and Public Affairs and the Brandmeyer Fellow for Impact and Sustainable Investing, Columbia University

Agenda 

 

Thursday, May 7

DAY 1 — Understanding the Fields, their Evolution and Current Dynamics
 

9:00 – 9:30 AM Registration & Coffee

9:30 – 9:45 AM Opening Welcome & Framing

Facilitators: Caroline Flammer, Jane Nelson, Chris Pinney, David Wood

Purpose: Establish shared intellectual discipline and objectives

  • Welcome from High Meadows Institute, Columbia University’s Sustainable Investing Research Initiative (SIRI), and the Corporate Responsibility Initiative (CRI) at the Harvard Kennedy School
  • Why this moment represents a potential paradigm inflection point

  • Introduction to three guiding lenses:

    1. Historical evolution
    2. Systems context
    3. Strategic redesign

9:45 – 11:00 AM Session 1: Defining the Fields — Origins, Evolution, and Convergence (75 minutes)

Facilitator: Jane Nelson

Discussants: David Grayson, Steve Lydenberg

Purpose: Establish a shared understanding of what CR and RI set out to achieve and how they have evolved

Illustrative Milestones: Sullivan Principles/South Africa divestment, UN Global Compact, UN PRI, GRI, stewardship evolution

Format: Scene-setting (20 min) + moderated dialogue (45 min) + plenary reflection

11:00 –11:15 AM Break

11:15 AM – 12:30 PM Session 2: Norm-Setting, Rule-Making & Accountability — Tools, Practices, and Limits (75 minutes)

Facilitator: David Wood

Discussants: Michael Lent, Sandra Waddock

Purpose: Assess which accountability mechanisms have genuinely shifted behavior

Discussion Focus:

  • Coalition building & voluntary standards
  • Disclosure frameworks (GRI, TCFD, ISSB, CDP)
  • Stewardship & engagement (ICCR, Climate Action 100+, Engine No. 1)
  • Voluntary vs. mandatory regimes
     

Key Tensions:

  • Enforcement vs. signaling
  • Voice vs. exit
  • Greenwashing and credibility

12:30 – 12:40 PM Book launch for The Handbook of System-level Investing, with editors Jon Lukomnik and William Burckart

12:40 – 1:30 PM Networking lunch 

1:30 – 2:45 PM Session 3: Stress Testing the Fields in a Fragmenting and Disruptive Global Economy (75 minutes)

Facilitator: Chris Pinney

Discussants: Judy Samuelson, Simon Zadek

Purpose: Evaluate whether historical strategies remain viable under current conditions – rather than a general environmental scan, this session will function as a structured stress test

Three Analytical Axes:

  1. Political Legitimacy
    • Anti-ESG backlash
    • Polarization & populism
    • Sovereignty vs. global standard-setting
  2. Market Structure
    • Capital concentration & dominance of passive funds
    • Growth of private markets
    • State capitalism & geopolitics
  3. Technological Disruption
    • AI-driven disruption, transparency, and modeling
    • Data concentration
    • Transition risk analytics

Outcome: Clear identification of structural constraints shaping the next phase

2:45 – 3:00 PM Break 

3:00 – 4:15 PM Session 4: Session 4: Companies, Capital Markets, and Systemic Change (75 minutes) 

Facilitator: Jon Lukomnik

Discussants: Jake Barnett, Doug Chia, Catherine Howarth

Purpose: Examine how a systems lens reshapes strategy and scale

Outcome: Shared understanding of enterprise/portfolio/system interactions and leverage points 

4:15 – 4:30 PM   Break

4:30 – 5:15 PM   Plenary Synthesis: What Has Actually Changed? (45 minutes) 

Facilitators: Caroline Flammer, Jane Nelson, Chris Pinney, David Wood

Purpose: Integrate insights from Sessions 1–4

Celebrating our work together 

5:15 – 6:00 PM    Reception

6:00 – 9:00 PM    Dinner & Informal Dialogue


Friday, May 8 

DAY 2 — Designing the Future


8:30 – 9:00 AM Coffee

9:00 – 10:30 AM   Session 5:  Strategic Leverage Points for the Next Phase (90 minutes)

Facilitator: William Burckart 

Discussants: Jake Barnett, Sherwat Elwan Ibrahim, Mirtha Kastrapeli

Purpose: Pivot from diagnosis to redesign

Identify 3–5 high-leverage strategic shifts capable of materially accelerating and scaling systemic impact over the next five years

Opening Frame (20 minutes): From Sustainability / Responsibility 2.0 to 3.0 — What Actually Changes?

Outcome: Shortlist of priority leverage areas for field-level advancement

10:30 – 10:45 AM   Break

10:45 – 11:45 AM   Session 6: Planning for the Next Five Years — What Should the Fields Do Now? (60 minutes)

Facilitator: Caroline Flammer

Discussants: Ingrid Dyott, Cynthia Williams

Purpose: Translate insights into actionable, forward-looking strategies

Working groups focus on: Strategic leverage points identified in session 5 

Outcome: Short, concrete strategy prototypes grounded in institutional and political reality

11:45 AM – 12:00 PM   Break 

12:00 – 12:30 PM   Session 7: Archive & Field-Building Legacy Session (30 minutes)

Facilitator: Deborah Leipziger

Discussants: Bob Massie, Jane Nelson

Purpose: Introduction to the Corporate Responsibility & Responsible Investment Archive at Columbia SIRI and Archive Initiative in the UK

  • Preserving the intellectual evolution of the fields
  • Invitation to contribute materials and oral histories
  • Positioning the Archive as infrastructure for the next paradigm phase

12:30 – 1:15 PM   Closing Plenary: Synthesis, Commitments & Next Steps (45 minutes)    

Facilitators: Caroline Flammer, Jane Nelson, Chris Pinney, David Wood

  • Consolidation of priority strategies
  • Identification of shared commitments
  • Clarification of post-symposium opportunities and actions:
    • Collaborative research
    • Field coordination
    • Institutional pilots
    • Archive support

Purpose: Translate insights into actionable, forward-looking strategies

Core questions: 

  • What would a credible five-year strategy for CR and RI look like?
  • What must change in tools, incentives, governance, collaboration, and policy?
  • What research and resources are needed to support this strategy?
  • Working groups focus on: Strategic leverage points identified in session 5 
     

Outcome: Short, concrete strategy prototypes grounded in institutional and political reality

1:15 PM Lunch & Adjournment