[citation needed] In 1998, Calvert pursued an advisory opinion from the U.S. Department of Labor in support of the inclusion of sustainable and responsible investment options in defined contribution plans.
In a letter to Calvert,[9] the Department of Labor stated that it believes sustainable and responsible investment options are not inconsistent with fiduciary standards.
[16] Calvert's passive indices include companies on the basis of these principles and the results of a comprehensive research system, while Calvert's active investment strategies give priority to the principles as they seek superior risk adjusted financial returns relative to market benchmarks.
In conjunction with the Principles for Responsible Investment, Calvert's research system developed an innovative, new method by coupling increasingly available ESG data and classic financial analysis.
The Calvert Research System allows the firm to quantitatively rate and rank companies both inside their respective industry and across the entire investment universe in absolute terms.
Today, the Calvert Foundation works in approximately 80 countries in varied sectors such as affordable housing development, microfinance, women's empowerment, fair trade and sustainable agriculture.