Carsten Henningsen is chairman and founder of Portfolio 21, a leader in environmental investing for the past 30 years. He also started Community Friends, a nonprofit that uses microfinance and education to forge change in Sri Lanka. He has served on the boards of The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment, 1000 Friends of Oregon Foundation, the Ecotrust Council, and the City of Portland Sustainable Industries Committee.
What's the change you're trying to make in the world?
Each day I do what I can to relieve a bit of suffering in the world. The focus of my work is environmental education about climate change. I believe climate change is the greatest challenge of our time and our greatest risk.
You've been working to promote a new way of investing for a long time. Tell us about it.
For more than 30 years, I have dedicated my professional life to innovative investment strategies that have changed how many people think about the global and local impact of investments.
Thirty years, that makes you one of the godfathers of socially responsible investing. What got you interested in using the power of money markets to shape positive social change?
During my younger years, I had the great opportunity to visit about 55 countries. I observed the impact of multinational corporations on developing countries. Corporations are larger than some nations. It dawned on me that corporations have enormous power and that it is possible to use the investment process to influence corporate behavior. I decided, at age 22, to start an investment management company focused on environmental and social responsibility.
That must've been crazy talk back in the day. Yes?
That's an understatement. Fortunately, I was young and naïve back in the early 1980s. If I had done any market research, it would have been clear that there was really little to no demand for this type of investing at that time. However, I'm proof that naiveté can sometimes be a strength!
And now that it's a little more mainstream, do you find it's become less interesting?
Actually, just the opposite. Now instead of “crazy talk” we are taken seriously and regarded as a pioneer and leader in environmental investing. The larger institutional investors are quite interested in the approach because they are beginning to understand environmental risk due to climate change and other ecological constraints. Approaching mainstream is exciting and rewarding, both intellectually and financially.
So what's the biggest change you've made in your professional career?
One way to measure change is with money. Through my work, I have attracted $600 million that has moved from traditional investing to socially and environmentally responsible investing.
Biggest change in your personal life?
In understanding whatever we do each day, each action or inaction should be as kind, helpful, necessary, and selfless as possible. My intention is to remember these words each day.
Change is hard—any tricks you'd like to share for making it easier?
Patience, tenacity, passion, and compassion. Expect change, like life, to be sometimes one-step forward and two-steps back. It is a meandering journey.
If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be?
Less suffering. Again, my focus is on climate change because I believe this is the greatest impact.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I would like to have more patience to better appreciate this moment fully.
Tell us about Community Friends, the nonprofit you started, and about its work in Sri Lanka.
I first traveled to Sri Lanka as a student on a university program. I kept in close touch with some Sri Lankan friends who ran a community service nonprofit. When the 2004 tsunami hit, I started Community Friends and began providing relief efforts and community development programs.
Tell us how you're using gamification at Community Friends to educate children about sustainability.
I developed an education program called the Carbon Game. So far we have brought our climate change presentation to three countries and to more than 2,000 students and their families. The Carbon Game is an engaging way to teach children about carbon dioxide concentrations in our atmosphere and ways they can help through conservation, mitigation, and education. The program teaches students about climate change and the important task of measuring carbon emissions. I believe that educating the next generation about CO2 concentrations, conservation and mitigation is one of the greatest impacts I can have in my work. The success of the program has inspired Community Friends to partner with other educators around the world and offer the program in many countries so that students can share experiences and compare results across cultures.
Between your professional work and your nonprofit, you must travel quite a bit. Tell us how you try to reduce your carbon footprint when you travel.
Actually, both my professional and nonprofit work involves relatively little travel. Both jobs are designed to rely heavily on technology and minimize travel. When I do travel, my carbon emissions are mitigated by purchasing carbon offsets. I actually purchase ten times the amount of offsets for the amount of CO2 emitted annually.
Portfolio 21. Is there significance to the number?
We invest in companies that we believe are better positioned to prosper in the 21st Century.
What's tougher—raising investment capital for a mutual fund or fundraising for a nonprofit?
Very good question. At the end of the day, everyone is selling a narrative on a website. The quality of the story determines the success of money raised. To answer your question, I'm not sure one is easier than the other. It is all about tenacity, believing in your product and of course, a great story.
What are you reading right now?
Moral Ground: Ethical Action for a Planet in Peril.
Listening to?
I was once in the radio business so my music tastes and collection are vast. Today, the Italian version of Harry Nilsson singing Without You (Per Chi) caught my attention.
Watching?
I love documentaries and recently watched Bill Cunningham New York as well as NOVA's Dogs Decoded.
Who inspires you?
Nature.
Favorite color?
Blue.
Rock, paper, or scissors?
Money.
Who are you following online?
My children.
Who is the most progressive nonprofit or business leader you know?
Bill McKibben.
What's one question you'd like to ask yourself—and answer?
It is the same question that I asked myself in 1982 when the answer was to start an environmental investment company. How can I make the world a better place? The answer: do your best each day to help others.
How should people connect with you on social media?
You can find me on the Portfolio 21 blog, where I'm a regular contributor. You can also connect with our work at the Carbon Game on our Facebook page.
Any secret you'd like to share?
My wife always beats me at tennis.