- Thursday November 20th 2008, London

Clear Profit's 3rd annual conference will tackle the key issues facing the financial system and those trying to harness its social and environmental potential.

- The conference will open with an exploration of the idea of trust and its fundamental importance to social and commercial life.

- Not-for-profits increasingly sway corporate, government and individual choices. How can they make the best of the profit motive?

- The boom in private equity is a financial phenomenon many people love to hate. Can it ever be done sustainably?

- The collapse of Western banks was hastened by "short selling". But the same technique might be used to help green technology grow.

- Corporate responsibility reports are everywhere. But few analysts make much use of them. Why? And might this ever change?

Programme

9.00: Corporate and investor responsibility and trust: Trust, says author Marek Kohn, is at the heart of society, not least business and finance. Yet it has evolved among individuals pursuing their own selfish interests. Understanding how this has happened and what it means, he argues, is fundamental to making the most of a rapidly changing world. Responsible investors and investees could play and important role in harnessing trust's positive commercial and social potential.

10.00: Charities and responsible investment: Investing charity finances in a way which furthers, or at least does not contradict, a charitable goal might seem reasonable. But relatively few do it. Delegates will find out why from expert Helen Wildsmith, head of ethical and responsible investment at CCLA, as well as how things might change.

11.00: Capital markets campaigning: Some NGOs are using the capital markets as a campaigning tool. A leading practitioner, Deborah Doane, head of sustainable consumption at WWF-UK, will explain how it is done and what can be achieved.

12.00: Mission-connected investment: Investment is, according to Daniel Walker Palmour, director of the Friends Provident Foundation, just another are in which charities might use their assets to further their objectives. But this approach to investment has implications for charity governance, staffing and operation, particularly in ones with an endowments. She will give practical examples illustrating both the upsides and the downsides.

13.00: Lunch

13.45: Responsible private equity: Many might think such an idea is inherently absurd. But others have recognised its potential and are attempting to deliver attractive financial return while minimising social and environmental impact. Delegates will hear from two such pioneers, head of the UK Environment Agency pension fund Howard Pearce and Andrew Musters, senior investment manager at Robeco Alternative Investments.

14.45: The rights and wrongs of "shorting" shares: Hedge funds and other elite investors can profit from falls in share prices as well as gains by "shorting" shares. The shorting of bank shares is said to have contributed to the credit crisis and was temporarily banned Marco Fasoli, partner at hedge fund management company TITIAN Global argues, however, that done properly it can help provide capital to highly-volatile areas like green technology.

15.45: Tea break

16.00: CSR reporting and investors: Corporate responsibility reports are the most visible evidence of many corporate responsibility programmes. But are investors paying much attention to them? Research presented by Richard Slack, reader at Newcastle Business School, suggests not.

17.00: Event ends