Resource Center

On World Water Day, we reflect on global companies’ dedicated attention to this most vital resource. Water risks are related to nine of the top ten worst global risks in the Global Risk Report published by the World Economic Forum, with risks likely to increase due to climate change. As global water resources contend with increased stress, companies are expected to face growing scrutiny of their water use due to the significant impacts that it can have on resource security and the health of ecosystems. This scrutiny may manifest in business risk, including limits placed on water withdrawal, increasing costs and heightened regulations.

The growing scarcity of freshwater resources is a risk to the economic, social, and environmental well-being of populations worldwide, and a material issue for companies. Corporate-wide water strategies are essential, but because water security challenges are experienced at the local level, and water basin conditions are unique, there is no one-size-fits-all solution for companies to implement.

As part of the EU Sustainable Finance Action Plan, the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SDFR) supplements the current rulebooks governing manufacturers of financial products.

As onshore resources became harder to locate over the past decades, offshore exploration and production have grown into a global industrial activity. The prospect of finding hydrocarbons has led some companies to explore deeper waters in some regions.

How are Country Risk Ratings being utilized to identify risk and to construct a sovereign ESG fixed income index? Listen in as Manna Neghassi, Manager, Product Strategy and Development at Sustainalytics and Katie Binns, Senior Product Manager, Fixed Income Indexes at Morningstar Indexes tell us more.

It’s well known that inequalities between men and women still exist in the workplace. Women are less likely to fill senior leadership positions (29% in North America), earn less (81 cents per dollar in the US) and own fewer businesses (39% of businesses in the US) than men.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted lives and livelihoods on an unprecedented scale. Despite massive government spending, the pandemic resulted in the global economy shrinking by 3.5% in 2020.[i] However, the financial burden of this pandemic has not been borne evenly.

Hear from Sustainalytics' Methodology and Portfolio Research specialist, Liam Zerter, as he talks us through the key findings from Sustainalytics' recent Combining ESG Risk and Economic Moat report, which shows that economic moat and ESG risk can be combined to create investment strategies that generate value both in terms of returns and portfolio risks.

Our guide, Walking the Talk: Tips for Telling Your Authentic ESG Story, offers insight on how to identify, report, and address material ESG risks.

We launched our new Impact Metrics product to support investors’ growing need for more robust data that can be used to demonstrate how ESG-focused strategies can deliver real-world social and environmental outcomes. Since the launch, I have connected with many enthusiastic institutional investors eager to make sense of the rapidly evolving world of impact, excited to dive into impact data, and cautiously optimistic about supporting their clients’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) and impact needs.

Listen in as the Sustainalytics 10 for 2021 research team walks you through the report, highlighting the key subindustries, from agrochemicals, agriculture and aquaculture to packaged food, food retail and restaurants,

Update - 3 March, 2021: To help investors comply with the new requirements of the SFDR, Sustainalytics launched the PAI Data Solution that maps our research to the 60 indicators defined by the regulator. This new dataset will enable investors to consider the PAIs in their investment decisions as well as supporting disclosure requirements. Visit our website to learn how we can help with you SFDR compliance journey.

With climate change and social justice concerns increasingly dominating headlines, environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) factors are no longer treated as trivial issues confined to a company’s CSR department. ESG is now central to a company’s financial performance and reputation.

This report aims to support investors interested in gauging environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks and opportunities in the global food value chain. We survey key subindustries – from agrochemicals, agriculture and aquaculture to packaged food, food retail and restaurants – in search of solutions that may support the principles of the circular economy (CE). These principles include minimizing waste and pollution, extending the use-phase of products and ecosystem regeneration. Some of the key insights found in the report are:

When Sustainalytics (GES[1]) initiated the Emerging Markets (EM) Engagement program as a pilot project in 2009, the scale, scope and impact were undetermined factors. Based on the successful execution of the program methodology in the African and Middle Eastern regions during the pilot stage, the full program launched in 2010 to cover all major emerging markets. After the project close in July 2020, the program accounts for 926 meetings with companies in emerging markets.

This years edition of Sustainalytics’ 10 for series takes a deep dive into some of the most pressing environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues affecting companies that contribute to the global food value chain.

As the Biden administration moves into the White House this week, the world is waiting to see if a promising focus on climate change along with a Democratic Congress will present plausible opportunities to cut carbon emissions. While the outgoing administration backed initiatives supporting coal energy[1], it doesn’t appear to have slowed industry decline.

While Oil and Gas (O&G) operations are responsible for roughly 15 percent of global energy-related GHG emissions, some energy companies have pledged the role of natural gas (NG) as a transitional fuel. At the same time, NG energy use is increasing globally, and shale-gas extraction is booming at an unprecedented rate. One factor that is often overlooked is the methane emissions across the NG value chain.

December 10th is Human Rights Day and, as we approach the end of the year, recognition of this day offers a suitable moment to reflect on the extraordinary events that unfolded in 2020.

In this report, we look at the potential synergies between Sustainalytics’ ESG Risk Ratings and Morningstar’s Economic Moat Rating. As a part of our research, we constructed a back-testable investment strategy and portfolio by segmenting stocks with low ESG risk and a wide moat. While both metrics worked independently, they performed exceptionally well in combination.