Author: ESGTree

Last year, private equity firm the Carlyle Group and pension fund the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) announced what could become a game changer for the private equity industry. The ESG Data Convergence Initiative, or EDCI, seeks to standardize ESG reporting for general partners (GPs) by creating a single framework for them to follow. The aim is to generate a critical mass of comparable information on how GPs’ portfolio companies are performing on ESG relative to each other, as well as to promote greater reporting transparency for limited partners (LPs). The data will be aggregated into an anonymized benchmark by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

Thus far, 59 leading LPs and 121 GPs have agreed to participate in the project, or perhaps what at this point one can termed an experiment, that together represent over $8 trillion in assets under management.

By market size alone, impact investing might be far smaller than ESG investing, but its unique profile makes it a critical part of sustainable finance. Its obligation to actively “do good” and contribute towards a positive net change in the communities it engages, rather than concern itself purely with risk mitigation, means that the pursuit of ESG isn’t left to the machinations of pure capitalism. In fact, its unique “do active good” mandate serves as an important “best practices” guide when it comes to ESG reporting and measurement in general. This is because we’ve learned that impact investors can optimize their ESG data using the three major methods below:

Investor demand for meaningful ESG policies and genuine transparency is undeniable. Coupled with oncoming regulation, it is a demand the private equity industry must satisfy in order to flourish in a new economy that expects socially responsible businesses.

The rallying cry of the American Revolution – no taxation without representation – is today taken as self-evident but deserves a re-examination in light of the climate crisis and sustainable development and ESG efforts. In fact, it could be argued that the whole field of sustainability is an example of taxation without representation.

By 2025, ESG assets are estimated to exceed USD$50 trillion. In other words, one third of Assets Under Management (AUM) will be classified as ESG assets in the next three years.Some recent developments spurring the push for ESG include: In 2020, the Big Four accounting firms launched a set of unified metrics on ESG disclosures. The same year, the Chartered Financial Association (CFA) Institute unveiled its first-ever global consultation on ESG.

By now, it’s well established that ESG integration is not only good for the world but also good for business net win, in other words.Indeed, study McKinsey concluded that “the value at stake from sustainability (ESG) concerns can be as high as 70% of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation.” Put another way, up to 70% of a business’s potential earnings could be lost to ESG risks.
Indeed, a study by McKinsey concluded that “the value at stake from sustainability (ESG) concerns can be as high as 70% of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation.” Put another way, up to 70% of a business’s potential earnings could be lost to ESG risks.

By market size alone, impact investing might be far smaller than ESG investing, but its unique profile makes it a critical part of sustainable finance. ESG assets are on course to hit USD$50 trillion over the next three years, while impact investments are gauged to hover around USD$1 trillion. This begs the question: as ESG continues its meteoric rise, what will happen to impact investing?

The rallying cry of the American Revolution – no taxation without representation – is today taken as self-evident but deserves a re-examination in light of the climate crisis and sustainable development and ESG efforts. In fact, it could be argued that the whole field of sustainability is an example of taxation without representation.

When the European Union’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) came into force in March 2021, it signalled to the world that the EU was ready to take a global lead on ESG reporting and sustainable finance.The move impacted all financial market participants and financial advisors based within the EU. Along with the European Green Deal (which aims to see the bloc carbon neutral by 2050), and the EU’s “green taxonomy” (an industry-based classification system of what can and cannot be marketed as a sustainable product), a potent mix of regulatory mechanisms is set to usher Europe towards an economy in line with the Paris Agreement and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).