ESG Research and Resource Center

Labour rights issues in food supply chains are crucial matters to investors, both in terms of compliance with international human rights norms and national legislation, and from the material point of view of securing future supplies. With this background, GES, in collaboration with AP7, The Seventh Swedish National Pension Fund, conducted a pre-study to provide input for the development of a new engagement initiative.

There is significant hype associated with the rollout of 5G networks, which is largely tied to the incredible data transfer speeds 5G capable networks can offer. However, speed is only part of the equation. Beyond speed, key attributes of 5G also include lower latency, reduced cost per gigabyte and larger connection volumes. 5G, unlike previous network technology, will be software-defined, enabling networking functionality to be flexible and adaptable over time.[i] As a result, 5G is anticipated to create a new digital backbone to power future infrastructure needs – a topic we explored in Sustainalytics’ report, 10 for 2020: Creating Impact Through Thematic Investing.

In February 2020, the WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus said misinformation about COVID-19 is just as dangerous as the virus itself. “We are not just fighting an epidemic; we are fighting an ‘infodemic.’ Fake news spreads faster and more easily than the virus and is just as dangerous.”[i]

Since the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11, global stock markets have seen losses not experienced since the 2008 financial crisis.

The highly anticipated final report by the TEG (Technical Expert Group) on the EU Taxonomy was published in early March, followed by a stakeholder information session. You can read our blog post on last fall’s developments here.

Growing public concern over climate change is pushing investors to increasingly assess how their portfolios are pivoting to a low carbon economy. Because of its large carbon footprint, the coal industry is a prime target of environmental activism and divestment campaigns, and it is becoming the investable hot potato few want to hold.

With this blog, we continue our mini-series on the novel coronavirus and some of the related impacts that we see developing in specific industries and for specific ESG issues.

The legal and regulatory foundations of Germany’s corporate governance system are being overhauled in the form of far-reaching changes to the German Stock Corporations Act (AktG) and the German Corporate Governance Code (Kodex). As a result, institutional investors should expect enhanced transparency from German issuers, as well as stronger rights enabling them to effectively exercise their stewardship responsibilities. The reform reflects both the transposition of the EU Shareholder Rights Directive II (SRD II) into domestic law and a corresponding Kodex revamp, both aiming to incorporate governance features that are more typically associated with Anglophone jurisdictions.

Monday’s rout of the global equity market has left investors reeling. Major benchmarks including the S&P 500, FTSE 100 and the DAX were down well over 7%. In Canada, the commodities heavy TSX Composite shed over 10%.

Recognizing that benchmarks can play a powerful role in encouraging companies to uphold labor standards, KnowTheChain has benchmarked 20 ICT companies on the transparency of their efforts to eradicate forced labor from their global supply chains.

The proposed Taxonomy is a classification tool to help investors and companies make informed investment decisions on environmentally friendly economic activities. It is a list of economic activities, which defines performance criteria for six environmental objectives.

Econopolis combines financial analysis with its qualitative evaluation of management and macro-economic themes to construct a portfolio that it believes will be competitive and sustainable in the long term. Their qualitative approach to ESG presented them with two challenges: How can they measure their ESG performance against that of other leading responsible investors? And, how can they reassure clients that their approach is credible?

Placing its clients’ interests centre stage, ABN AMRO understands the importance of delivering optimum service and offering transparent and simple products, while remaining at the forefront of technological developments and innovative solutions for client convenience. As part of its fiduciary duty and as a bank that commits to the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment, ABN AMRO has a detailed plan for ESG integration, engagement and sustainable investing.

ING Wholesale Banking (WB) is the commercial banking business of ING Bank N.V. Using a forward-looking financing approach that incorporates environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations, ING WB provides banking services for large, multinational corporate clients, banks, insurance companies and other institutional investors.

Understand how Sustainalytics' research and data can assist benchmark administrators in implementing the EU Climate Transition Benchmarks and EU Paris-aligned Benchmarks.

Sustainalytics is committed to developing additional products and services to help investors meet other requirements related to the EU Sustainable Finance Action Plan.

Based on our analysis, we find that investors in the FTSE Emerging Index are exposed to over 14 percent more unmanaged ESG risk than those in the FTSE Developed Index. The ESG risk gap between these indices is largest on the issue of data privacy and security. In addition, investors in select equity markets, such as China, may face a trade-off between chasing higher economic growth and mitigating portfolio ESG risk.

For this edition, Sustainalytics, in cooperation with AP7, repeated the analysis of the same 299 companies on the five universal and three sector-specific indicators focusing on the key aspects of corporate water management.

GES has engaged the cocoa industry for many years to increase its effort in tackling the issue of child labour. As a part of its long-term engagement, GES published its second public report on the issue, including investor expectations and a corporate benchmark of leading cocoa and chocolate companies.