Resource Center

Since 2012, GES together with the Polish Association of Listed Companies, a self-government organization of companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, has been involved in an educational project ESG analysis of companies in Poland aimed at increasing disclosure and transparency of reporting on non-financial indicators.

For this edition, Sustainalytics, in cooperation with AP7, repeated the analysis of the same 299 companies on the five universal and three sector-specific indicators focusing on the key aspects of corporate water management.

This four-part guide focuses on key areas of sustainable finance, offering companies, corporate investment banks and investors a better understanding of market trends and important developments.

This four-part guide focuses on key areas of sustainable finance, offering companies, corporate investment banks and investors a better understanding of market trends and important developments.

Based on our analysis, we find that investors in the FTSE Emerging Index are exposed to over 14 percent more unmanaged ESG risk than those in the FTSE Developed Index. The ESG risk gap between these indices is largest on the issue of data privacy and security. In addition, investors in select equity markets, such as China, may face a trade-off between chasing higher economic growth and mitigating portfolio ESG risk.

Solutions for closing the food gap are likely to come from both production innovations and changes in consumption trends: on the one hand, it is essential that we increase the supply of food, while on the other, there is real potential for a reduction in demand for certain commodities.

Sustainalytics believes that natural gas has an important role to play in the energy transition, and therefore is an appropriate target for transition finance.

GES has engaged the cocoa industry for many years to increase its effort in tackling the issue of child labour. As a part of its long-term engagement, GES published its second public report on the issue, including investor expectations and a corporate benchmark of leading cocoa and chocolate companies.

Nuclear power in particular can be a controversial and confusing topic with respect to ESG factors. Sustainalytics, a leading global ESG and corporate governance analytics firm, has joined Morningstar Research Services to present a comprehensive ESG analysis of nuclear power, including a look at carbon emissions intensity, waste management, operational management, public safety, worker safety, and regulatory oversight.

The first half of 2020 saw $200bn in sustainable bonds issued globally with green bonds accounting for nearly half of that. As more companies commit to achieving net-zero emissions and as the world shifts to a low carbon economy, the CEO Investor Forum and Sustainalytics welcome industry experts to weigh in on the state of the sustainable finance market during this one-hour virtual event.

Collecting and processing personal data has become one of the most significant drivers of financial value in today’s economy. But as the upside of personal data grows, so too does the downside risk associated with data security, management and privacy.

The world is changing faster than it ever has. As a result, companies are facing increasingly complex and numerous challenges. They need to adapt faster, and in this process, the board has a crucial role to play. A new vision of the board is needed to help start a process today that will result in them being better prepared for tomorrow’s challenges.

ING Wholesale Banking (WB) is the commercial banking business of ING Bank N.V. Using a forward-looking financing approach that incorporates environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations, ING WB provides banking services for large, multinational corporate clients, banks, insurance companies and other institutional investors.

To establish how, and to what extent, investors are considering children’s rights in their policies and practices, GES also worked with the Global Child Forum, a Swedish not-for-profit foundation, to survey asset owner PRI signatories in 2014, 2015 and 2017.

Placing its clients’ interests centre stage, ABN AMRO understands the importance of delivering optimum service and offering transparent and simple products, while remaining at the forefront of technological developments and innovative solutions for client convenience. As part of its fiduciary duty and as a bank that commits to the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment, ABN AMRO has a detailed plan for ESG integration, engagement and sustainable investing.

An increasing number of financial institutions integrate sustainability considerations such as environment, social and governance factors into their investment decisions and product development. Increased customer awareness, regulations, and growing evidence of the long-term benefits of considering sustainability in investment decisions has led to a significant growth in the sustainable finance field.

Sustainalytics is committed to developing additional products and services to help investors meet other requirements related to the EU Sustainable Finance Action Plan.

Sustainalytics hosted an online panel discussion about recent trends, company engagement and developments in modern slavery, along with a preview of Sustainalytics’ thematic engagement on modern slavery.

Overlaying Sustainalytics’ ESG Risk Ratings onto the FTSE AW Index, we found that 24 percent of the benchmark’s market cap was rated as having high to severe levels of ESG risk. In addition, over the course of Q4 2018 the negligible to low ESG risk companies outperformed the benchmark by 55 basis points. Our sample portfolio containing 300 best-in-class ESG performers would have returned 77 basis points more than the benchmark in Q4.