ESG Data Guide 2023

Opening the black box of ESG data

The value of global asset managers applying environmental, social and governance data to drive investment decisions has more than tripled over eight years, to almost $38 trillion in 2020. This underscores the industry need for transparent, high quality ESG data. In fact, Bloomberg is now seeing that clients are relying less on third-party scores and are now focused on computing their own, further driving the demand for raw ESG data.

To meet this demand, Bloomberg provides company reported ESG data for almost 12,000 companies and over 410,000 securities in more than 100 countries with more than 15 years of historical data. Beyond this, Bloomberg offers carbon estimates, scores, analytics, indices, research and news to help banks, investors and companies better evaluate their assets under management, capital allocation, lending and report on sustainability disclosure requirements and performance.

The main challenges in sourcing ESG data are that there is a lack of disclosure and standardisation. Reporting this data isn’t mandatory, and there is no common framework for companies to disclose their ESG data, such as International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). This leads to a need for resources to be spent on standardising and interpreting unstructured data, which can be sparce, incomplete and not timely, which makes this process time consuming and costly.

To address this challenge and ensure transparency, Bloomberg captures ESG data from company reports, AGM results, sustainability-related press releases, policy documents and websites and any other publicly available documents and has a team of dedicated ESG regulatory specialists to ensure that we have content that aligns with the standardisation being brought about by regulation.

Bloomberg’s global team of ESG analysts then run multi-layer quality controls to clean and standardise inconsistent company reporting to the highest standard. Bloomberg’s ESG company data represents at least 80% of company operations, to give a complete picture of a company’s environmental and social performance. This company-reported data is fully transparent, and users can drill down to read the original source documents. An example of where Bloomberg is helping to address transparency challenges is through our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions carbon estimates. Bloomberg leverages a large database of company related data and expertise in modelling to create these estimates for companies that do not report.

ESG data challenges

Patricia TorresWe started providing ESG data to our clients over a decade ago, and today nearly 18,000 customers globally use data accessed through Bloomberg to assess climate risks, generate investment ideas and provide sustainability reporting. Our ESG data is used by investment professionals in buy- and sell-side firms, corporations and governments.

Specifically, buy-side clients are looking for ways to integrate ESG data into their investment approaches to better manage risk, identify which companies may be best positioned to succeed in a sustainable world and to meet ESG regulatory reporting requirements. Similarly, we see Bloomberg ESG data increasingly being integrated into sell-side analysis to broaden analyst insights into global sustainability risks and opportunities, and to meet regulatory reporting needs. We see financial institutions incorporating ESG data into evolving underwriting, including growing thematic debt underwriting.

The main challenges that clients face surrounding ESG data are the lack of quality data, difficulty integrating ESG into their technology stack, complying with new regulatory requirements and utilising strong and “honest” benchmarks. One example of this is different data points may be reported across companies in the same sector. Similarly, different data points could be reported by the same company from one year to the next. The lack of consistent reporting standards for ESG data presents a major barrier to the increased adoption of sustainable investing and makes it difficult for clients to meet evolving ESG regulatory reporting requirements.

We are engaging actively with industry initiatives to help solve these challenges, through the development and standardisation of non-financial disclosures via the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), through membership on the Platform for Sustainable Finance and the UK’s Green Technical Advisory Group and via the development of our own ESG data and analytics offering. To continue addressing these changes, Bloomberg would like to see an increase in disclosure and transparency from companies, ESG data that is disclosed in annual reports and data that is machine readable to increase efficiency.

Regulatory initiatives and reporting requirements

One of the regulations coming out of Europe is the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), which aims to ensure that financial market participants are able to finance growth in a sustainable manner over the long term while combating ‘greenwashing’. One of the key challenges posed by SFDR is the annual disclosure of Principle Adverse Impact (PAI) indicators, which covers ESG issues and includes a number of fields where many corporations do not currently disclose meaningful data requiring firms to have vast amounts of new ESG-linked datasets.

To help firms comply, Bloomberg maps SFDR’s PAI dataset to our ESG data, which can be used a firm’s reporting and risk management systems or through Bloomberg’s analytics tools to support portfolio reporting and monitor investment guidelines.

Another key regulation is the EU Taxonomy, a framework to classify environmentally-sustainable economic activities. Bloomberg’s data and tools support firms’ compliance needs with a solution that adheres to the five-step process outlined in the Taxonomy Report.

Regulations like SFDR and EU Taxonomy expanded disclosure and reporting requirements will usher in a need for new types of data and make ESG an increasingly essential part of the investment workflow, especially as we improve global alignment.

Driving improvements in ESG data disclosure

Brad FosterInvestors and data providers alike need to engage with companies to make it clear that their commitment to ESG is not just a “check the box” exercise, but it allows them to build long-term sustained growth and give them a competitive advantage. We’ve seen a dramatic increase in investor interest for ESG factors and considerations when making investment decisions over the past few years. As such, it’s imperative for companies to account for these metrics and properly disclose this data to demonstrate their commitment to creating meaningful change.

Bloomberg is a long-time advocate for improving the quality and usefulness of corporate sustainability disclosures. The ESG data available through the Bloomberg Terminal, and as an enterprise data feed, includes as-reported data and represents at least 80% of company operations to provide investors with a holistic picture.

For products such as the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index (GEI), companies that properly disclose their data have the ability to showcase their company’s commitment to gender equality and transparency, improve their reporting by aligning with internationally accepted disclosure standards, and benchmark policies and performance against peers with the comprehensive GEI scorecard. Investors are then able to reference the GEI to see the data that these companies have provided in order to make investment decisions, while these companies make strides towards equality.

Offering impact for investors

Bloomberg provides an ecosystem of Sustainable Finance Solutions to create the greatest impact for investors. This includes data, scores, analytics, indices, research and news to help investors and companies better evaluate assets and report on sustainability disclosure and performance as this is a rapidly evolving area. The robust solutions enhance all approaches to ESG investing and portfolio optimisation, as well as corporate strategy and risk management

While ESG has traditionally been thought of as a “black box,” Bloomberg prioritises transparency, consistency and company disclosure. Through Bloomberg, investors can reference not only ESG scores for companies they’re interested in, but the underlying data and methodology that led to those scores. Bloomberg’s proprietary scores have two primary goals, to drive increased disclosure and to reward strong performance. Additionally, investors have access to the research by BloombergNEF (BNEF) and Bloomberg Intelligence (BI), which provide research and analysis with actionable insights from ESG data to drive idea generation, identify material ESG issues by industry and inform investment strategy decisions.

Innovation ahead

Bloomberg is constantly innovating and evolving to meet the needs of clients. As such, Bloomberg will continue to build on new data fields and scores that are available to clients as the industry continues to evolve and new trends arise.

Beyond Bloomberg’s proprietary scores and data, Bloomberg provides a variety of third-party scores and data so that companies can access a holistic picture of the market. Third-party ESG Scores include products from other leading ratings providers including MSCI, Sustainalytics, ISS and RobecoSAM. This allows investors to have a menu of data, so they have access to what’s most appropriate and useful for them.

Recently, Bloomberg began collecting and publishing publicly available US EEO-1 Reports for increased data transparency on racial and ethnic diversity of US workforces. This data is published on the Bloomberg Terminal. In addition to striving towards more disclosure around diversity (including gender and race/ethnicity), Bloomberg is continuing to innovate to increase asset level data, which is a particularly important input for climate risk, and adding more forward-looking data, such as carbon targets data.

Guide entries by Bloomberg

Verification (Third Party)

Carbon Emissions Scope 3 footprint

Modern Slavery footprint

Species extinction-risk footprint

TIDE

iSA, iS, impak Score™, SFDR+i

Rainforest Alliance & Conservation International

Mettle Capital ESG Risk platform

MIS Second Party Opinion

nZero

Seafood Database

Second Party Opinion

ESG Rating, Reporting and Advisory

Climate and environment data hub

Sustainability Copilot

ESGSignals®

Sanctify ESG

Asset-level Indicators

Asset-based Analytics

Asset-based Company Indicators – Essential and Advanced

Bloomberg Sustainable Finance Solutions

India ESG datasets [BRSR taxonomy available]

9fin ESG

CLIMATE RISK IMPACT SCREENING (CRIS) for Climate Physical Risk

CARBON IMPACT ANALYTICS (CIA) For climate transition risk

CDP 2022 GHG Raw Emissions Dataset

CDP 2022 Full GHG Modelled Emissions Dataset

CDP 2022 Risks and Opportunities Dataset

CDP 2022 Scores

CDP 2022 TCFD-Aligned Climate Change Dataset

CDP 2022 Temperature Ratings

ChemScore

Global Landscape of Climate Finance

ESG Portfolio Check

Sustainable Finance Ai Suite (ESG, EU Taxonomy, Supply Chain Risk)

ESG Lead

Horizon

EF Data

Equileap Gender Equality Data

Ethical Screening Portal

OneTrack

Coller FAIRR Protein Producer Index

ESG research, data and reporting solutions

Forests & Finance

Forest 500

GLYNT

Greenomy EU Taxonomy/SFDR/EET Solution

Corporate Ratings

ETF Fund Ratings

Issuer ESG and SDG Benchmarking

Municipal Bond Data and Ratings

US Retirement Plans, including 401(k) and 403(b)

Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool

CBF – Corporate Biodiversity Footprint

SB2A – Science-Based 2°C Alignment

Global Impact Database

FinanceMap

LobbyMap

ESG Impact Rating

Green Bond Transparency Platform (GBTP)

Investverte

Corporate Governance Information Search

JPX ESG Indices

LGX DataHub

Climate Data by Moody’s

ESG Data by Moody’s

Nasdaq Sustainable Bond Network

Nasdaq ESG Data Hub

Nasdaq ESG Data Portal

Nasdaq ESG Footprint

Informe Anual OFISO

ESG Solutions

Resolution Database

Second Party Opinions

SDI Asset Owner Platform

ESG Disclosures and Sustainability Report Assurance

Second-Party Opinions on Sustainable Bonds and Loans

Supply Chain ESG Risk Platform

UN SDG Impact Assurance

SIGWATCH

Sugi

SustainaBase

Sustainable Fitch ESG Ratings

Geospatial ESG Solutions

Sovereign ESG Ratings

MARK

White Stag Investing Investment Research in Water, Oceans and Biodiversity

ClimateWatch

Forest Atlases

Global Forest Watch

Global Forest Watch Pro

LandMark

PREPdata

Resource Watch

WRI Aqueduct

Carbon Footprinting and Science-based Targets Support

Second Party Opinion - Thematic Bonds and Loans & Impact Assessment

TCFD Advisory and Support

Carbon & Climate Data

Carbon Footprint Report

Climate Impact Report

Net Zero Solutions

Climate Scenario Analysis and Implied Temperature Score

Climate Physical Risk

Transition Risk

Climate Advisory Services

Potential Avoided Emissions Data

Energy & Extractives Screening

Norm-Based Research

Country Screening

Sector-Based Screening

Country Controversy Assessment

Director Data

Executive Compensation Analytics

Voting Analytics

Governance QualityScore

E&S Disclosure QualityScore

ESG Muni QualityScore

Carbon Risk Rating

ESG Corporate Rating

ESG Country Rating

SDG Solutions Assessment

SDG Impact Rating

ESG Fund Rating

Water Risk Rating

Biodiversity Impact Assessment Tool

ESG Index Solutions

EU Taxonomy Alignment Solution

SFDR Principle Adverse Impacts Solution

Regulatory Sustainable Investment Solution

ESG Portfolio Analysis

ESG Raw Data

Global Sanctions Screening

Responsible Investment Policy Development

EVA (Economic Value Added)

Climate Voting Policy

Custom Climate Voting Factors

Bespoke Research & Advisory Solutions

ESG Scorecard

Controversial Weapons Research

CIARA – Carbon Impact Analytics for Real Assets

CDP 2022 Forest Corporate Response Dataset

CDP 2022 Water Security Corporate Response Dataset

Net Zero Finance Tracker

Sustainable Economy Intelligence

ESG Ratings & Analysis

SDG Analysis

Net Zero Analysis

Fund Due Diligence and SDR Labelling Reports

Ethical Research

Sustainable Funds Portal

ESG RATINGS

Coller FAIRR Climate Risk Tool

ESG Solutions

Fund EET Data

Fathom’s Product Stack

ENCORE

Trase Finance

Dependency scores

Climate Positive Impact

Positive Impact Biodiversity

Carbon Footprint

Empirical ESG and Impact Data

Real Asset Analysis

ESG Newsroom

Norm-Based Engagement

Thematic Engagement

ESG Custom Rating

Cyber Risk Score

European ESG Template Solution

Environmental & Social Raw Data

Sustainability Insights Suite

ESG Reporting Platform for VC

ESG Solutions by MSCI

Climate and Net-Zero Solutions by MSCI

Biodiversity Solutions by MSCI

Sustainability Solutions for Corporates and Advisors

KaleidoScope

Rating Watch

Vision

ESG GPS X-Ray

A-Cubed

ESG GPS ratings

Data for Nature Insights

Fund EcoMarket

State Street Risk Analytics Platform

TSC Water Security Index

SDG Impact for Public Companies

Universal Impact

Climate Ready Farms

Energy Access Explorer

MapBuilder

Ocean Watch

Water, Peace and Security - Global Early Warning Tool 

Global Water Watch

WRI Open Data Portal

Systems Change Lab

Open Timber Portal 

ESG Clarified

WWF Risk Filter Suite

ICE Climate Physical Risk Data

ICE Climate Transition Analytics Tool

ICE ESG Company Data

European ESG Template (EET) solution

ICE Emissions & Targets Data

ICE ESG Geo-Analyzer Tool

ICE Impact Bond Classification Service

SFDR Principal Adverse Impact (PAI) Data

Task-force for Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) Data

ICE UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Data – Municipal Bonds

News Aggregator/Controversies Monitoring Tool

ESG Research and Data Services

SPOTT

CDP 2022 Climate Change Corporate Response Dataset

Green Bond Database

Social and Sustainability Bond Database

DEEP Value©

Benchmark ESG Disclosure Dataset

ASSET Tool

Modern Slavery Scorecard

LSEG Sustainable Finance and Investment Solutions

imug rating ESG-Investments

Briink AI ESG Copilot

ESG Relevance Scores

Climate Wisdom by Riskthinking.ai

ESG, Climate & Nature

Global Integrated Energy Model

Clean Energy Procurement Service

Corporate Emissions Solution

Intentionality and Stewardship Data (Wealth)

Climate Data for Companies and Funds

Second Party Opinions

Product Involvement and Impact Metrics for Companies and Funds

Low Carbon Transition Ratings

EU Action Plan Solutions

ESG Risk Ratings

Physical Climate Risk Metrics

FactSet's ESG Investing Solutions

Physical Risk Analytics

Clarity AI Sustainability Tech Kit

AssetWisdom™ by Riskthinking.ai

BIODIVERSITY IMPACT ANALYTICS POWERED BY THE GLOBAL BIODIVERSITY SCORE™ (BIA-GBS) for the biodiversity impact and dependencies of companies

NEC metric “Net Environmental Contribution”