Deutsche Bank has set up an ESG centre of excellence in Singapore. Its activities include a focus on ESG transactions across all business divisions, including its investment bank, corporate bank, international private bank and asset management. It will also consider innovation at the nexus of ESG and fintech to develop new products addressing gaps in the ESG market, such as impact monitoring, data management, and payments to un-banked communities. Kamran Khan, Deutsche Bank head of ESG for Asia Pacific will lead a sizeable team at the centre.

The Investment Association (IA) is calling on this year’s G7 Summit to do more to tackle climate change by committing to improve companies’ reporting on climate-related risks. It proposes actions including support for the IFRS Sustainability Standards Board to develop sustainability reporting standards and increased cooperation between national regulators to implement the standards. The IA states: “Investment managers have a vital role to play in the shift to a more sustainable global economy. Ensuring high-quality and comparable data on the risks that companies face from climate change is key to achieving this and meeting net zero targets.”

Refinitiv has released its 2021 ESG Playbook: Stability and sustainability in the investment community. The annual publication explores ESG trends for the year based on conversations with 24 industry leaders. Topics featured include the development trajectory for the ESG investing industry and sustainable finance as a whole, regulatory changes, transparency in ESG reporting, quality of data, and emerging technologies.

SIX has released SPI Gender Equality Index, an index measuring the number of women in top management at Swiss companies. The index is part of the company’s recently introduced ESG Indices family and uses components from the largest 100 companies of the Swiss Performance Index (SPI). To be included in the index, companies must have between 20% and 80% women on the board of directors, and between 15% and 85% on the management board. Marion Leslie, head of financial information at SIX, says: “This index offers a transparent benchmark to measure gender diversity on Swiss companies’ boards and management committees.”

SIX is taking a majority stake in Orenda Software Solutions, a Canadian AI platform specialising in ESG and alternative data sets, and providing real-time, high-frequency ESG scores and insights into a company’s reputation to measure the sustainability and societal impact of an investment. Marion Leslie, head of financial information at SIX, says: “With Orenda we have found the right partner with unique expertise in alternative data sets, data science and ESG. As we bring our capabilities and the expertise of our teams together, we see a lot of opportunities to build new propositions supporting the growth of impact investing.”

Broadridge Financial Solutions has weighed into the ESG investment market with advisory services offered in partnership with Third Economy, a provider of sustainable investment research. The ESG advisory services combine Broadridge’s data, technology and communications expertise and Third Economy’s proprietary methodology for systematically evaluating sustainable investment efforts of companies and enabling clients to move from ESG strategy through to execution.

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the provider of some of the most widely used sustainability reporting standards around the world, has called for strengthened financial reporting that complements sustainability reporting and takes account of the financial risks and opportunities related to a company’s sustainability impacts – with mandatory disclosure to ensure transparency on corporate contributions to global challenges.

The proposals are included in GRI’s response to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation consultation on its potential role in sustainability reporting standards.

Nasdaq has acquired OneReport, a privately-held provider of corporate responsibility and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data management and reporting services. OneReport will accelerate the delivery of Nasdaq’s recently announced ESG reporting and workflow solution, to be named Nasdaq OneReport. The platform is available to companies as part of the suite of solutions offered by Nasdaq’s Corporate Services business. Since 2003, OneReport’s software platform has helped organisations navigate corporate responsibility frameworks, pilot the information capture and response process, and deliver ESG data to ratings agencies and other stakeholders.

Moody’s Corporation has acquired a majority stake in Berkeley, CA-based Four Twenty Seven, a provider of provider of data, intelligence, and analysis related to physical climate risks, as part of its wider strategy to develop transparent and consistent standards for evaluating ESG risk. The new acquisition will operate under its existing brand as an affiliate of Moody’s Investors Service. The deal follows Moody’s recent acquisition of Vigeo Eiris, a provider of ESG research, data, and assessments.

Responding to market demand for unique and differentiated data, S&P Global Market Intelligence has released Trucost environmental data through its data feed platform Xpressfeed. Trucost, part of S&P Global, is a provider of carbon and environmental data and risk analysis. The environmental data is the first of several planned initiatives and releases from Market Intelligence to deliver Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) data solutions and capabilities from its delivery platforms.