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The First Sentier MUFG Sustainable Investment Institute seeks to commission a comprehensive research report on sustainability-related issues in data centres, focusing on financial materiality, sustainability-related risks, and systemic implications for investors.

The report will aim to quantify financial materiality, assess systemic risks and their potential impact on valuations, and provide investment insights across asset classes including engagement guidance. Case studies will be used to demonstrate risks and opportunities including sustainability impacts on production timelines, capex, and revenue. Expected sources include literature (industry reports, media, NGOs, international organisations, academic articles), datasets and industry sources.

Deliverable will include a completed report comprising research outcomes, data, visuals and engagement toolkit.

Proposed timelines:

• This RFP is issued on 29.06.2026
• Any questions or feedback regarding the brief should be submitted by 6.07.2026
• Answers to any questions will be provided by 8.07.2026
• Proposal should be submitted to the Institute by 10.07.2026 together with availability for a 1 hour call to discuss the proposals in the week of 13.07.2026
• Target for notifying the successful tenderer by 17.07.2026

Published: 4 March 2026

Summary: Ericsson's Annual Report incorporates a CSRD/ESRS-aligned Sustainability Statement covering climate strategy, responsible AI, supply-chain management, human rights and circularity.

Published: April 2026

Summary: One of the largest global data-centre REITs. The report focuses on low-carbon data centres, operational efficiency, renewable energy sourcing, customer decarbonisation and resilient digital infrastructure. There is growing discussion of how AI demand is influencing facility design and energy management.

Published: May 2026

Summary: The report covers renewable electricity procurement, energy efficiency, cooling technologies, water stewardship and AI-ready digital infrastructure. It also discusses supporting hyperscale AI workloads while pursuing science-based climate targets.

Nobody really knows how fast AI will develop and what the economic impact will be. It sometimes feels like you ask five people, and you get six different answers. And you don’t even have to ask any economist to get that confused. What to do then to get more clarity?

A team of researchers around Ezra Karger from the Federal Reserve thought, why not ask:

• 69 economists,
• 27 AI industry specialists,
• 25 AI policy experts,
• 38 superforecasters, and
• 401 members of the general public?

They asked all of them the same question and compared the answers.

I mean, how bad can it be?

My latest piece for Reuters is out this morning [June 18th] and I focus on what I think the true future of AI is. Not large language models running in data centres but small language models running on local desktop computers or even mobile devices.

Developed by the Stockholm Resilience Centre, the Planetary Boundaries framework identifies nine Earth system processes that define a “safe operating space” for humanity. Existing research highlights that seven of the nine boundaries have already been breached, signalling escalating risks of irreversible environmental change.  

These developments have considerable significance for businesses and investors: over $58 trillion of global economic value (more than half of global GDP) depends on nature, making ecosystem degradation a systemic financial risk rather than a purely environmental issue.

As climate adaptation moves up the investment agenda, this article argues that investors may be overlooking one of the most important determinants of long-term resilience: the physical design of the landscapes on which businesses depend.

Drawing on a simple observation during France's recent extreme heat, it explores how diverse, water-retaining landscapes can remain significantly cooler than simplified agricultural and forestry systems, and why this matters for productivity, drought, wildfire risk and long-term asset performance.

A recent report by Ceres touches on this issue

Calvert Research & Management argues that the global energy transition has entered a more complex, demand-driven phase — 'Energy Transition 2.0' — shaped by rapidly rising electricity demand, shifting geopolitics, infrastructure constraints and uneven policy environments.

Authors Tarek Soliman and Jonathan Pragel identify companies with durable positions across the evolving energy system and present an investment framework for navigating the new terrain. The paper is available as a downloadable PDF.

Climate Bonds Initiative's Q1 2026 Sustainable Debt Global State of the Market finds that aligned GSS+ debt instruments totalled USD230.3bn for the quarter — a 9% decline from Q1 2025 on a like-for-like basis. Cumulative aligned volume has reached USD6,986bn, just short of the USD7 trillion landmark.

Green bonds retained their dominant position, accounting for 62% of cumulative aligned supply (USD4.3tn), with social and sustainability labels each contributing USD1.3tn.

Carbon Tracker's 'Oil Companies in Disguise' finds that several major automakers may carry carbon intensity comparable to oil and gas companies, due to systematic gaps in Scope 3 emissions reporting.

The research analyses transition risk and investor exposure across the automotive sector, finding that current disclosure practices obscure the true carbon footprint embedded in vehicle manufacturing. The findings have material implications for investors assessing portfolio alignment with net-zero targets. 

Impax Asset Management's ninth annual Stewardship and Advocacy Report fully integrates its response to the updated UK Stewardship Code, covering the firm's active ownership activities — engagement outcomes and voting decisions — over the past year.

Authors include Lisa Beauvilain, Chris Dodwell, Heather Smith and Robyn Lockyer.

Contents

Engagement

Key examples included:

• Climate: Engaging with a German manufacturer of industrial kitchen equipment on Scope 3 emissions disclosure and science-based emissions reduction targets
• Nature: Engaging with a Swiss speciality chemicals company to enhance its assessment of nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities
• People: Engaging with a North American bank on the evaluation and reporting of human capital management
• Governance: Engaging with a Japanese manufacturer of industrial machinery, supplies and components to improve board independence and gender diversity

Advocacy

Key initiatives included:

• Climate: UK Net Zero Council & Transition Finance Council; corporate transition planning systematic stewardship
• Nature: Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF)
• People: Modern slavery regulation in Australia and New Zealand; forced labour import ban and migrant working protections in Taiwan
• Governance: Chinese Corporate Governance Code; Japanese Stewardship Code
• Sustainable finance: Shaping the future of sustainability reporting

Man Group's 'A Sustainable Future' responsible investment podcast features Professor Nicola Ranger of the London School of Economics, who explains why adaptation finance is significantly underdeveloped relative to climate mitigation and identifies the key blind spots that impede progress. The episode, hosted by Jason Mitchell, covers how investors can begin to close the gap — a timely contribution as physical climate risk grows in portfolio significance.

Calvert Research & Management has published its ninth annual Barron's Most Sustainable U.S. Companies ranking, evaluating the 1,000 largest publicly traded U.S. companies across more than 230 key performance indicators.

The methodology draws on Calvert's proprietary ESG research framework, with financial materiality as the central lens. The result is a benchmark for assessing sustainability leadership among large-cap U.S. equities, published in partnership with Barron's magazine.

Baillie Gifford Investment Insight piece arguing that the ESG terminology, as it has come to be used, has outlived its analytical usefulness and needs a rethink — not because the underlying environmental, social and governance considerations have lost relevance, but because the label itself now obscures rather than clarifies long-term investment risk.

Contents

• Why "ESG" as a single composite label is becoming an obstacle to analysis
• Separating the genuine long-term financial drivers from the marketing overlay
• What Baillie Gifford's research process retains from the ESG era and what it sets aside

[Selected by Mike (54) | Summarised by Opus 4.7 | Human-directed; AI-powered]