Resource Center

The global equities market experienced substantial growth over the first quarter of 2019 as the FTSE All-World (AW) index returned 12.5%. But this growth spurt comes on the tail of a significant selloff during the preceding quarter; the total return of the FTSE AW over Q4 2018 sunk to -12.6%.[i]

Much has been written about the rise of responsible investing and environment, social and governance (ESG) integration over the past decade. From 2014 to 2016, assets that systematically considered ESG factors in the investment process grew from USD 7.5 trillion to USD 10.4 trillion, with continued momentum over the past several years[i]. However, recent commitments to ESG integration (vs. values-based strategies) have yet to be tested by a significant market downturn. The spike in market volatility experienced in late 2018 has led some to question whether the consideration of ESG factors by investors will continue to flourish in a market environment characterized by investor fear and valuation corrections.

On Monday 4 February, the final report from the Royal Commission inquiry into misconduct in the Australian financial sector was published. It contained a scathing review of years of misconduct and of the failures by regulators to appropriately supervise and hold companies accountable. The report also provided 76 recommendations to fix these issues.

In a new Medium article highly worth the read, Jon Hale, Global Head, Sustainable Investing Research at Morningstar, writes about recent misleading attacks on the credibility of ESG assessments and sustainable investing. He takes aim at a critical report from The American Council for Capital Formation, a Washington D.C. policy group financed by the National Association of Manufacturers, the fossil fuels industry and various other corporate lobbying organizations.

I recently traveled from the US to Europe to learn about the major market differences in sustainable investing. For context, investors long rooted in sustainable investing practices have viewed the general US market as lagging compared to Europe. As it pertains to values-based investing, I agree. However, the US has embraced ESG integration in a very sophisticated and pioneering way as it relates to risk mitigation.

Having already attracted more than USD 1bn of venture capital and other sources of funding, CRISPR – a breakthrough technology in gene editing – is revolutionizing biotechnology.

This report explores how environmental, social and governance (ESG) compatibility may contribute to the financial success of mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Although M&As can present synergistic opportunities, firms involved in such deals are prone to several risks.

Default funds used by DC plan members in the UK are significantly exposed to a variety of ESG risks, including human capital, business ethics, product safety and data privacy and security.

In this year’s contribution to Sustainalytics’ 10 for series we present ten investment themes for investors to consider in 2017.For each theme, we describe the key drivers, identify companies with upside exposure and present a profile of a company that we consider to be particularly well-positioned in the market.

In this Spotlight report, we build on this interest by developing a new approach for connecting ESG and credit rating agency (CRA) data. The first part of our analysis looks at the correlation between ESG scores and CRA ratings,

On January 25th Sustainalytics published 10 for 2017: Investment themes in a changing world, the fourth installment in our 10 for series. As the title suggests, the report looks at thematic ESG investing.

– Celebrating Sustainalytics’ 25th anniversary. This year Sustainalytics turns 25. It is an important event to celebrate, but, for me, the true value of such milestones lie in the fact that they give you pause to reflect. While Sustainalytics is a success story, it doesn’t mean we didn’t have some peaks and valleys. At any rate, I ask myself how we were able to create a company that has built responsible investing into its very DNA.