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Infographic | 6 Factors Showing Supply Chain Sustainability

Infographic | 6 Factors Showing Supply Chain Sustainability for 2021

This infographic that breaks down six crucial factors for identifying strong and weak sustainability traits in any organization.

Drill in ocean

Royal Dutch Shell Court Order Shifts Paradigm for Corporate ESG Accountability

On 26 May 2021, the Court of The Hague orders Royal Dutch Shell (RDS) to reduce CO2 emissions to a net 45% by the end of 2030 compared to 2019 through the Group Policy of the Shell Group. The order of a national (Dutch) court demands that a global company (RDS) fulfills its obligations under the Paris Climate Agreement, although RDS was not a party in that agreement, and there is no legal equivalent in The Netherlands. What are the broader consequences of this order, also globally and for other companies and potentially also other jurisdictions?

indonesia

ESG Disclosure and Performance in Southeast Asia

Strategically located at the centre of Asia Pacific, with a young population of more than 675 million across 11 countries, Southeast Asia is an economic block with one of the world’s fastest GDP growth rate. In recent years, the region has been attracting the attention of global investors. At the same time, in the context of responsible investing moving from a niche activity to the mainstream, research on the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance of Southeast Asia companies is limited. In this article, we have a deeper look at the ESG disclosure and performance of major Southeast Asia countries, focusing on the ASEAN-6 countries (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines).

Unwritten Risks – The True Costs of Mispriced Climate Change

Research shows that Property & Casualty insurance underwriters are not accurately pricing climate risks, and US government policy and program decisions are proving to be unsustainable. In our most recent blog, Justin Cheng talks about the resulting premium pricing corrections in the wake of intensifying extreme weather events. With this trend, a significant number of US homeowners are unable to obtain property insurance while taxpayers take on the increased cost of climate risk.

office social distance

Banks Embrace Corporate Culture as Change Agent

Corporate culture is not automatically positive, and elements of a company’s culture may provide certain benefits or disadvantages to a firm’s competitiveness. When acknowledged, corporate culture can be used as a tool to drive better business outcomes and manage conduct and compliance risk. Our discussions with companies show that corporate culture can have a dominant effect and influence behaviour over and beyond stated company policies and programs.

trees in forest

Why Deforestation Matters for Investors

EARTH DAY 2021: Why should investors care about deforestation and how can it can be taken into account within an investment portfolio?

Sustainability-Linked Loans 2021: The COVID-19 Effect, ESG Ratings & Continued Popularity

The sustainable finance market has seen an exponential increase in size and activity in recent years. Innovative offerings such as green, social, and sustainable bonds, green and sustainability-linked loans (SLLs), and most recently sustainability-linked bonds, have contributed to the market’s incredible growth. In 2020, boosted by varied financial needs and mainstream recognition of environmental, social and governance (ESG) parameters, global sustainable debt capital surpassed US$700 billion, a 30% increase compared to 2019. Part of this capital was channelled towards tackling the effects of COVID-19 as government agencies, supranational bodies and corporates borrowed money to support areas most affected by the pandemic, such as healthcare. This shift in fund usage in 2020 resulted in the rapid growth of social bonds and a commendable first year for sustainability-linked bonds.

Gender equality supply chains

Gender Equality in Supply Chains: An Opportunity to Increase Positive Impacts

It’s well known that inequalities between men and women still exist in the workplace. Women are less likely to fill senior leadership positions (29% in North America), earn less (81 cents per dollar in the US) and own fewer businesses (39% of businesses in the US) than men.

Walking the Talk: Tips for Telling Your Authentic ESG Story

Our guide, Walking the Talk: Tips for Telling Your Authentic ESG Story, offers insight on how to identify, report, and address material ESG risks.

EU Taxonomy Update

EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation: An Update

Update - 3 March, 2021: To help investors comply with the new requirements of the SFDR, Sustainalytics launched the PAI Data Solution that maps our research to the 60 indicators defined by the regulator. This new dataset will enable investors to consider the PAIs in their investment decisions as well as supporting disclosure requirements. Visit our website to learn how we can help with you SFDR compliance journey.

esg-in-focus

Corporate ESG in Focus: An Overview of ESG and its Impact on Companies

With climate change and social justice concerns increasingly dominating headlines, environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) factors are no longer treated as trivial issues confined to a company’s CSR department. ESG is now central to a company’s financial performance and reputation.

Corporate ESG ebook

Corporate ESG Ratings: How businesses are leveraging their ESG Risk Ratings

Good environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance is not just about meeting investor demands. From revenue generation and raising capital to talent acquisition and employee retention, strong corporate ESG performance can influence key aspects of a company’s operations.

Sustainability-Linked Bonds

What are Sustainability-Linked Bonds? Sustainability-Linked Bonds (SLB) are a forward-looking performance-based instrument. The bonds financial or structural characteristics (such as the coupon rate) are adjusted depending on the achievement of pre-defined sustainability targets. The adjustment can be in both directions, e.g., an increase in coupon rate if targets are not met or a decrease in coupon rate if targets are met. The key difference with green/social/sustainability bonds is that the proceeds can be used for general corporate purposes.

Opportunities on the Horizon: ESG Ratings and the Corporate Perspective

This four-part guide focuses on key areas of sustainable finance, offering companies, corporate investment banks and investors a better understanding of market trends and important developments.

Corporates leverage ESG Peer Performance Insights as a risk management tool

As the social and economic challenges of 2020 continue to unfold and markets remain in flux, the resilience of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing marks a silver lining. In the context of today’s bear market, investors are demonstrating their preference for sustainable funds over traditional ones, with Q1 2020 seeing a global influx of USD 45.6bn, compared to outflows of USD 384.7bn for the overall fund universe. Europe has continued to account for the majority of this inflow into sustainable funds, while the U.S. has picked up pace with a 100% y-o-y increase, the highest regionally. Furthermore, Morningstar reported that 89%, or 51 out of 57, of its sustainable indices outperformed their market peers in Q1 2020. For ESG practitioners, this may not come as a surprise as experience has shown that companies with robust corporate cultures and sustainable business practices are best-positioned for long term resilience and growth, leading to stickiness of ESG investments.

ESG Performance Analytics

Sustainalytics´ ESG Performance Analytics provides companies with an in-depth assessment of their ESG Risk Rating compared relatively to a select number of industry peers.

What are Sustainability Linked Loans (SLLs)?

A Sustainability Linked Loan is focused on incentivizing sustainability improvements among corporate borrowers by linking the terms of the loan to their overall sustainability performance targets. SLLs can be used for general corporate purposes as the terms are tied solely to the borrower’s ESG-related performance.

Lime shoreline

Corporate ESG Ratings in Latin America: Use Cases for Companies and Banks | Webinar

To take advantage of the demand for ESG-related disclosure and communicate their sustainability achievements to internal and external stakeholders, many forward-looking companies are leveraging ESG information in their capital raising activities and marketing efforts.

Soaring on Success: The Growth of Sustainability Linked Loans

This four-part guide focuses on key areas of sustainable finance, offering companies, corporate investment banks and investors a better understanding of market trends and important developments.

Sustainability Linked Bonds

Sustainability-Linked Bonds (SLBs) are a forward-looking performance-based instrument, for which the bond’s financial or structural characteristics (such as the coupon rate) are adjusted depending on the achievement of pre-defined sustainability performance targets.