Category: Research

Beyond The Acronym

Investors are eager to incorporate environmental, social, and governance – ESG – considerations in their investment strategies, even outside of what is explicitly framed as “sustainable investing”. In this blog, we explain how sustainability standards and frameworks are contributing to this trend; how they are ensuring a clearer rationale on sustainability in finance, and finally, where reporting guidance is headed towards.

The rise of sustainable investments has led to the burgeoning growth of sustainability standards, and frameworks for disclosure of investor critical ESG information. Among other things, Standards and Frameworks are helping companies and investors measure and disclose sustainability-related performance and make well-informed decisions while factoring in different emerging risks. In addition, they allow comparability over time, across sectors/industries, and in between peers or potentially with any company(s) operating anywhere in the world.

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Life in Plastic

The United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) met at the end of February 2022 to discuss the ongoing problems of chemical and plastic pollution. At this meeting, the environment ministers from 193 Nations agreed to establish an ambitious science-policy panel for global management of chemical waste and pollution and, for the first time, to forge a worldwide and legally binding treaty for tackling plastic pollution 1, 24. Work on this treaty, which will cover all stages of the plastic life cycle, is to begin this year, with a draft agreement to be completed by 20242.

Of course, chemical pollution is not purely caused by plastic production, with agriculture being one of the other leading contributors25. In fact, pollution from agrochemicals is one of the strongest factors linked to habitat collapse26. The new Value Alignment Tool (VAT) from ESG Book will allow investors to systematically screen over 29,000 companies on their revenues and business involvements from 7 overarching themes, with 36 different screens available. Within the Chemical theme, the VAT allows for the screening of assets involved in plastic, fertiliser, and pesticide production, tackling three of the leading causes of destructive chemical pollution.

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More Than A Buzzword

In 2021, we published the first report of its kind assessing not only the financial effects of corporate gender diversity but also its impact on transparency. Using ESG Book data, supported by academic and industry research, the ‘More Than A Buzzword’ report assessed the effects of gender diversity on global public corporations. In particular, it examined whether more diverse companies demonstrate greater non-financial transparency1.

With gender diversity continuing to grow in importance and prominence as a key issue in the workplace, this follow-up report assesses the progress that has recently been made on the topic, and expands on several trends highlighted in last year’s study. In this update, we look beyond gender diversity to also include in our analysis minority representation, the employment and representation of persons with disabilities and supplier diversity.

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ESG Soup

The expansion of the Environmental, Social and Governance (‘ESG’) landscape has led to the creation of frameworks and standards catering to a range of industry stakeholders. The increase in the number of frameworks and standards has resulted in the proliferation of ESG indicators, against which organisations can report their non-financial performance.

The heightened investor demand for ESG disclosures, new regulations, and a growing number of frameworks and standards creates challenges for organisations looking to disclose their sustainability metrics1 . ESG Book streamlines this process by providing a single platform housing commonly used frameworks and standards. To further simplify the disclosure experience, and reduce the reporting burden, a cross-framework mapping functionality will be available on the platform to support users with their disclosure journeys. Indicator mapping is an approach through which indicators can be matched by relevance to find commonalities across frameworks and standards, identifying indicators where relevant information can flow between questionnaires.

This blog post aims to introduce the new indicator mapping feature for quantitative metrics, both within and across frameworks, which will be made available on ESG Book and discuss the ways in which mappings can be used to generate value for users.

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