Just as the human body may be subject to either direct exposure to nuclear radiation that harms some cellular component critical for survival (e.g. DNA), it may also face indirect exposure that damages, destroys or in some way interferes with life-sustaining systems (e.g. water). Investors too—such as companies, pension and sovereign wealth funds, and individual investors—all variously face vulnerability to exposure along two pathways: 1. direct exposure through nuclear-related assets allocations or market risk (e.g. nuclear safety, natural events, and terrorism); and 2. indirect exposure to the global problems of nuclear weapons, war, accidents and waste that originate outside the fund (e.g. proximity of members, operations or assets to a nuclear disaster which is not among the funds holdings). A wider-reaching study that underpinned this work was awarded the inaugural prize for sustainable investment research in 2007 where the panel of judges convened by Australia’s University Pension Scheme noted my “pioneering role” which “may have single-handedly debunked any residual concerns [...] and could fundamentally change how [legislators and trustees] now tackle this subject”.︎

Principal investigator: N.A.J. Taylor︎
Collaborators: M. Scott Donald (The University of New South Wales)︎ and Robert McKellar (Harmattan Risk)︎
Institutional partners: United Nations Global Compact Expert Group on Responsible Business in Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas︎ and Network for Sustainable Financial Markets︎
Funding: Commercial contracts
Key output: an award-winning report︎