ESG Research and Resource Center

Sustainalytics’ Corporate Governance Research and Ratings enable investors to monitor companies year round and assess their corporate governance structures, practices and behaviors.

Our EU Taxonomy Solution provides ESG research and data that assesses clients’ holdings and portfolio alignment to the EU Taxonomy. We currently offer a Taxonomy Data solution and a Managed Portfolio Service. The Managed Portfolio Service provides a portfolio-level alignment assessment and the Data solution provides company-level assessment along with the supporting underlying company-level data. Companies receive one of four assessments: Aligned (/With Warning), Partially Aligned (/With Warning), Not Aligned and No Evidence.

Sustainalytics’ Impact Metrics is a set of company-level metrics that provide a useful measure of impact. Each metric can be used to report on at least one theme in our new Impact Framework and for at least one of the 17 SDGs.

Our Comprehensive Thematic Engagement program combines a set of four thematic engagements in a single package: Climate Transition, Human Capital and the Future of Work, Plastics and the Circular Economy and Tomorrow’s Board. The themes have been selected to give investors the broadest possible coverage of E, S and G topics with exposure to diverse industries and companies.

Sustainable Products Research enables you to identify companies that are involved in a range of products and services that derive revenue from sustainable products and services.

New regulations and stakeholder pressure are creating the need for investors to demonstrate their commitment as responsible owners that view corporate accountability as a means to achieving greater long-term value. In Europe, the Shareholder Rights Directive II requires transparency around voting and engagement and, in North America, voting is considered part of investors’ fiduciary duty with engagement being a natural extension thereof. This underlines the need to align voting and engagement activities.

Sustainalytics’ Controversies Research uses smart technologies to monitor more than 60,000 media sources and 200,000 news items on a daily basis to identify companies involved in ESG-related incidents. Leverages this research to support investment decisions and manage reputational risks.

Sustainalytics‘ works with leading index providers to develop and maintain indexes that track the ESG performance of companies.

With Sustainalytics‘ Country Screening, you can screen countries across UN, US, EU sanctions and 40 international norms and conventions to comply with client mandate, regulations, and investment policies.

The purpose of Thematic Engagement is to influence companies to proactively manage specific ESG risks and opportunities, as well as enabling the participating investors to play an active role in addressing material, shared sustainability challenges through raising sector and systemic standards in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda.

Sustainalytics’ Human Rights Radar provides information on companies that operate in volatile regions where grave human rights violations are taking place. Our research helps investors better understand the nature, impact and extent of companies’ activities as well as how well they are managing relevant risks. Download the brochure to learn more about the product.

As awareness around environmental and social issues has grown, so has the number of investors who deliberately seek to allocate capital to create positive social and environmental impact. Impact investing is as old as the sustainable investment industry, with the bulk of strategies to date having been executed through private equity and debt vehicles. However, as a more diversified pool of investors look to adopt impact investing strategies, fueled by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement, a broader set of asset classes are being considered – here enters public equities.

As global leaders meet in Madrid for the COP25 amid mounting concern over the international response to climate change, the EU Taxonomy experienced a setback with the UK and France blocking the plans. The new framework, intended to drive financial flows that will accelerate the shift to a low carbon future, will likely become a global standard affecting investors around the world. If enacted, it could cement the EU’s position as the world’s pace setter on climate legislation.

“No offence, but…”. This has become a common introduction to questions directed at environment, social and governance (ESG) rating providers and reflects a body of criticism centered on the premise that ESG research and ratings are fundamentally flawed.

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.