The State of Sustainable / ESG Investment in 2018: The State of Corporate Sustainability Reporting & How We Got Here

This issue we bring you two important Top Stories that capture the state of sustainable investing from varying points-of-view.  We selected these for their value to both corporate managers and investment professionals.  Corporate staff can use the findings to “make the case” upward to C-suite and boardroom using both documents.  Investors not yet on board with Sustainable / ESG investing can gain valuable insights from both reports.

First is the report by Guido Giese and Zoltan Nagy at MSCI – “How Markets Price ESG” – addressing the question “have changes in ESG scores affected market prices?”  MSCI examines the changes in companies ESG scores, “ESG momentum”, either strong or negative for the companies being rated. Using the firm’s model, the research showed that markets reacted “most sensitively” to improvements in a public company’s characteristics rather than to declines in ESG performance, among many other takeaways in the full report.

The takeaway is that changes in ESG profiles of companies certainly affect company valuations.  The change in ESG characteristics showed the strongest move in equity pricing over a one-year horizon compared to shorter or longer time frames.  The report contains a well designed, thorough methodology which clearly demonstrates the importance of a public company’s ESG profile.

The MSCI score, the authors point out, is a proxy for the ESG-related information that the market is processing. (All MSCI ESG scores are updated at least once a year.)  There’s good information for both corporate managers and investment professionals in the 25-page report.

The second report is a snapshot of the “State of Integrated and Sustainability Reporting 2018” issued by the Investor Responsibility Research Institute (IRRCI) – Sol Kwon of the Sustainable Investments Institute (Si2) is the author and colleague Heidi Welsh is editor.  (IRRCI and Si2 regularly publish research reports together.)

The report charts the evolvement of corporate sustainability reporting, which got off to a modest start in the 1980s - on to the 1990s when corporate sustainability reports as we know them today as investors and companies adopted ESG or Triple Bottom Line approaches.  Another transition is underway, writes author Kwon, the “value creation” (shared value) which should lead to more holistic reporting of inputs and outputs…the emergence of the integrated report.

In 2013, IRRCI had Si2 look at the state of integrated reporting among the S&P 500® companies and examined practices again for this year’s report.  (The earlier work focused on what companies were reporting without regard to status as “mandated” or “voluntary” disclosure.)  Much progress has been made – for one thing, investor attention on ESG matters is much higher today…making corporate sustainability reporting ripe for the next phase.

The details are set out for you in the IRRCI report including trends and examples in use of reporting frameworks (GRI, SASB, IIRC), Quality, Alignment with SDGs, Inclusion of Sustainability in Financial Reports, Investor Engagement / Awareness, Board Oversight, Incentives, and many other important trends – this an important comprehensive read for both corporate managers and investment professionals, with a sweep of developments presented in an easy-to-read format (ex.  What drives ESG integration into investment strategy?  The drivers are identified and presented in a graphic for you.).

Important note for you regarding IRRCI:  in 2019 the organization’s intellectual properties will be assumed by the Weinberg Center at the University of Delaware.  The center conducts research and holds conferences on corporate governance and related issues and is headed by Charles Elson, one of the most highly-regarded thought leaders on corporate governance in the U.S.

This is just the introduction of G&A's Sustainability Highlights newsletter this week. Click here to view full issue.