Deborah Abbey is an author and media spokesperson who has been an early and steadfast champion for responsible and sustainable investing. She inspired some of the largest financial institutions in Canada to increase their financial due diligence through enhanced environmental risk analysis and disclosure to reduce the impact of climate change on key areas of business.
She began her mission in the mid-1990s — long before it was mainstream — and within five years she launched Real Assets Investment Management, Canada’s first investment company to focus exclusively on responsible investment and offer fossil-free mutual funds to average retail investors.
She pressured the big five banks to pay more attention to climate change by being an active shareholder although owning just one share. Through her articulate, persuasive argument, she swayed big five bank shareholders that climate change is a risk that the banks need to pay attention to.
In 2013, she accepted the role of CEO of the Responsible Investment Association (RIA), Canada’s membership network dedicated to the advancement of responsible investing. Operating under a different name at the time and at the brink of bankruptcy, she turned the membership organization around, doubled its membership and revenues, and enabled it to continue its mandate of promoting the integration of environmental, social and governance factors into Canadians’ investment decisions. Today, more than a third of all investments in Canada are guided by responsible investing principles.
She is the co-author of The 50 Best Ethical Stocks for Canadians and the author of Global Profit and Global Justice: Using Your Money to Change the World, which promotes the idea that it is good business for companies to improve their environmental, social and governance performance. She was a regular columnist for Investment Executive magazine as well as a regular contributor to several other publications. As well she has been featured in Maclean’s magazine and quoted by dozens of media organizations including CBC and the Globe and Mail.
Her commitment to social and environmental concerns run deep; she was one of the first staff members and the first project director of the David Suzuki Foundation. As a board member and vice-chair of Canadian Business for Social Responsibility, she encouraged many businesses across Canada to adopt and implement sustainable social, environmental and governance policies and practices.
