Clients of global financial services provider Apex Group now have access to a new European Union Taxonomy product, which enables investors to assess their portfolios’ alignment with the sustainability classification guideline. The four-step process will give financial clients the opportunity to identify which of their investments are sustainable, manage data collection on the taxonomy’s strict “do no significant harm” tests, gauge alignment and report performance.

Regulatory compliance reporting and analytics provider Confluence has integrated the ESG data of Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) into its Sustainable Finance Disclosures Regulation (SFDR) service. The partnership gives Confluence clients access to ICE’s sustainability information on 1.4 million fixed-income securities issued by more than 16,000 corporate and sovereign entities.

S&P Global Market Intelligence has made a strategic partnership with Novata, provider of an ESG data platform for private markets. The partnership will provide private market investors with a solution that simplifies the process of collecting both financial and ESG data by making Novata’s platform available for S&P Global Market Intelligence customers to bridge ESG data with financial data to provide a single source of insights.

The integration is expected to help market participants make informed decisions about how ESG drives financial outcomes, and enable transparent communication to investors, auditors, boards and other key stakeholders. The platform is intended to be made available through S&P Global Market Intelligence’s iLEVEL, a portfolio monitoring software solution that enables general partners and limited partners to streamline financial data collection.

Sustainable Fitch, the ratings and data company’s ESG unit, has created a ratings product that scores that will provide investors with information on the impact, outcome and performance of entities and their debt issuance. The ESG Ratings, Data and Analysis product offers scores at the entity, framework and financial instrument level.

ISS ESG has broadened its nature-linked ESG data and indices offerings with the launch of a Biodiversity Impact Assessment Tool and a Freshwater Index series. The biodiversity tool enables investors to measure the impact of their investments’ activities on nature, while the latest indices highlight a company’s exposure to water risks and its management of water.

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has told providers of ESG benchmarks that it will toughen its scrutiny of the sector, saying it has concerns about the way the gauges are compiled. Director of infrastructure and exchanges Edwin Schooling Latter told chiefs of the compilers of his concerns in a “Dear CEO” letter.

Liquidnet, the technology-driven agency execution specialist, has become a member of Sustainable Trading, the non-profit membership network launched earlier this year, dedicated to transforming environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices within the financial markets trading industry.

Sustainable Trading brings firms together to devise practical and sustainable solutions to industry-specific ESG issues, as well as providing a mechanism for self-assessment and benchmarking.

Sustainable investment clients of JP Morgan will have access to a new ESG digital research platform that offers information and views based on double materiality principles – the impact that a company or asset has on the world as well as how climate and social change influences investments. ESG Discovery is fed by data from Datamaran and comprises two components: Sector and Cross-Sector analyses and Company and Thematic screening.

An ESG-focused “digital experience” is to be unveiled by Morningstar, designed to give an all-round view of sustainable investing strategies. Comprising data from the financial services research giant’s own ESG Risk Ratings and Impact Metrics, the Investable World product promises to show in plain language and graphs the risks and opportunities in 750 thematic funds. The service will be showcased at financial conferences in the US through the autumn.

The UK’s accounting overseer has issued the first set of guidelines on gathering, using and reporting ESG data. The Financial Reporting Council’s initial report focuses on producing better data to improve decision making among financial institutions. Describing the ESG data landscape as “complex” and “with challenges”, the report offers solutions to overcoming these shortcomings.