Why the ‘S’ of ESG proves so troublesome for rating services
The MSCI ESG system (“MSCI chief: Push to standardise ESG ratings is ‘misplaced’”, Moral Money, FT.com, September 3) currently assigns ExxonMobil a BBB rating, which is high average, while drugmaker Moderna has earned a BB rating, which is between average and high average. It’s obvious this difference can’t be on the basis of “E”, or environmental protection. In addition it’s a little hard to believe that a company that has been funding suppression and denial of climate science for decades could possibly deserve a high governance score. So “G” should not be the basis for the difference.Read more
ESG Focus: Linked Finance The Next Big Thing – Part 4
This sharply increases green-washing risks during these early days of sustainability investing, but that is the price investors are paying to lure large organisations that can easily issue in vanilla debt markets with existing sustainability frameworks.Investors are being advised to closely examine the materiality of issuers’ sustainability frameworks and the liquidity of their investments.In the meantime, regulatory nets are closing in to reduce green-washing risks, but plenty of pitfalls remain.Read more
ESG funds offer more data amid transparency push
An audit by shareholder proxy firm Institutional Shareholder Services showed that the two Wealthsimple funds have a carbon intensity measure — how much carbon dioxide companies generate compared to revenue — well below market benchmarks. The companies were also aligned with the goal of keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees, compared to a benchmark of around 2.5 degrees of warming.Read more
Financial Materiality Of ESG
“I’m not saying that all of these strategies have a sustainability objective and focus,” Muhedini says. “Instead, what this is indicating is that a lot of traditional asset managers are increasingly finding themselves integrating, considering proactively, asking these questions around environmental and social and of course governance issues of the companies and about their strategies.”
Amantia Muhedini, says almost every month prior records are beat for net cumulative flows in ESG funds. Data she cites from the Global Sustainable Investing Alliance indicates that at the beginning of 2020, professionally managed assets that in one way or another consider sustainability, reached $35 trillion. For the U.S. public markets, the estimate is that one in three professionally managed dollars is somehow considering sustainability.Read more