Some sovereign-bond investors seeking to support climate mitigation might be interested in the idea of increasing their exposure to issuers with lower carbon emissions. Would this have been a good approach? 

Integrating sustainability and climate risk and impact into bond and private-debt analysis is becoming an increasingly important aspect of portfolio construction. This paper discusses a range of metrics that could guide investors in making these assessments.

What’s the state of climate expertise on the boards of the companies in your portfolio? We provide a regional analysis and offer a framework to help investors make their own assessments. 

What goes into an analysis of financially material social risks and opportunities? And what does it mean for a company’s market performance? Our analysis found that scoring on social-risk themes was a key indicator of performance. 

We found a strong historical correlation between a company’s MSCI ESG Rating and its cost of capital in both equity and debt markets. Firms assessed as the most resilient to financially material sustainability-related risks financed themselves more cheaply. 

The auditing industry is facing several challenges, including fee concentration and a decline in practicing accountants. We assess the current state of play to identify potential areas of concern and the impact these could have on investors.

While examining use of proceeds remains a key element of analyzing green bonds, we highlight four additional metrics to assess these bonds and their issuers in a more quantitative way. They offer a new set of lenses with which to tackle the analysis.

Investors thinking about biodiversity are asking questions such as, how do I know which holdings are most vulnerable to biodiversity loss? And, can I measure biodiversity risk exposure across my portfolio? We aim to help them start finding answers.