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The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) today announced that 17 ESG data and analytics providers have a licensing relationship with SASB, increasing the options for investors to access comparable ESG data that is linked to financial performance and enterprise value creation. SASB continues to work with a range of organizations to make it easier for investors to use ESG data aligned with SASB Standards across a range of use cases, from due diligence and fundamental research to investment strategy development and company engagement.
“Receiving data that is aligned with SASB’s Standards across asset classes is key to supporting the sustainable investment process, especially now as demand for sustainable investment analysis is rising inexorably,” said John Hoeppner, Head of US Stewardship and Sustainable Investments, Legal & General Investment Management America. “This is progress towards building the market infrastructure needed to support ESG integration at scale.”
Among the more than 150 organizations that are currently licensed to use SASB Standards, investors now have more than a dozen choices of ESG data and analytics providers that provide alignment with SASB. These data providers fall into different categories: some source structured or unstructured ESG data to make the data available as-is to investors, and some provide analysis or ratings based on that data. In addition to ESG data and analytics providers aligned with SASB that support public markets, there are several ESG data and analytics providers aligned with SASB that support the private markets.
“It’s a step in the right direction that so many data providers—whose information is essential for investor decision-making—are now making it easier to access SASB-aligned information,” said Bruno Bertocci, Managing Director, Head of Sustainable Investors at UBS Asset Management. “The goal is to supply financially material ESG data that enables investors to make more informed decisions.”
Some data and analytics providers have embedded SASB Standards directly into an offering available to all clients, including:
Others have worked with SASB to map their ESG data to the SASB Standards, so that investors licensing SASB’s intellectual property can use the mapping to SASB Standards in the investment process:
“As more data providers align with SASB Standards, it creates better feedback loops between companies disclosing financially material, industry-specific ESG information and investors using that information,” said Ole Buhl, Vice President and Head of ESG at ATP, a SASB licensee. “The feedback loops create a virtuous cycle as companies disclose, it is easier for the information to be used, reinforcing the value for companies to continue disclosing. This is key to the development of market infrastructure, which can benefit all organizations that use the SASB Standards.”
SASB identifies all licensing organizations on its website, alongside licensing profiles to highlight examples of how firms are using SASB Standards in their products and services.
About SASB
SASB
connects businesses and investors on the financial impacts of
sustainability. SASB standards enable businesses around the world to
identify, manage, and communicate financially material sustainability
information to investors. SASB standards are industry-specific and are
designed to be decision-useful for investors and cost-effective for
companies. They are developed using a process that is evidence based and
market informed. To download any of the 77 industry-specific standards,
or learn more about SASB, please visit SASB.org.