ESG & Sustainability

Dutch pension fund manager APG, which co-designed the responsible-investment indices with Qontigo, has received an award from Pensioen Pro for its pioneering work following the introduction of the indices.

ESG funds can target very different objectives and their names mean very different things. So, what, in reality, are their overall achievements when it comes to broad sustainability metrics? What active risk are investors taking on to accomplish them? And can optimization help balance sustainability and risk? A new whitepaper from Qontigo examines these matters.

In this paper, our goal is to show how sustainability ETF exposures to a number of sustainability-related factors may vary. It is eminently clear to us that investors with a view about key sustainability features cannot rely on the fund name, but instead need to do more digging into whether their fund meets the required criteria.

Qontigo noted in a research report that as of August, 346B euros were invested in passive ESG ETFs listed across the world. Of that figure, 53% went towards general ESG funds, while 45% of the flows were allocated towards environmental ETFs.

This article aims to provide an update on the responsible-investing characteristics of the iSTOXX APG World Responsible Indices, and reaffirm that the process continues to create indices with substantial improvement in sustainability criteria without straying too much from the parent benchmark.

While ETF strategies focusing on the environment and general ESG have captured 39 billion euros this year, little to no money has gone to funds targeting principally social and governance issues, according to data from Qontigo’s Market Intelligence Team.

Saumya Mehrotra from Qontigo’s Sustainable Investment team joined a panel of experts during the recent Sustainable Investment Forum North America in New York, to discuss how ESG data and applications are evolving. In her words, while sustainability information is becoming more specialized, so are investors’ approaches to it.

At the Sustainable Investment Forum North America 2022, Saumya Mehrotra, Associate Principal, Sustainable Investment shares how the combination of our open ESG data and architecture, index platform and analytic capabilities enable our clients on their journey to full sustainability integration.

In September, stocks suffered the worst monthly selloff since March 2020, with the STOXX® Global 1800 index erasing all of its gains from the northern hemisphere’s summer, as central banks around the world pushed ahead with more interest-rate hikes.

The outcome of the STOXX Global ESG Leaders’ annual review is out. Qontigo’s broadest benchmark tracking the highest ESG-scoring companies now comprises 425 constituents: 280 from Europe, 79 from North America and 66 from Asia/Pacific.

Changes were announced as part of the September regular review of the DAX 50 ESG, DAX ESG Target, DAX ESG Screened and DAX indices.

The Sustainable Development Investments Asset Owner Platform (SDI AOP) helps investors assess companies’ contributions to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. With the latest enhancement to its dataset, investors can also imbed information around products and services that have a negative impact.