Professional associations

Sell-side analysts are invited to join a small group meeting with Experian management to discuss how the company’s approach to financial inclusion, gender equity, the UN Sustainable Development Goals and sustainability more broadly contributes to its core investment proposition.

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The company will update sell-side analysts on progress since its initial briefing in 2024 and on the back of its soon-to-be-published report.

This event will enable sell-side analysts (both ‘mainstream’ and ESG/sustainability/thematic specialists) to hear about and evaluate Experian’s approach to these topics – so that they can support their buy-side clients’ understanding of whether / how / where the stock might fit within ESG / sustainability-focused or broader investment portfolios.

Details

• Format: Virtual, small group meeting
• Date: Friday 6 June
• Time: 13:00 – 14:00
• Invitees: Sell-side analysts (‘mainstream’ financial and sustainability / ESG / thematic specialists)

Company participants:

• Abigail Lovell, Chief Sustainability Officer
• Evelyne Bull, Director, Investor Relations
• Charlie Brown, Company Secretary

Can we harness artificial intelligence (AI) for climate action?

Please join us at our forthcoming public event, Harnessing AI: safeguarding high-integrity data for climate action, organised by the Transition Pathway Initiative Centre (TPI Centre) at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) during London Climate Action Week.

Date: Tuesday 24 June 2025 (click here to mark your calendar.)
Time: 18:30 BST, 19:30 CEST, 13:30 EST, 10:30 PST
Venue: Auditorium in the Centre Building, LSE at Houghton St, London WC2A 2AE
Format: Hybrid

• In-person: No ticket or pre-registration is required. Entry is on a first-come, first-served basis. 
• Online via LSE Live: register here.

Event page: https://www.transitionpathwayinitiative.org/publications/118/show_news_article

If you look at the US administration’s drive against all things ESG (particularly DEI), you’d think that traditional and sustainable investing are mutually incompatible. However, a survey of 509 portfolio managers, about half of which were based in the US, shows that ESG investing beliefs are similar between the two groups.

... read more on Substack ... including

"Portfolio managers were asked to assess which environmental and social factors influence long-term returns the most and where they think companies are over- or underinvesting."

Emerging Markets Strive to Align while EU’s Omnibus I May Have Far-Reaching Implications

• US states like California and countries such as Brazil and China focused on enhancing ESG and climate-related disclosures, reflecting a trend of strengthening initiatives over introducing new regulations.
• Emerging markets like Chile and Kenya developed sustainable taxonomies, emphasising global efforts for standardised sustainable finance.
• The EU’s Omnibus I proposal could affect sustainable finance by facilitating transition financing through partial alignment with the EU taxonomy, potentially broadening the scope of eligible activities for sustainable investment.

Sector Insight: Real Estate

• Significant Environmental Impact, While Contributing Positively to Social Objectives
• Sector Issuance Remains Robust, with Maturity Being Reflected in ESG Ratings
• Affordable Housing Stands Out as a Target Cause for Sustainable Debt

The acceleration and expansion of AI across sectors and applications has led to a notable increase in data processing demand, with waves of new data centres being developed globally. Investor interest in these installations has also surged, channelling both public and private capital towards the sector.  There are environmental and social considerations associated with datacentres, which guide the opportunity and challenges that investors can encounter in the space.

This report highlights how Sustainable Fitch approaches the topic of data centres under entity-and framework-level assessments for its ESG Ratings and ESG Scores. This includes how entities involved in the operation of data centres perform under our assessment approach.  We also provide analysis on how labelled debt issuers are integrating data centre into bond use of proceeds (UoPs) and the approach of our framework ratings.

Strong Issuance from Banks and Supranationals in 1Q25

Social-themed debt has been resilientin the face of thebroader labelledbond market slowdownin 1Q25. Overall issuance volumes were 20% lower in the quartercompared with1Q24.However,pockets of activity related to the social segment of the market indicate the presence of ongoing investor support and issuer financing needs. Increased economic uncertainty due to geopolitical and trade tensionscould support social and sustainability bond issuance, relative to other labels in the sustainable debt market.

...

Claire Jervis, CFA looks at the healthcare sector and the reasons behind its challenging performance. She discusses the impact of Trump's policies on pharmaceutical companies and how our portfolio is positioned to navigate this difficult geopolitical environment.

The green economy consists of companies that provide products and services with environmental benefits – from renewable energy and clean water to energy-efficient buildings and recycling services. These solutions span entire value chains and are essential for addressing climate change as well as broader environmental challenges.  

As the green economy is currently experiencing volatility, our ‘Investing in the Green Economy’ 2025 report helps investors analyse short-term turbulence and identify long-term growth drivers of the green economy and relevant investment opportunities. 

UTS Institute for Sustainable Futures: Reducing animal testing in the health sector through strategic investment.  

How can we reduce animal testing in the health sector and offer guidance for investor engagement on this topic?

Alison Atherton

Despite implementation of regulations that aim to reduce animal testing over time, the practice remains widespread in the pharmaceutical, healthcare, and wellness industries.

A new report commissioned by Stewart Investors aims to understand the methods used to reduce animal testing, identify best practices for transitioning to non-animal approaches and create visibility around these efforts.  

While there is general widespread endorsement of the 3Rs (replacement, reduction, and refinement) within legislation and company policies, several barriers hinder the implementation of alternatives to animal testing. 

Key Takeaways:

• The transition to a more resilient energy sector largely relies on an increasing use of renewable energy sources and the adoption of new technologies. Both require extensive use of minerals, particularly critical minerals. Copper, being one the most conductive non-precious metals, is vital for many industries necessary for the energy transition.
• Global copper demand is projected to surge by approximately 70% by 2050, with large-scale uses in power delivery and electrification, expansion of electric vehicles and other renewable energy technologies.
• Our data shows that sustainability issues, such as access to water, pollution, and human rights, present potential risks to investors in the metals and mining industry, particularly copper mining.
• Institutional investors can benefit from having a better understanding of the sustainability profile of the copper-mining companies in their portfolio and help assess which companies are best positioned to manage sustainability risk and meet international global standards and regulations around responsible mining.

Denmark is a back-to-back champion, receiving the highest overall ESG scores of any country in Robeco’s latest Country ESG Rankings.

Meanwhile, the UK celebrates a historic milestone and makes extraordinary strides toward decarbonization.

Plus, find out why liquid assets are so important for sovereign investments and ESG scores.

• Date: Thursday 15 May 2025
• Time: 9:00 London, 10:00 Paris, 17:00 Tokyo, 18:00 Sydney

• Hayeon Cho, Analyst, TPI Centre, LSE
• Nikolaus Hastreiter, Policy Fellow, TPI Centre, PhD candidate, LSE
• Mathilde Mesnard, Deputy Director, Environment Directorate; OECD Co-ordinator for Climate and Green Finance, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
• Jason Mortimer, Head of Sustainable Investment – Fixed Income, Nomura Asset Management 
• Moderator: Ali Amin, Policy Fellow, Research Project Manager, TPI Centre, LSE

… to companies.

… because companies (should) only care about the long-term arc over which investor interest in their sustainability exposures and management practices develops.

Companies manage short-term variations in political pressure and investor focus in many other areas and are usually good at determining long-term signal from short-term noise.  ESG / DEI / Net Zero and other sustainability factors and trends are no different to other factors and trends in the demands that they make of companies.

In this context, I discuss below:

• what we know about the size, shape and direction of travel for sustainable investment
• what we don't know
• how companies' can manage through uncertainty on a low-cost, no-regrets basis by focusing on high-quality, direct investor relations
• … and I leave the final word to the acknowledged expert in sustainable investor communications: Beyoncé.

What we know (or can reasonably assume)

• Over the next few years sustainability practices / ESG activities will be battered (in equal measure?) by bureaucratic European progressives and the anti-regulatory instincts of the American right.
• This will happen within the glare of the media for as long as the 'wax and wane' story generates clicks on financial news and commentary publications and websites.
• Through it a 'resilient core' of investors will retain their principled interest in allocating capital and exercising their ownership rights in support of sustainability transitions; when trends soften in some areas (for example, renewable energy), they will likely seek them in other areas (for example, healthcare)
• A 'rational body' of investors will allocate capital to sustainability transitions as/when guided to by market context and stock valuation
• An 'evaporating periphery' of investors will 'go quiet' on ESG sustainability - at least in public giving themselves space to tell progressive clients that they are doing one thing and conservative clients that they are doing another … while quietly doing both and neither at the same time ;-)
• This 'going quiet' is likely to result in a reduction in resources deployed to ESG / sustainable investment (across the market) but also (probably) some reallocation (as some firms gain credit for standing firm in a space that others are vacating 

What we don't know

• We don't know the size or shape of the 'resilient core', the 'rational body' or the 'evaporating periphery'
• We don't know all of the factors will affect it.  We can assume that these will be a bundle of things at the fund and manager level (like reporting requirements which seem likely to soften) and things at the stock level (like the oil price and labour expectations and geopolitical stability which seem likely to [INSERT YOUR OWN GUESS FOR TODAY HERE]
• We don't know how progressives will respond to the current public backlash.  In the past, sustainable investment has benefited from being a channel that remains open when political channels for their interests close.  At the same time, the industry has also benefited from the development and adoption of regulation within more supportive regulatory environments.  (Both cannot be true at the same time.)  Political reluctance to address sustainability factors may strengthen or weaken sustainable investment.

Managing through uncertainty

A few things are significant when companies consider how to manage through this uncertainty / lack of visibility:

• The 'evaporating periphery' comprise investors who never deeply engaged with the sustainable economic transitions - that involve strategic decision making and capital allocation.  Their approach to 'ESG' was always more centred on data disclosure, downside risk management, passive reporting processes and unchallenging engagement demands.
• (This is not to diminish the 'weight of money' delivered by 'me too' investors … merely to highlight that it was never accompanied by a 'weight of thinking' or 'weight of real expectation' … and that it will be back as quickly as it came and then departed when the political and consumer winds shift again
• Actually, the overall size of these investor categories doesn't matter to individual companies.  All that matters is what the particular investors on their own shareholder register think and what those that are thinking of buying their stock think
• In its next iteration, ESG and sustainable investment will necessarily have a much stronger focus on (fewer) financially-material sustainability factors that shape companies' commercial success and investment performance and connect to the company's 'equity story' (… and deprioritise (by comparison) multi-factor hybrid ESG datasets) 

A 'no regrets', low-cost focus on high-quality investor and analyst relationships

Rather than worrying about all of the short-term noise, we advise companies to fix their eyes on the prize - of high-quality communications with investors willing and able to allocate capital towards sustainable investment transitions.  Specifically, we encourage them to:

1. Keep costs tight and conversations private
   • Do virtual roadshows rather than actual ones
   • Use Zoom calls to communicate to multiple ESG agencies at once rather than getting sucked into endless conversations with 'issuer communications' processes
2. Take control of the sustainable investment narrative presented to investors
   • Notably there is a chance for many companies to expand investors' horizons from the environmental by highlighting their social & economic contributions
3. Ensure that investors receive contextual information (as well as performance data)
   • ... so that they can understand how sustainability affects (or doesn't) the business and market landscape within which the company operates
4. Improve the efficiency of communications to investors on sustainability with direct communications to named analysts and managers
5. Improve the efficiency and quality of relationships and communications with named (sector) analysts at ratings agencies and research providers 
6. Support an investor focus on those aspects of sustainability that are financially-material and lead to capital allocations those aspects of sustainability that are the company has material over
   • (rather than supplying reams of irrelevant granular data and responding to tangential engagement expectations)
7. Focus on what their own current investors specifically need (not on what the sustainability commentariat say that all investors should want)
8. Prioritise fundamental active, capital-allocating investors (over passive investors who follow the market) and the research providers that support them

Encouragingly all of the guidance, tools and case studies that companies need to achieve this have been developed, tested and are freely available (Our preferred ones are listed below).

"… cause if you like it … (investors & research providers)"

… you gotta put a name on it.

If (as recommended in this post) companies prioritise high-quality, direct communications and the development of relationships with fundamental investment analysts, investors and research providers will need to make themselves available and visible for this.

To paraphrase Beyoncé, if they want it, they gotta put a name on it.

These investors and analysts will need to make sure that the companies that matter to them know that Amy Andrews covers sustainability in the Autos sector for them and Ben Benson covers Biodiversity and Charles Trandell covers Carbon Transition etc.  I have written more about this here: Thanks … but no thanks … and please …

You can read the headlines and conclude that we ESG / sustainable investment is waxing or waning … or you can look out over a 3-4 year time horizon and "skate to where the puck is going" … which seems indisputably likely to focus on high-quality analysis of companies' strategic positioning and capital allocation in the face of sustainable economic transitions.

In the meantime, I leave you with the promised resources to support a low-cost, no-regrets approach to sustainable investor communications:

• www.sri-connect.com
• www.sustainable-ir.com
• WBCSD: How to: Target investors & analysts
• WBCSD: How to: Organise ESG roadshows and capital markets days
• WBCSD: How to: Prepare messages and data for investors and analysts
• WBCSD: How to: Integrate sustainability into an equity story
• Free tips (for listed companies) on how to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your communication on sustainability to investors and analysts.
• Sustainable Investor Relations Services from SRI-Connect.

Allianz GI: Eight lessons learned from 20 years of ESG investing 

• ESG investing is the answer to a double tragedy. Global systemic risks such as climate change are particularly challenging to address because they embody two intertwined dilemmas: a tragedy of the commons and a tragedy of the horizon. ESG investing has emerged as a mechanism for bridging the gap between short-term pressures and these long-term sustainability imperatives.
• A bet on change. ESG metrics as a risk and analytical tool provide an essential lens through which to navigate the investment landscape, focusing on avoiding idiosyncratic risks today while anticipating long-term systemic risks and opportunities tomorrow. Rather than assuming a continuation of the status quo, they enable investors and institutions to manage change and drive innovation.
• Moving from hype to mainstream. Investor attitudes towards sustainable investing have evolved from early hype to more sober resilience, reflecting the classic Gartner Hype Cycle framework. Indeed, the performance of ESG investments has been quite volatile over the past 15 years, mostly for the same reasons as non-ESG portfolios. But overall, ESG funds have proven resilient, continuing to see inflows and sustained growth. This shift towards more stable assets shows that sustainable investing has matured, not disappeared.
• Europe dominates ESG investing. The extent to which ESG investing is prominent in portfolios varies widely by region..........

New eye-popping data shows what is not often cited in the nation’s labor force. Fresh numbers reveal that unemployment for Black workers this year is steadily rising, especially for Black women.

For perspective, the jump for Black women was among the highest of any group and much greater than the unchanged overall 4.2% nationwide unemployment rate last month. Black women saw their unemployment climb by 106,000 in April.

See: here and here

It shouldn’t be difficult, should it?!

• There are companies whose products and services deliver sustainable outcomes and support sustainable economic transitions.
• There are investors who want to invest their capital into these companies.

However, somehow, all manner of complexity, bureaucracy, smoke and mirrors appears to get in the way of the simple process of:

• Companies knowing which investors are interested in sustainability (product and service) companies
• Companies communicating their (sustainable) equity story to these investors
• Investors heading this story and being able to communicate directly with these companies … and then – investing in them

Much of the blame for this appears to lie with the ‘over-ESG-ification’ of what should be simple.

To redress the balance, we propose:

Five simple, quick, free steps for companies with positive sustainability exposure …

Rather than supplying hundreds of ESG datapoints with often limited and sometimes no relevance to the company’s operations, we encourage companies to keep it simple by articulating clearly their contribution to sustainability and ensuring that it reaches the relevant target audience (managers of sustainability-themed portfolios) by following the following five simple steps:

Step 1: Create and post to the IR pages of your website a short (10-12 slide) Powerpoint presentation

This presentation should describe:

• What your business does (nature and scope of activity, divisional breakdown, summary of growth plans etc)
• How your business activities contributes to mitigating environmental, social or economic (sustainability) challenges
• (Where possible) quantitative measures of the contribution (as a percentage of revenues, of CapEx, of R&D spend … or whatever measure you deem most descriptive of your activities)
• Data on any basic sustainability metrics that you already gather.  Keep it simple.  Just disclose those that are easy to gather and act as baseline qualifiers for SRI/ESG funds.  Don’t get dragged into ticking every box

Step 2: Identify investors likely to be interested in your story ... for free

Use this guide: Show me the (Sustainable) Money to find investment institutions and SRI-Connect’s Directory to find relevant individuals at these.  (The latter requires registration with SRI-Connect but this is free and only takes two minutes).

Step 3: Ensure the IR pages of your website are easy for sustainable investors to navigate

Read and apply lessons from SRI-C's benchmarking of companies' sustainable investor communications practice

Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for a free benchmarking of your practice vs peers

Step 4: Post a link to your latest CSR/sustainability report to SRI-Connect's Market Buzz ... for free

A link to your report will then be distributed to the 6,000+ sustainable investor / analyst users of SRI-Connect.

Step 5: Ignore the other demands

This is the hardest step.

Companies should be confident that – having disclosed the essential contribution of your core business to sustainability and a sufficient number (few) baseline metrics to demonstrate that you are acting in good faith – serious investors and efficient research providers will be satisfied with this.

You will be asked by others for 100 datapoints.  However, stay confident that 10 is probably the largest number that any investor or research provider can meaningfully use.  Actually only 1 or 2 are likely to be relevant ... but understandably they may want to monitor a few more. 

Don’t over complicate things

The worst enemy of sustainable capital allocation is over-complication.  This traps us all in a Kafka-esque maze of datapoints and ratios that everyone claims that someone else should use … but nobody actually does.

The (only) way for companies to escape the maze is to articulate clearly what they do and why it is sustainable and to ensure that this information (and people ready to answer any questions) are available to investors.

Other resources

Beyond this, companies can improve their visibility with sustainable investors by using the following resources:

• www.sri-connect.com
• www.sustainable-ir.com
• WBCSD: How to: Target investors & analysts
• WBCSD: How to: Organise ESG roadshows and capital markets days
• WBCSD: How to: Prepare messages and data for investors and analysts
• WBCSD: How to: Integrate sustainability into an equity story
• Free tips (for listed companies) on how to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your communication on sustainability to investors and analysts.
• Sustainable Investor Relations Services from SRI-Connect.

1. The full list of banks selected for assessment by the TPI Centre in 2025,
2. A high-level timeline for the research process, including when the banks will be contacted for feedback, and
3. A description of the methodological expansion and enhancements.

For details, please visit our website

Launching Scrutiny Hub – a think tank advocating for greater capacity for in-depth company analysis, not just more disclosure and frameworks. The first report is The Scrutiny Deficit and alongside this is a database of 200+ non-profits producing research on company sustainability (download here).  

There is a critical lack of capacity for in-depth company analysis. Too often, regulators have assumed that if information is disclosed it will be meaningfully analysed, but that’s rarely true.

This leads to duplicated shallow analysis that cannot handle the complex relationship between sustainability and profit – and that’s fuelling the pushback against sustainability.

Instead, corporate accountability needs an ecosystem of organisations with the expertise, resources, and independence to produce in-depth analysis that can build toward consensus between companies, investors and governments on the solutions to market failures. Non-profit providers of corporate scrutiny are uniquely positioned to provide this.

The report reviews the corporate scrutiny ecosystem and outlines proposals to increase analytical capacity – from aggregating non-profit research to new funding streams for corporate scrutiny, sell-side reform, and empowering non-executive directors.

Impact investing, which aims to benefit the environment or society while also earning a financial return, has always been tricky to define for investors.

Proving that a positive impact has actually been achieved has often been difficult, along with the debate over whether public markets are an appropriate investment channel.

But this should not stop investors from trying to make a difference by utilizing equity and bond markets to direct capital towards impactful companies. In addition, shareholder engagement can be used as a means to have a more direct influence on companies’ sustainability practices.

In this white paper, we outline Robeco’s approach to impact investing; how we distinguish between impact-aligned and impact-generating investing; how the Robeco SDG Framework provides the backbone for identifying suitable companies; and how we apply engagement to generate a positive real-world impact.

Banks play a central role in economic activity, and as such they are important players in the energy transition. However, the banking sector has struggled to develop metrics that show how their financing activities align with a clean energy transition.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance has developed a metric called the Energy Supply Finance Ratio (ESFR) with the goal of clarifying the link between financing and the energy transition. Put simply, the ESFR is the ratio of a bank’s financing of low-carbon energy production to its financing of fossil fuel energy production. A bank with an ESFR ratio close to 1 invests equally in low-carbon and fossil energy; a bank with a lower ESFR invests mainly in fossil energy sources, while a higher ESFR indicates more active financing of clean energy solutions.

In this note we summarize what the ESFR is and how it evolved. 

Focal Points:

• Highlights available here

Parameters:

• Publication date: March 2025
• Data to: 31/12/25
• Materiality assessment: Not found
• Data centre: here

Note:

The Combined Management Report of Merck KGaA and the Merck Group for fiscal 2024 includes a combined Sustainability Statement. The Combined Sustainability Statement was prepared in order to meet the requirements set forth in Directive (EU) 2022/2464 of the European Parliament and of the Council dated December 14, 2022 (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, CSRD), in Article 8 of Regulation (EU) 2020/852 and in sections 289b to 289e, 315b and 315c of the German Commercial Code (HGB) regarding a Combined Non-financial Statement. The Combined Sustainability Statement comprises the Group Sustainability Statement and the Non-financial Statement of the parent company. When preparing the Group Sustainability Statement, the first set of European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) was implemented in full.

Focal points:

• Sustainability highlights are here

Parameters:

• Publication date: March 2025
• Data to: 31/12/24
• Materiality assessment: Link
• Data centre: Link

Systemic risks matter because:

• For diversified institutional investors with long time horizons, overall market growth (Beta) is the primary driver of investment returns
• Markets may misprice or not price systemic risks
• A complete interpretation of fiduciary duties includes responsibility for maintaining a well-functioning market

UKSIF, in partnership with Scottish Widows and Canbury, launches a new report responding to the growing recognition of the challenges systemic risks present to investors and the need for wider investment professionals, beyond stewardship teams, to consider them.

The report considers:

• Why systemic risks are particularly important for asset owners to consider
• How asset managers can tackle these risks despite operating within short-term performance horizons
• The practical steps UK-based asset owners can take to address systemic risks

By embedding systemic risk management as part of investment objectives and aligning teams, asset owners can enhance portfolio resilience.

The research is based on a qualitative analysis combining over 20 interviews, a roundtable discussion, and a literature review. The interviews and roundtable discussion covered key topics including defining systemic risk, challenges in addressing systemic risks, and the roles of different stakeholders. Participants included investment and stewardship experts representing a diversity of asset owners, asset managers, NGOs, consultants, and academia. The literature review examined four main areas: frameworks and background to systemic risk and systems-thinking, evidence of beta and its relationship to portfolio returns, market mis-valuation of systemic risks, and approaches investors are taking or could take to address systemic risks.

Dear sustainable investment value chain,

Many thanks for the business opportunity!

I'm happy to accept this for the short-term …

But, I'm not sure it is right for the long-term for me (or anyone else) to own this opportunity…

Still, if you're offering - I would like to be involved in a different opportunity that's good for us all …

Why do companies and investors make it so hard for each other to discuss sustainability issues?

So, it's the time of year when companies around the world publish their sustainability reports and hold their AGMs.  This means that it's the time of year when there should be lots of direct contact between investors, companies and research providers on sustainability and corporate governance issues.

In this reporting cycle, there is plenty to discuss - notably related to companies' strategies for carbon reductions and diversity, equity and inclusion practices and labour standards in shifting supply chains and social inclusion … in a world where political support for these has been muted or evaporated.

Direct contact matters

These issues are all nuanced and complicated and strategic … and certainly benefit from in-depth, contextualising discussions between investors and companies - discussions that go way beyond the simplistic datapoints of "have you got a policy on X?" or "what are your emissions of Y?"

Such discussions become even more important in a world in which companies are becoming more reluctant to declare their positions or report their progress on politically-contentious issues or to blazon progressive commitments across websites.

Of course, companies cannot and many investors do not (in spite of perceptions) function on the short-term cycles that politicians do.  Most environmental and social programmes need investment that develops and is sustained through multiple political cycles.  Such investment needs to be discussed and understood.

However, it clearly needs to be done privately* at the moment.

Within 'mainstream' investment investor relations, in-depth, direct, private discussion between companies and investors happens regularly … through webinars and conferences and roadshows.  Of course, these also happen around sustainability issues but they are somewhat harder to achieve.

How so?

In most practical respects, this communications process is exactly the same as it is for mainstream investors and involves targeting, invitations, scheduling of Zoom calls etc.

In one respect, however, it is harder for companies and investors to discuss sustainability issues:  For Organisation A to 'talk' to Organisation B, someone in Org A needs to be able to identify the relevant person in Org B or vice versa … and yet …

Companies are unhelpful

SRI-Connect has reviewed the direct sustainable investor communications practice of 222 companies (as part of a wider project to benchmark best practice in direct sustainable investor communications)**.

Only 25 of the 222 companies surveyed identify (on their website) a specific person within the investor relations team as being responsible for ESG / sustainable investor communications.

Are we honestly surprised that investor letters get sent directly to the Chairman?

Exceptions to this … that display good practice are:

• AstraZeneca - Link
• Barclays - Link
• BASF - Link
• BMW - Link
• Deutsche Telekom - Link 

Also … Adidas, Air Canada, HSBC, Lanxess, Lloyds Bank, Mercedes, Merck, OMV, Philips, Repsol, Sanofi, SAP, Shell, Siemens, Vestas, Vodafone & VW.

Through this simple practice, these companies make it easy for an investor interested in sustainability communications to know whom to contact with any questions or requests.

(** Companies, please DM if you would like a free copy of how your company benchmarks here.  These are supplied on a sectoral basis to companies only … to help them develop their own practices.  We're not in the 'name and shame' business)

Investors are worse

Similarly, we have reviewed the websites of investors to understand the size and shape of their SRI/ESG teams and the division of responsibilities within these.  (Which analyst covers the Transport sector?  Who is responsible for Biodiversity? Etc).

While many investors profess an interest in 'engagement' and - indeed - write long reports on the subject, they make it remarkably hard for a company that actively wants to engage to identify the relevant people to speak with.

There are a few notable exceptions *** that make the responsibilities and interests of their teams visible on their websites:

• Artemis - Link
• Calvert - Link
• Candriam - Link
• DWS - Link
• Impax - Link
• Mirova - Link
• Storebrand - Link
• Wheb - Link 

… and a number more that describe their teams within their ESG / sustainability / stewardship reports … which is helpful … but why bury this useful information in a 60 page .pdf?!

However, the large majority of investors do not share this information in a way that is readily accessible to companies.  Perhaps this is why engagement is such a time-consuming exercise?!

(*** Investors, please DM if you would like a free copy of how your company benchmarks here.  These are supplied to investment firms directly.  Again, we're not in the 'name and shame' business)

So, thanks! … in the short-term

Ultimately, this all works very nicely for SRI-CONNECT.

Our network (which is free for companies, investors and research providers to join via here and use) is designed to help companies, investors and research providers identify and communicate with relevant people across the sustainable investment value chain.

Also, we offer additional services that enable companies to communicate proactively and on their own terms with the relevant sustainable investors and analysts.

Essentially companies can use the network for free to do it themselves or they can pay us to support them.

All very nice …

… but no thanks … not for the long-term

While we are delighted to offer these services and will continue to do so as long as they are needed, we would also love the value chain to move beyond this … to a point where every company knows who the relevant sustainability managers and analysts are at firms and every investor knows who the relevant people are at companies …

… so we can all focus on the interesting questions of sustainability strategy, messaging, analysis and capital allocation.

Connecting A to B is important … but ultimately easy, low-margin, not very interesting work … and I have reached a stage in my career where interesting is becoming more important.

… and please …

… but the strategy and messaging work … and the research and analysis work to ensure that the conversations that happen lead to meaningful behavioural change and reallocation of capital.

Yes, please.  I'll definitely have some of that please!

Byline:

Mike Tyrrell is OpenToWork … on anything that improve the quality and efficiency of company <=> investor communications on sustainability … so that he can keep funding www.sri-connect.com as a free research, communications and networking resource for the whole sustainable investment value chain globally.

* … and before anyone jumps with concern on the word 'private', I am not for a second suggesting that such conversations include price sensitive information.  This is not allowed (for good reason) in 'mainstream' investment and it is not allowed in sustainable investment either.  Conversations are typically private because this enables them to focus efficiently on the specific aspects of the few parties involved.  In any case, most companies don't - as recent disclosures show - have a clue what their next quarter's earnings are going to be so aren't in a position to disclose it.

Focal points:

• "Our strategic initiatives have made substantial progress this year, notably achieving our 2025 targets for greenhouse gas emissions, water and waste reductions a year early.
• We have made progress against our biodiversity net gain targets, with our sites completing over 160 local biodiversity projects during the year and we have matured our approach to product design, through the development of an eco-design toolkit.
• We continued to embed sustainability into our supply chain management and supported our communities through colleague volunteering, charitable donations and our Spirax Group Education Fund.
• We also have maintained a focus on our Responsible Business Foundations, making investments in health and safety (H&S), supporting the professional development of our colleagues, and ensuring that we operate ethically and in line with our values"

Parameters:

Published: 8 April 2025 as part of annual report

Data: Covers calendar year 2024

ESG data centre: not found

Materiality matrix: "As part of our preparation for CSRD reporting, we finalised a double materiality assessment (DMA) in 2024, engaging with representatives from across our stakeholder groups. The DMA confirmed that our One Planet Sustainability Strategy remains relevant and appropriate for the Group..." (see p57)

Focal points

Short highlights document here

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Publication date: April 2025
Data to: Calendar year 2024
Materiality assessment: See page 20-21
Data centre: Not found

Posted by ValueEdge blog staff on May 5, 2025

Note: Obituary for industry CG pioneer Bob Monks may be read here

"Sustainable Development Investments Asset Owner Platform (SDI AOP) has just released their Outcomes dataset, a new data solution that enables investors to track how investments are contributing to sustainable outcomes over time.

We look back at how their work has evolved over the last decade when PGGM initially developed the SDI framework with APG to align investments with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The work has and continues to facilitate greater transparency and comparability among investors."

Features investment management data

This paper discusses the impact of high-frequency corporate reporting on long-term value creation from an asset manager's perspective. We argue that mandatory quarterly reporting, and the associated pressure on management to meet earnings guidance, can lead to short-term decision-making.

This hinders sustainable growth and innovation, and may deter companies from accessing public markets. The paper proposes a shift towards higher quality semi-annual reporting, supplemented by continuous disclosure of material information, to better align managerial and investor behaviour with long-term investment and value creation.

Schroders: Global developments in sustainability regulation and policy Q4 2024 

"We highlight the latest sustainability policy milestones that are shaping the investment industry."

Key Takeaways

1 - Focusing on Asset Classes with High Risks or OpportunitiesAn understanding of the specific climate attributes of each asset class can provide a roadmap for focusing efforts. A strategic starting point is where there is high risk exposure, substantial potential for capturing upside, or both.
2 - Optimizing Tracking Error BudgetsWe believe sustainable quantitative strategies are effective for diversified core allocations across various tracking error budgets. Green bonds and alternatives may be good tools to pursue thematic views given declining greenium and attractive opportunities in private markets.
3 - Toolkits to Improve Climate ResilienceWith minimal adjustments, a climate-resilient optimized allocation can serve as a valuable reference benchmark when developing strategic asset allocation (SAA).
4 - Defining the “North Star”We believe the “North Star” should center on achieving long-term risk-adjusted returns. Other stakeholder considerations should be integrated in a manner that does not detract from core financial objectives. In our view, governance should be set up with the appropriate structure, personnel, processes and metrics aligned with the long-term objective.

Time: 18:30 - 20:00 SGT | 11:30 - 13:00 BST
In-person venue: Gaia Auditorium, Gaia, 91 Nanyang Ave, Gaia South Academic Building, Singapore 639956
Online platform: Zoom

The NBS-PRI-ECGI Public Lecture Series is a new global joint initiative between Nanyang Business School (NBS), Principles of Responsible Investment (PRI) and European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) to facilitate the knowledge exchanges between academics, practitioners, and policymakers in sustainable business.

The series provides monthly in-person or online public lectures. Each lecture will feature a leading academic to present cutting-edge research of a specific topic, and an industry expert to moderate the session, sharing insights from the field and also tailoring audience questions in a way to better enable bridging the gap between research and practice.

In this lecture, Professor William Cong will discuss the broader impacts of environmental sustainability issues and related policies, such as those on extreme weather and biodiversity conservation, which can influence areas including scientific research, cost of public capital, and wealth redistribution in the real estate market. He will also discuss how financial, scientific, and technological innovations can help with sustainability policies and vice versa,  calling for greater collaboration between economists, policy makers and scientists to address societal challenges.

Carbon Tracker’s Flying Blind series examines whether companies and their auditors are providing evidence that they are assessing the financial impacts of climate change and energy transition – and whether these impacts are reflected in today’s financial statements and audits. 

This report, the latest in the series, throws the spotlight on the auditors. Auditors, as the independent verifiers of financial reporting, play a crucial role in maintaining transparency and therefore trust in capital markets.

And yet, the vast majority of audit reports assessed still lack transparency over whether and how the auditors addressed the impacts of climate risk and the energy transition on financial statements. This reduces investors’ abilities to engage, assess investment choices and, hence, to effectively allocate capital. 

The analysis focuses on over 140 “carbon exposed” companies’ audit reports for fiscal year 2022 financial statements, as well as 2021 and 2023 fiscal years. It highlights the urgent need for investors and regulators to push for improved transparency.  

Report has a focus on energy transition, eg:

".... Looking ahead, we see rare earth metals demand being sustained by the global clean energy transition, although prices will continue to stagnate due to geopolitical volatility. In the US, while EV, battery and recycling industries are slated to lose federal support through the IRA, Trump’s renewed focus on the US rare earth and critical minerals dominance will help drive momentum for the processing and recycling industries.

For our full report, read here"

"We have found in previous studies that stocks and bonds of companies that were more resilient to sustainability-related risks (as measured by MSCI ESG Ratings) exhibited lower market volatility, suggesting they could fare better during periods of market stress, as they did during the COVID-19-driven sell-off in March 2020. Through the initial market turmoil that followed the U.S. tariff announcements on April 2, we tested whether this resilience would hold true for corporate bonds.

Between March 31 and April 11, 2025, we found that the MSCI Investment Grade (IG) and High Yield (HY) ESG Leaders Corporate Bond Indexes outperformed their parent indexes — in both USD and EUR (except for USD HY). Relative spread movement against the benchmark was the primary positive contributor to the excess return in all indexes, however, underscoring sustainability strategies’ potential in managing downside risks during stress."

Sustainalytics: A New State of Play: Impact of Changing Regulatory Priorities on US Banks and their ESG Views

Key Insights:

• The exit from climate pledges by US banks suggests banks are tracking the shift in regulatory priorities under the new US administration. Sustainalytics’ historical data indicates that the trend may have commenced earlier for some banks. We note a dilution of the ESG programs in the loan portfolio of JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, and a deterioration of ESG credit and loan standards at JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America.
• Relaxed regulation in the US banking sector could mean some opportunities for banks in the short term. A reprieve from regulatory enforcement actions could improve the ESG risk profile of some banks (i.e., their risk rating exposure and management scores), shifting them from high to medium risk, with potential for a significant 20% reduction of overall ESG risk.
• Deregulation may improve banking profit margins in the short term, but a lapse in controls and unchecked misconduct may damage long-term shareholder returns.
• Fines and the termination of government contracts by state legislators for banks that refuse to lean into high-risk industry financing may bring an additional dimension of financial risk for investors.

The pace of global warming and its associated impacts continues to accelerate. Achieving the goal of limiting global temperature rise to less than 1.5 degrees Celsius will require speeding up decarbonization efforts and a massive scaling up of investment, particularly in emerging markets.  

This report offers institutional investors strategies to finance decarbonization activities in emerging markets, which are expected to be the largest source of future emissions growth.

Drawing on the Morningstar Emerging Markets Low Carbon Transition Leaders (EM LCTL) Index and the Morningstar Sustainalytics Low Carbon Transition Ratings (LCTR), the report also demonstrates how investors can increase their exposure to companies that outperform their peers in terms of low-carbon transition readiness and demonstrate strong climate action. 

The recent massive power outage in Spain and Portugal has led to discussions around renewables and grid inertia, so it's probably worth a deeper understanding

...

The outage raised critical questions about the resilience of modern electricity grids with high levels of renewable energy penetration. Specifically, the event prompted the crucial debate: could the high percentage of renewables like solar PV and wind have contributed to grid instability during the incident?

And if so, how are other countries with significant wind and solar power in their electricity mix (such as Denmark, the Netherlands, and Germany) managing these challenges seemingly without experiencing similar widespread system collapses?

...

JobPost: M&G - ESG Manager (12 month Secondment / FTC) (London, close 24 May)

Temporary / Full time
Location
Frankfurt am Main
Function
Investment & Transaction Banking

Your tasks

• Analysis of the sustainability strategy of our clients and support the ESG Advisory team in preparing client pitches
• Support analysis and definition of meaningful, measurable, and ambitious ESG-relevant KPls (Key Performance Targets) and Sustainability Performance Targets (SPTs) for KPl-linked financing products 
• Participate in the execution of sustainable finance transactions
• Work on ad hoc projects and tasks related to ESG and sustainable finance advisory
• Continuous update of our marketing material and our databases

JobPost: PRI - Analyst, Multi-Asset, Guidance  (London | Closing: 8:00pm, 18th May 2025 BST)

Analyst, Multi-Asset, Guidance
Principles for Responsible Investment
 
Employment Type Full time Please note, where PRI has an office there is an expectation to work a minimum of 2 days per week 
 
Location  Hybrid · London, City of, UK   
 
Seniority Junior
Closing: 8:00pm, 18th May 2025 BST

JobPost: MSCI - Sustainability & Climate Sales Specialist - Riyadh (London, close unknown)

JobPost: M&G - Impact Investing Senior Associate (London, close 21 May)

JobPost: State Street - Sustainability Governance & Program , Assistant Vice President (London, close 31 May)

JobPost: Arcadis - Sustainability Specialist – Nature & Biodiversity (Various locations)

Arcadis is the world's leading company delivering sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets.

We are more than 36,000 people, in over 70 countries, dedicated to improving quality of life. Everyone has an important role to play. With the power of many curious minds, together we can solve the world’s most complex challenges and deliver more impact together.

Role description:

As a Sustainability Specialist in the Global Sustainability team, you will be responsible for conducting research and analysis and proposing solutions on a variety of sustainability-related topics to help the Global Sustainability Programs advance in alignment with external assurance requirements and commercial opportunities. As part of your role, you will be supporting the integration of the programs within the business, supporting pilot projects, testing innovative tools and approaches, preparing lighthouse examples, developing and facilitating trainings, and supporting the preparation of thought leadership on specific topics. 

JobPost: MSCI Real Assets - Sustainability & Climate Sales Specialist - Riyadh

JobPost: S&P Global - Associate Director, Global Carbon Markets (multiple locations, close unknown)

JobPost: Natixis - Business Analyst ESG & Green Weighting Factor (Paris)

Principles for Responsible Investment
 
Employment Type Full time Please note, where PRI has an office there is an expectation to work a minimum of 2 days per week 
 
Location  Hybrid · London, UK   
 
Seniority Mid-level
Closing: 8:00pm, 27th Apr 2025 BST

S&P Global - Associate Director, Energy Transition Consulting (Multiple locations | close unknown)

JobPost: SSgA - Sustainability Reporting & Climate Policy Officer (London | Close 30 Apr)

JobPost: Goldman Sachs Alternatives - Sustainability & Impact, ESG Product Design, Senior Analyst (London |  Close unknown)

Jobpost: Merck - Associate Director, Sustainability Strategy & Engagement (US | close 7 Apr)

Senior Specialist Stewardship, Nature

Policy Specialist, Canada (12 Month Fixed Term Contract)

Specialist, Progression & Innovation

Associate, Sustainable Financial System

Digital Marketing Associate

Senior Policy Specialist, Africa

Senior Specialist, Sustainability Initiatives 18 Month Fixed Term Contract, (with possible extension)

Associate, Sustainability Initiatives (18 Month Fixed Term Contract)

Head of Human Rights, Social & Governance Issues

Project Manager, Events & Initiatives (12 Month Fixed Term Contract)

JobPost: Goldman Sachs - Asset & Wealth Management, Private Credit, Global Head of ESG, Vice President (NYC | Close unknown)