This paper draws on a series of engagements with a cohort of investors from pension funds, foundations, and the labor movement convened by the Initiative for Responsible Investment in 2021. The goal of this cohort was to explore an integrated approach to racial justice as a systemic concern in responsible investment. This paper builds on the work of the cohort, and subsequent interviews with practitioners, to address the ways that racial equity can be integrated into responsible investment practice. We also hope that the paper raises the stakes for responsible investors – that it foregrounds the systemic economic challenges of racial inequity in a way that builds on past practice and also responds to changing societal expectations and the urgency they feel in the moment. Though the paper is focused on the United States, its concerns for racial equity are applicable globally.
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