Amid ever-increasing demand for sustainable investments, research firm Sustainalytics has launched a new set of indicators that aims to provide investors with greater insight on companies’ environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance.
The Toronto-based firm said that its new set of more than 220 ESG indicators will give investors data that can help inform their portfolio construction, security selection and risk analysis.
“Sustainalytics’ ESG Data enables investors to combine indicators in a way that reflects their view of ESG risks and opportunities,” the firm said in a release.
The new dataset covers 11,000 companies across 138 sub-industries. The data includes indicators that assess the quality of a company’s ESG-related policies, programs and performance.
“These indicators can include the carbon intensity trend of a company relative to its peers, or the quality of a business ethics program,” Sustainalytics said.
The new offering also features indicators that aim to evaluate how a company’s corporate governance practices impact its ability to execute on its business strategy and create long-term value.
“These indicators look at board independence, audit committee effectiveness and equity ownership policies,” Sustainalytics noted.
Finally, the firm’s ESG event indicators are designed to capture companies’ involvement in ESG-related controversies, involving issues such as “land use and biodiversity, quality and safety, and labor relations.”
“By offering indicator-level data… we are able to fulfill investors’ wide array of ESG information needs,” said Megan Wallingford, product manager of Sustainalytics’ ESG Data.