2020 was marked by the unprecedented effects of the COVID-19 on financial sectors. The financial challenges raised during the pandemic have been opening new perspectives to anticipate and better understand future climate and social-related risks into investment decision processes. One year on, what has the pandemic unveiled to us about the role of sustainable finance?
Technology and Big Data supporting sustainable funds inflows
In the context of social distancing measures and remote working conditions applied in 2020, digital infrastructures became a key necessity to sustain the activity of companies during the pandemic. The boost in the application of new technologies enabled the improvement of resource efficiency and facilitated the quantification of non-traditional factors included in long-term financial performances.
Among the releases from last year, was the launch of the Arabesque S-Ray Temperature Score, which helped to measure to what extent a corporation is contributing to the rise of global temperature. Moreover, we have witnessed the spur of Big Data managing tools to optimise companies' ESG performance. For instance, the application of SAP’s Big Data management system HANA, by the tire company Pirelli, led to a reduction in the number of defective tires going to landfills. This was achieved through the use of data generated by sensors in tires which resulted in waste reduction and improved its environmental impact. Hence, COVID-19 leveraged the widespread use of technologies and data collection to further transparency and awareness on companies' action towards ESG factors inclusion.
Investor engagement
Furthermore, despite the recession shock caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, investment funds embedding environmental, social, and governance investments have outperformed traditional ones this year. S&P Global Market Intelligence showcases that 14 out of 17 exchange-traded and mutual funds over $250 million in assets under management based on ESG criteria deliver higher returns than S&P 500 in July 2020. The benefits from higher return on investment have been marked by a rise in ESG-based exchange-traded funds. In fact, Luke Oliver, head of Index Investing at DWS Group has acknowledged last September that over '$19 billion has flowed into ESG ETFs this year while this number is below $8 billion in inflow in 2019'. CEO Larry Fink reported that this turnover into ESG investment selection can be interpreted as a decision made by clients to implement sustainable products as a reflection of 'their value' and to 'enhance performance, risk management, and portfolio construction'. As of 2021, we can expect an accelerated engagement response from top investment managers for ESG reporting and disclosure.
Regulatory Challenges
2020 also marked five years of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. However, as COVID-19 will continue to spread in 2021, policymakers and governmental institutions will face a new challenge in terms of regulating investors’ decisions aligning to alarm on environmental related issues such as biodiversity loss. A prime example of new initiatives on ESG disclosure requirements that have been engaged in the introduction of the European Union’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) on March 10th, 2021. Enrolled under the EU Sustainable Finance Action Plan, the SFDR was designed to promote greater transparency in terms of sustainability of financial instruments while preventing greenwashing practices among investors. Nonetheless, due to the limited time available before the regulation came into effect, companies might not be able to track and collect sufficient available data information to report the drafted principle adverse impacts indicators listed in the regulation memo.
Introduction to new sustainable assets type
Finally, we may also see a shift towards different sustainable finance instruments in 2021. Although green bonds remain the most mature and issued instrument to raise private funds for sustainable development, social bonds may become more advertised in 2021. The recent societal and governance trends which came to fore in 2020, such as the Black Lives Matter movement, and the surge of wealth inequality shed light on new approaches investors will need to take into account for a future investment decision.
One solution might be the increase of social bonds issuance which soared from 5% to 15% between 2019 and 2020 according to MSCI. However, principles applied to those bonds are not as developed as for green ones which might involve potential 'social washing' risk for investors. In this case, another potential solution can be sustainability-linked bonds that apply Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) as the performance of investors in terms of environmental, social and governance commitments will be compared to standardised sustainability objectives. Although the main challenge for this alternative is to determine the establishment of the sustainability performance to the bond’s coupon, it remains an interesting option with the possibility of an easy roll out strategy as it can be issued by either a private or public entity.
To conclude, the critical situation of the ongoing pandemic has put the current dynamic of our capital markets into question. With a sentiment of uncertainty, issuers may find new solutions opportunities through sustainable finance to improve the current dynamic of long-term investments and temper the effect of new potential health and climate crisis in the future.
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