Moulding Markets
The Moulding Markets programme funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation builds the profile of producers and users of high-quality sustainable investment research and facilitates the flow of 'investment-grade' research on food, fibre, nature & biodiversity issues.
Moulding Markets is a programme of capital market interventions that aim to
- Identify DEMAND for investment research on the food & fibre transition
- Identify the SUPPLY of such research
- Improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the pipeline between the two
Funded by The Finance Hub of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation's Conservation and Financial Markets Initiative (CFMI), the programme will:
- Improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the sustainable investment value chain, and
- Enable it to blend with the ‘mainstream’ investment value chain
- Amplify fivefold the volume with which tropical deforestation, marine depletion and (un)sustainable agriculture are debated within the sustainable investment value chain
- Increase ‘mainstream’ investment debate on such issues in a way that causes capital to flow from ‘bad’ to ‘good’
Asset managers...
... that wish to take advantage of this fully-funded programme should:
- Ensure that all analysts or portfolio managers in their team have registered with SRI-CONNECT and updated their profiles to reflect the sectors and issues that they are interested in
- Review the suite of services available to asset managers for: Raising Profile In Sustainable Investment via Research and Thought-Leadership
- Review the Resources for Investors and Analysts on Food, Fibre, Nature & Biodiversity
- Download this Directory of the best influential analysts and research providers on the 'food and fibre' transition
- Contact your account manager to these themes on which research would be most valuable
- Review the fully programme of interventions below and registered for those that might help you
- For example, your SRI/ESG analysts might benefit from the Financial Analysis Communications and Integration Training course or
- Or, your 'mainstream' investment analysts might benefit from the Hard and Soft Skills for Integration training course
Research providers...
... that wish to take advantage of the programme should:
- Ensure that all analysts or portfolio managers in their team have registered with SRI-CONNECT and updated their profiles to reflect the sectors and issues that they are interested in
- Contribute research on these themes actively:
- To SRI-CONNECT's Market Buzz
- To the Morning Meetings series that actively promote the best research to sustainable investors globally
- When we commission research from the market on these themes
- Review the fully programme of interventions below and registered for those that might help you
- For example, your SRI/ESG analysts might benefit from the Financial Analysis Communications and Integration Training course or
- Or, your 'mainstream' investment analysts might benefit from the Hard and Soft Skills for Integration training course
Planned interventions
The interventions that will be delivered in 2020 and 2021 are:
Outcome 1: Map and guide investor interest towards CFMI issues
- Quantitatively track level of investor interest in CFMI sectors and issues
- Map CFMI issue 'coverage' of investors and analysts globally
- Produce a videomap & presentation of CFMI issue coverage
- Benchmark AMs' reported activity on CFMI issues
- Publish State of the Research Market analysis for asset managers
- Publish guidance to asset managers on budgeting for sustainable investment research
Outcome 2: Train and equip investors to access and use better sustainability research
- Training for ESG analysts and financial analysts
- Expand IRRI Survey coverage and distribution
- Upgrade SRI-CONNECT portal to increase user interface and traffic
Outcome 3: Incentivise and direct the flow of CFMI-issue based research
- Commission 6 pieces of research on CFMI issues
- Stimulate and chair / curate a series of online discussions on CFMI issues
- Organize 8 analyst webcasts on CFMI issues
- Actively market all of this 'content' to target analysts and investors worldwide
- Develop full-time sales-oriented capacity to 'push' CFMI research to the buy-side
- Incentivise and guide ESG ratings agencies to produce CFMI issue-focused research
- Incentivise and guide sell-side brokers to produce CFMI issue-focused research
- Incentivise and guide credit ratings agencies to produce CFMI issue-focused research
- Train grant-funded sustainable investment research providers on how to market effectively to asset managers
The presentation below tracks the visibility of issues of interest to the Conservation and Markets Initiative.
The following documents and websites were published under funding from this programme:
Websites
- Redevelopment of www.sri-connect.com (this website)
- Development and launch of www.sita-training.com
- Development and launch of www.sustainable-ir.com (primarily funded via the Building Bridges programme but also used to distribute material of relevance to Moulding Markets)
Commissioned research
Research was commissioned, published and distributed by the following investment research providers:
- Bernstein: Will the future of food be less meaty?
- Denny Ellison: The Real Value of Sin Stocks - JBS
- IHS Markit: The Future of Alt Proteins – Impact on the Meat Industry & Farmland Use
- Liberum: Animal Pandemics & Their Impact on Food Systems
- Sitawi: Deforestation risks in Brazilian meat-packing
- S&P Global: If natural capital were valued … potential impact on beef producers
Market research
- For asset managers: Data ≠ ratings ≠ analysis
- Credit ratings agencies: To whose credit?
- For independent research providers: How to influence investors on sustainability issues
Investment relevance of biodiversity and natural capital
- On research supply: (How) can the ESG/SRI research value chain respond to the 'nature crisis'?
- On research supply Pt II: Investment research for Biodiversity: Challenge presented; feedback received; responses delivered
- On asset manager interest: Investor interest in biodiversity and biotic natural capital
- On financial sector exposure: Blogpost: What is your take on the financial sector & biodiversity? (Blogpost)
- On the investors and the wider issue: Blogpost: E = Moo : Cluck Squared
- On investor exposure: Working Paper: Identification of investors with the exposure, ability and inclination to address tropical deforestation
