ESG Research from Academia and financial institutions
June 2021
ESG and the Pricing of IPOs: Does Sustainability Matter
By Alessandro Fenili, Carlo Raimondo, Università della Svizzera italiana
ESG: Implementation, Returns, Big Data and AI
By Arnaud Sarfati, Luc Dumontier and Damien Vergnaud at LFIS Capital
The Global Food System: Identifying Sustainable Solutions
By Eugène Klerk, Head of Global ESG & Thematic Research at Credit Suisse
Towards a “Blue” Recovery: What Does the Blue Economy Offer to Emerging Markets?
By Oxford Business Group
The Fate of Fishing Vessels that are Past their ’Use by’ Date
By Planet Tracker
May 2021
Net Zero, For Real
By Ladislas Smia, Head of Sustainability Research, Mirova
Abolishing Fuel Subsidies
By Allianz Research
Impact Investing & Stock Selection
George Latham, Managing Partner at WHEB Asset Management
April 2021
Waste and Opportunity: How to Capitalize on Plastics
By Hilde Jenssen, Head of Fundamental Equities at Nordea Asset Management
ESG: The Imperative of a Systematic Approach
By Acadian Asset Management
Why We Should Invest in Biodiversity
By Dr Manuel Piñuela, CEO and Co-Founder of Cultivo
On ESG Investing: Heterogeneous Preferences, Information, and Asset Prices
By Itay Goldstein, University of Pennsylvania and NBER; Alexandr Kopytovy, University of Hong Kong; Lin Shenz, INSEAD; Haotian Xiangx, Peking University
Green Quadriga? EU Taxonomy, Non-Financial-Reporting Directive, EBA Pillar III ESG Risks and IFRS Foundation
By Dr. Dirk Beerbaum, Aalto University School of Business
Asset Managers Turn to Tackle ESG’s ‘Middle Child’
By Simone Gallo, Managing Director at MainStreet Partners
March 2021
Planet Tracker Proposes Global Strategy to Address Rising Stranded Asset Risk in the Plastic Containers and Packaging Sector
By Planet Tracker
Sovereign ESG Integration
By Eamon Aghdasi, GMO, Emerging Country Debt Team
Taking a Bite Out of Climate Change
By Jane Sydenham, Investment Director, Rathbones
Demonstrating GWP: A Means of Reporting Warming-Equivalent Emissions that Captures the Contrasting Impacts of Short and Long-Lived Climate Pollutants
Oxford Martin School, Oxford University Centre for the Environment
February 2021
How Do You Solve a Problem Like ESG?
By Patrick Wood Uribe, Chief Executive Officer, Util
ESG & Emerging Markets Debt: The ESG & Quasi Sovereign Bond Conundrum
By Thede Rüst, Lead Portfolio Manager of Nordea’s Emerging Stars Bond strategy
Ethical Behaviours and Sustainability in Private Equity Lead to Better Outcomes
By Helen Steers, Manager, Pantheon International Plc
Weathering Climate Change: Opportunities and Risks in an Altered Investment Landscape
By PGIM
January 2021
How Collaboration Can Lead to Better Investment Outcomes
By Alex Rowe, CFA, Lead Portfolio Manager, Global Sustainable Equity Strategy, Nomura Asset Management
The Nordics are Pioneering the Future of ESG
By Michael J. Scanlon, Managing Director of ESG Practice, Silver Leaf Partners
Carbon Voyage: The Road to Low Carbon Investment Portfolios
By Christopher Palazzolo, Lukasz Pomorski, Alice Zhao, AQR Capital Management.
December 2020
Resurgence of Plastic: A Covid ‘Blip’ Investors Can Turn Around
By Susana Coutinho, Research Associate, MainStreet Partners
The Convergence of Financial and ESG Materiality: Taking Sustainability Mainstream
By Ruth Jebe, Assistant Professor of Legal Studies in Business, College of Business and Economics, Boise State University.
Source: American Business Law Journal, 56 AM. B. L. J. 645 (Fall 2019).
Sustainability or Performance? Ratings and Fund Managers’ Incentives
By Nickolay Gantchev, Mariassunta Giannetti and Rachel Li
University of Warwick, Stockholm School of Economics and University of Alabama
ESG Ratings: The Road Ahead
By Claude Lopez PhD, Head of Research at the Milken Institute
Solving the World’s Water Crisis: Do Investors Hold the Key to a Sustainable Solution?
By Chris Greenland, Fund Manager, Sanlam Multi-Strategy Fund
US Plastics Industry Faces US$56bn Stranded Asset Risk by 2025
By Gabriel Thoumi CFA, Head of the Plastics Programme at Planet Tracker.
10 Steps Toward Effective ESG Integration
By Guillaume Mascotto, Head of ESG and Investment Stewardship at American Century Investments
November 2020
ESG in Private Markets: From ‘Nice to Have Niche’ to ‘Must Have Mainstream’
From the Apex ESG Ratings & Advisory and Mishcon de Reya webinar on ESG in Private Markets.
Sense and Nonsense in ESG Ratings
Ingo Walter, New York University – Leonard N. Stern School of Business; New York University (NYU) – Department of Finance
Source: Journal of Law, Finance, and Accounting: Vol. 5: No. 2, pp 307-336
Joe Biden and ESG
By Guillaume Mascotto, vice president, head of ESG and investment stewardship at American Century Investments
Investing in Environmental Tech
We talk with Peter Horsburgh, a founder of ETF Partners, a London-based private equity firm specialising in sustainability technologies investments.
October 2020
Sustainable Finance Disclosure in the EU Financial Sector
By Professor Dr. Danny Busch, Chair in Financial Law and Director of the Financial Law Centre, Radboud Business Law Institute of Radboud University Nijmegen.
Detecting the Loops: Investing in the Circular Economy
The boundless appetite for resources, fueled by linear production and consumption patterns, is exceeding the planet’s regenerative capacity. Regulatory actions for higher circularity are amplified by consumers opting for circular products. With ongoing innovations and technological advancements, prospects for de-materialization look better than ever. But how can investors navigate this transition to benefit from the emerging investment opportunities?
By By Holger Frey, Senior Portfolio Manager; Michal Kulak, SI Analyst; Elina Hokkanen, Senior SI Analyst; Xiaoyue Du, SI Analyst, RobecoSAM
Deep Decarbonisation: Green Hydrogen, Net Zero and the Future of the EU-ETS
By Mark Lewis, BNP Paribas Asset Management’s Chief Sustainability Strategist
Do ESG Ratings Need their Own Governance?
Harriet Evans, Investment Analyst at Church House Investment Management
September 2020
Covid will Drive Green Bond Issuance as Shift to Sustainability Intensifies
Sacha Bernasconi, Portfolio Manager of the SYZ Green Bonds Fund
Loss of Biodiversity is a Bigger Threat than Climate Change
• Biodiversity loss has passed a planetary boundary posing high risk
• Financial firms need to check if they are part of the problem
• Call on investors to sign the UN Finance for Biodiversity Pledge
Masja Zandbergen and Peter van der Werf, Robeco
The Future of Disclosure: ESG, Common Ownership, and Systematic Risk
The high common ownership held by major U.S. institutional investors has produced a new pattern: collective action by institutions to reduce externalities caused by portfolio companies. At the same time, these investors are pressing for more ESG disclosures, while U.S. regulators remain skeptical to hostile. This paper’s assertion is that these two developments are linked by the concern of institutional investors over systematic risk.
John C. Coffee, Columbia University and European Corporate Governance Institute
August 2020
Rathbones Launches New Report:
The Value of ESG: how mainstream is ESG investing within today’s adviser world?
ESG at BlueBay Asset Management
As part of of our Hedge Funds and Asset Managers series of interviews, we speak with My-Linh Ngo, Head of ESG Investment at BlueBay Asset Management, about the firm’s approach to ESG investing.
July 2020
Backtesting ESG Factor Investing Strategies
Using ESG data with an ESG factor momentum and an ESG level factor strategy.
Daniela Hanicova & Radovan Vojtko, Quantpedia
Social at the Center of ESG
The outbreak of COVID-19, followed by global demonstrations calling for action on racial injustice and social inequality, has propelled the S of ESG to the top of corporate and investor agendas.
Del Anderson & Olivia Albrecht, Pimco
Climate Transition in a Portfolio Context: What Matters and What to Measure
Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing & Morgan Stanley Investment Management
ESG in Emerging Markets Debt
As ESG factors come to the forefront of investing, more and more issuers are taking heed, including those in emerging markets. The William Blair emerging markets debt team discuss how they view and integrate ESG factors in a highly analyst-driven approach.
Emerging Markets Debt Team, William Blair >>
Gender Equality: A Global Perspective
In this map ESG Investing presents three metrics that provide a first glance indication of the roles of women at the national level, perhaps throwing some light on issues of gender equality (UN Sustainable Development Goal 5).
ESG Investing
ESG2Risk: A Deep Learning Framework from ESG News to Stock Volatility Prediction
Exploring the predictive power of ESG related financial news on stock volatility.
Systematic Equity Research, RAM Active Investments
Socially Responsible Hedge Funds
Hedge funds whose management companies endorse the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) underperform other hedge funds after adjusting for risk but attract larger flows, harvest greater fee revenues, and accumulate more capital.
Singapore Management University
June 2020
ESG, Alpha and the SDG Footprint
New research shows that an ESG momentum portfolio can generate alpha and have a better SDG footprint than that of the index.
Global AI Corp. and Columbia Business School