Alpha-Centric ESG Research

Kyle Rudden

I am an ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) analyst with an alpha-centric approach to ESG research. After all, ESG investing is, first and foremost, investing. "Alpha-centric" does not mean apathetic, however. Quite the contrary. I believe global sustainability – i.e., environmental stewardship, social equality, and economic prosperity – is imperative, and private-sector capital is its cornerstone. Private-sector capital still has fiduciary responsibilities. Profitability is necessary for sustained impact. The Triple Bottom Line. People, Planet, AND Profit.

More importantly, you. I value your investment in Smartkarma research, and commit to Insights worthy of your time and money. That means giving ASEAN ESG the attention it deserves, and with Insights that are substantive and differentiated; the intersection of material and under-covered. You can expect investigative research into emergent ESG issues; data-driven analyses of deals (pre-IPO ESG research, ESG-focused M&A consequence analyses, etc.); and trading-oriented ideas like ESG short selling and playing ESG index constituency changes.

I bring both ESG expertise and traditional investing experience, as well as some rather unique perspectives on ESG (a lesson in governance from Enron, anyone?). I spent the last decade exclusively on ESG, researching links to equity returns, credit ratings, cost of capital, and yield spreads. I also contributed to ESG reporting standards (SASB and GRI), and the MBA curriculum (Impact Investing) at the Kellogg School of Management. Previously, I was an Institutional Investor and Wall Street Journal All-Star sell-side analyst at J.P. Morgan.

Please, feel free to contact me about anything.

Climate Pledges By Utilities Are Among the Best in Europe

Climate Pledges: Promise and Potential for Planet and Profit... But the Devil Is in the Details

What color is a tree? Ask a child, and the answer is green. To a child, green is green, and all green is "tree-green." Ask an artist the same question, and the answer is a chromatic spectrum of greens blending into brownish shades in the shadows, and yellow tints in the sun.If corporate climate pledges – especially the me-too net-zero variety so en vogue of late – were a tangible product they would come packaged in a glossy sustainability-green. You've seen it. That botanical green so impossibly organic there is something vaguely unsettling about it.Open the package, and you might find the climate pledge equivalent of a brick in an iPhone box.To be fair, most climate pledges are well-intentioned, but it takes just one dodgy press release from an oil supermajor for the world to go mad with greenwashing paranoia. Out-and-out greenwashing is relatively rare, however. There is a bigger issue, and a source of both risk and opportunity.Some issuers are making huge promises – genuine but likely clouded by irrational exuberance from "keeping up with the Joneses" – and setting themselves up for failure, where the cost of failure is of epic proportions. Conversely, some companies are doing it right, turning risk into opportunity.

What color is a tree? Ask a child, and the answer is green. To a child, green is green, and all green is "tree-green." Ask an artist the same question, and the answer is a chromatic spectrum of greens blending into brownish shades in the shadows, and yellow tints in the sun.If corporate climate pledges – especially the me-too net-zero variety so en vogue of late – were a tangible product they would come packaged in a glossy sustainability-green. You've seen it. That botanical green so impossibly organic there is something vaguely unsettling about it.Open the package, and you might find the climate pledge equivalent of a brick in an iPhone box.To be fair, most climate pledges are well-intentioned, but it takes just one dodgy press release from an oil supermajor for the world to go mad with greenwashing paranoia. Out-and-out greenwashing is relatively rare, however. There is a bigger issue, and a source of both risk and opportunity.Some issuers are making huge promises – genuine but likely clouded by irrational exuberance from "keeping up with the Joneses" – and setting themselves up for failure, where the cost of failure is of epic proportions. Conversely, some companies are doing it right, turning risk into opportunity.

Climate Pledges: Singapore and Japan Lead APAC Issuers in Quality of Climate Pledges

Singtel

Climate Pledges: Singapore and Japan Lead APAC Issuers in Quality of Climate Pledges