ESG Investor’s weekly round-up of news on technology and tools in the sustainable investing sector, including Broadridge, ESG Book, Ada Fintech, Redington, Greyparrot.ai, and Viridios.ai.
Broadridge Financial Solutions, a New York-based financial technology company, has introduced a new European ESG reporting service for asset managers complying with the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). Level two of the regulation will require principal adverse impact (PAI) information to be publicly disclosed from January next year. To supplement asset managers with the information they will need to inform these disclosures, Broadridge has expanded its multi-jurisdictional regulatory fund reporting suite through the new service, which “enables asset managers to efficiently provide data by leveraging automation and existing network links amongst fund distribution channels to ensure they have data and regulatory documents at the right time for their end clients”, according to Paul Poletti-Gadd, Broadridge’s Chief Solutions Officer. The service will allow asset managers to disclose through the European ESG Template (EET), and will offer an end-to-end EET outsourcing solution with rigorous evidential control systems to provide support with all elements of EET. Broadridge says the development of the service was informed by feedback from a number of client working groups.
Arabesque S-Ray has been rebranded as ESG Book. Arabesque S-Ray was incubated by Arabesque in 2018 and the company has said the rebrand is part of its growth plans to meet the increasing demand for sustainability solutions in the investment industry. ESG Book combines technology and research to provide sustainability data for the financial markets. The company currently processes over 15 million data points daily for over 25,000 companies and its sustainability solutions are used by financial organisations collectively managing over US$120 trillion. Daniel Klier, CEO of ESG Book, said: “This decision reflects the evolution and growth of our company, as well as changing client demand, with ESG Book becoming the central marketplace for all our products.” ESG Book is part of the Arabesque Group, a UK-based sustainable finance company founded in 2013 after a management buyout from Barclays Bank, which also includes Arabesque Asset Management and Arabesque AI.
Ada Fintech, a subsidiary of UK-based investment consulting company Redington, has announced the launch of a stewardship data solution, through its research management platform, powered by British impact-focused FinTech firm Tumelo. The tool will allow investors to track and access the voting records of managers, providing fund-level stewardship insights from Ada Fintech and voting data from Tumelo. Adam Jones, Managing Director at Ada Fintech and Redington CTO: “In a world where investors are expected to put increasing emphasis on evidencing research and holding managers accountable on ESG engagement, gaining access to the relevant data and insight remains a challenge. Drawing upon Tumelo’s leading voting research […] means users can see exactly how managers are engaging with companies and achieve absolute clarity as to whether their actions are supporting their long-term ESG goals.”
Greyparrot.ai, a London-based AI waste analytics platform, has raised US$11 million in a Series A funding round intended to address the lack of data in the waste industry by increasing recycling rates and introducing accountability to the waste value chain. Launched in 2019, Greyparrot has customers in 60% of the waste management market, including companies such as Suez and Biffa. The investment was led by Luxembourg-domiciled venture capital fund Una Terra, which manages €200 million in Series A+ funds. The investment is intended to allow Greyparrot to expand its operations and account for other types of waste in different sectors, such as construction and demolition. Mikela Druckman, Co-Founder and CEO of Greyparrot, said: “Waste has been recognised as the fourth biggest contributor to climate change, yet the data surrounding it has been sparse at best. This is a huge missed opportunity. We are putting a monetary value on waste – something that is perceived to have a negative value. Providing access to granular waste data can also have a big impact at a macro level, helping to shape government policies around recycling and influencing the decisions producers make about their packaging.”
Sydney-headquartered AI-driven carbon market intelligence firm Viridios.ai has launched a VAI platform which will provide voluntary carbon market (VCM) participants with decision-useful data on one platform. The platform aims to provide transparency and verified information to VCM participants, as well as complete carbon offset project information covering many of the world’s investible and traded carbon offset projects. Viridios.ai’s CEO, Marcelo Labre, said: “The highly fragmented and unregulated nature of the VCM, low liquidity with the majority of transactions conducted over-the-counter, and valuation methodology discrepancies, result in a lack of transparency. The value discovery that MARKS and the VAI platform provide is crucial to remove these obstacles and helping to attract a more diverse set of participants to the carbon market, which will stimulate activity and result in a more robust and investable asset class.”
