ESG Investor’s weekly round-up of news on technology and tools in the sustainable investing sector.
Fitch Ratings has launched a corporate discovery tool to help investors assess ESG materiality. The ESG Sector Discovery Tool for Corporates provides a top-down view of both the credit relevance and materiality of ESG issues – such as GHG emissions or air quality – across corporate sectors, issuing an ESG Relevance Score (ESG.RS). Investors can apply a filter which allows them to review data relating to rated issuers between Q4 2019 and Q4 2020, providing a picture of how the materiality of ESG issues can change over time.
Citi has incorporated ESG scores into its securities services data platform Citi Velocity Clarity. The platform allows clients to analyse the sustainability of their holdings at both a portfolio and security level. The update includes new visualisation and algorithmic tools supplied by global data provider Arabesque S-Ray to help analyse multiple sustainability measures on a daily basis. “ESG considerations now permeate every part of the capital markets. When we look at all the ways we can facilitate the transparency of ESG factors in the market, providing access to data is a critical foundation,” said Elree Winnett Seelig, Global Head of ESG for Markets and Securities Services at Citi.
BNP Paribas Securities Services’ platform Manaos has partnered with Clarity AI in order to better promote sustainable investments. Manaos enables institutional investors to store their fund data in one place so they have a more transparent view of all of their investments. Manaos users will be able to apply Clarity AI’s ESG risk and impact scores to their investments, better understanding their level of contribution to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other climate change indicators. “We chose to connect Manaos to the sustainable finance ecosystem as a priority, in line with the BNP Paribas Group’s commitments in this area,” said Patrick Colle, General Manager of BNP Paribas Securities Services.
Arabesque S-Ray ESG data products are now available on the AWS Data Exchange, allowing customers to integrate ESG metrics into their risk management, company analysis, as well as compliance and reporting. Arabesque S-Ray analyses over 8,000 of the world’s largest listed corporations, providing industry-specific assessments of company performance across its financially material sustainability criteria.
Post-trade services utility Euronext has responded to the growing demand from investors for sustainable investment tools and has launched the ESG version of the CAC 40 index, which is designed to identify the top 40 companies exhibiting best-performing ESG practices within the CAC Large 60 Index. The CAC 40 ESG index combines the measurement of ESG impacts with economic performance on a quarterly basis. “The launch is an important step to accelerate the transition to a sustainable economy. The ESG version of Euronext’s benchmark CAC 40 index will allow investors to finance high-impact projects and companies, in line with the UN Global Company Principles and the SRI label for sustainable and responsible investment,” said Stéphane Boujnah, CEO and Chairman of Euronext’s managing board.
