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.

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As ever-increasing numbers of companies report sustainability performance, and as more investors integrate ESG into their investment processes, sustainability/ESG data becomes more critical than ever. In turn, sustainability reporting standards-setters take on greater responsibility.There is a problem, however... a big problem. There are too many standards-setting organisations and frameworks. This generates confusion, hinders corporate reporting, and diminishes usefulness and compatability and of reported sustainability/ESG data and information.Too many cooks in the kitchen, as it were.Well, there is one less cook in that kitchen now, with the recent closing of the merger between the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) and Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), creating a new standards organisation called the Value Reporting Foundation.It's still a crowded kitchen, however (there are more than 700 standards in the world). A singularity is neither realistic, nor desirable. Niche frameworks, which comprise the majority of that 700, play important roles. But the top of the ecosystem – large general frameworks – needs streamlining.The IIRC/SASB merger is a small, but important, step in aligning and streamlining sustainability reporting. This Insight is a very brief look at the IIRC/SASB merger, as well as GRI's reboot of its Sector Program – and 40 sector-specific GRI standards that will start rolling out later this year.

As ever-increasing numbers of companies report sustainability performance, and as more investors integrate ESG into their investment processes, sustainability/ESG data becomes more critical than ever. In turn, sustainability reporting standards-setters take on greater responsibility.There is a problem, however... a big problem. There are too many standards-setting organisations and frameworks. This generates confusion, hinders corporate reporting, and diminishes usefulness and compatability and of reported sustainability/ESG data and information.Too many cooks in the kitchen, as it were.Well, there is one less cook in that kitchen now, with the recent closing of the merger between the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) and Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), creating a new standards organisation called the Value Reporting Foundation.It's still a crowded kitchen, however (there are more than 700 standards in the world). A singularity is neither realistic, nor desirable. Niche frameworks, which comprise the majority of that 700, play important roles. But the top of the ecosystem – large general frameworks – needs streamlining.The IIRC/SASB merger is a small, but important, step in aligning and streamlining sustainability reporting. This Insight is a very brief look at the IIRC/SASB merger, as well as GRI's reboot of its Sector Program – and 40 sector-specific GRI standards that will start rolling out later this year.

Sustainability/ESG Reporting Frameworks: One Less Cook in the Kitchen But It Is Still Too Crowded

MSCI Inc

Sustainability/ESG Reporting Frameworks: One Less Cook in the Kitchen But It Is Still Too Crowded