Oil prices are soaring. Returns on energy stocks have been robust. The 30 largest oil companies account for some 6% of the entire global equities market. In building wealth to pay for your kids’ college or your own retirement, ignoring energy stocks can be costly. If you’re a mutual-fund investor, you probably already own a chunk of Big Oil, even if you don’t realize it.

Fast Company asked the sustainability experts at HIP Investor Inc. and the Social Venture Technology Group for help. These firms have together developed an exclusive methodology they called HIP — Human Impact + Profit — for measuring the environmental and social impacts of business. HIP and SVT founders R. Paul Herman and Sara Olsen argue that, over the long term, companies’ willingness to grapple with environmental and social issues translates into higher net income, through new products and lower costs, and stronger stock returns. We asked the HIP/SVT team to analyze the world’s 10 largest oil companies.

THE ARTICLE: An in-depth look at the HIP factor of BIG OIL

PODCAST: Check out HIP + SVT’s take on how investors can and are sustainability to judge the viability of investing in oil.

HIP GUIDE TO BIG OIL:   A concise look at HIP Investor’s   assessment of the 10 largest oil companies.

SLIDESHOW: Can Big Oil become green?   The following slides provide some innovative ideas for sustainable, profitable growth.

AND MORE!!!!

HIP Investor CEO Paul Herman is quoted today in the Wall Street Journal on Google.org’s innovative and potentially controversial entry into the traditional energy sector. To read, “Google, From Don’t Be Evil, to How to Be Good,” by Kevin Delaney, January 18, 2008, CLICK HERE.

It’s HIP to BE Green:

Driving Revenue Through Positive Human Impact

Earlier this year, the magazine FastCompany partnered with two San Francisco investment firms to fill a glaring gap in business metrics: there was no single way to measure a company’s net impact on people and the planet, much less tie such a metric to financial performance. The result is the HIP Scorecard (Human Impact + Profit), a new way to look at how human impact drives innovation, shareholder value, and the bottom line.Sustainable Life Media sat down with Paul Herman of HIP Investor, one of the developers of the HIP framework, to find out how companies can use this new metric to competitive advantage, and what it means for socially responsible investors.

CLICK HERE to read the interview!

When Balance Sheets Collide with the New Economy
New York Times
By Denise Caruso
Sunday, September 9, 2007

“HIP Investor and SVT Group measure exactly how social and environmental issues translate to market value and directly affect the bottom line.”

READ THE ARTICLE

The April issue of Fast Company magazine features an analysis of 21 public companies, quantifying their HIP Practices and HIP Revenues.

A new way of looking at the human side of investing with the HIP (that’s Human Impact + Profit) Scorecard. For this analysis, Fast Company teamed up with two San Francisco-based firms, HIP Investor and SVT Group, to evaluate and rate publicly listed companies. Our goal: to look beyond good intentions and focus on concrete results–how human impact drives the bottom line–as a guide for investors seeking to generate compelling returns and benefit society.

See The HIP Scorecard now.