eVestment, a specialist in institutional investment data and analytics, has launched a new ESG questionnaire as part of its initiative to standardise ESG reporting.With input from institutional investors, consultants, managers and industry organisations, eVestment is bringing more insights and transparency to the ESG space. The new questionnaire is now available for all managers reporting data to eVestment and data and insights based on the new questionnaire are available to eVestment clients.
For investors and consultants, the new questionnaire offers more robust quantitative and qualitative data, allowing a deeper understanding of how ESG managers implement their approaches and what drives their decision making process.
For asset managers, the new questionnaire allows them to communicate their ESG strategies more completely and compellingly, giving managers who approach ESG thoughtfully and with rigor the ability to stand out from the competition.
“We heard from clients across the spectrum of eVestment users – investors, consultants and asset managers – that they need a more comprehensive way to review and present ESG data as this segment of the investment business continues to increase in importance around the world,” says Erika Spence, Head of Data Strategy at eVestment. “As the leader in institutional investment data and insights, this new questionnaire will bring unprecedented transparency and value to the reporting, sharing and reviewing of asset manager ESG data.”
The new questionnaire has 140 questions, compared to the previous questionnaire’s 40. In addition to more “yes/no” and other check-box style questions, the new questionnaire provides more options for narrative information and supplemental materials.
New questions include:
• Does your firm engage or advocate for ESG improvements within its portfolio holdings?
• Does your firm have policies that are intended to increase the level of gender and ethnic diversity of senior leadership and investment teams?
• Do you have senior-level staff commitment and accountability mechanisms for the ESG investment implementation, as outlined in your policies, for this strategy?
• Does the team provide attribution analysis measuring the impact analysis of their ESG decisions?
• Under what circumstances would you purchase, hold or sell a security if relevant ESG issues were uncovered?
For existing strategies on the eVestment database that include ESG considerations, asset managers can update their current and past information in the new questionnaire to provide the historical perspective on their strategies that investors and consultants usually require when assessing managers and strategies. All new ESG strategies launched by asset managers will use the new questionnaire from inception.
This announcement aligns with eVestment parent company Nasdaq’s long-standing commitment to ESG-related advocacy and innovation to engage with stakeholders at all levels.
