The Assessing Sovereign Climate-related Opportunities and Risks (ASCOR) project plans to revise down its number of indicators and incorporate the principle of fairness for middle and low-income countries into its decision-making, after consultation with users. The ASCOR tool will also expand country coverage from its current 25 countries to 70 countries over the coming years and subsequently to over 100 countries that have major sovereign bond indices. Coverage may be expanded further to include countries that do not yet issue sovereign bonds but have significance to international bond investors. This will depend on funding and the scope of future research priorities. An updated ASCOR framework will be published in autumn 2023. The 25 pilot countries will be assessed in the coming months and a feedback period will be held with relevant government representatives from these countries to improve the accuracy of the assessment results. Assessment data will be published at the end of the year. The ASCOR project is co-chaired by the BT Pension Scheme Management and Church of England Pensions Board.
