Environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks and issues are increasingly relevant to investors, making it vital to help identify both the downside risks and upside opportunities offered by climate change, decarbonisation and other environmental and social factors though ESG assurance.
ESI Monitor occupies an important niche in supporting the financial services approach to ESG, bringing together our founder’s experience and contacts in digital technology together with the extensive sustainability experience of our consultancy team.
We take a unique approach to serving client needs, drawing on strong digital tools and capabilities and our extensive knowledge and connections across environmental and social issues, all brought together with exceptional project management skills.
Our team contains specialists in climate change risk assessment, emissions and water footprinting, and international sustainable development, and we have extensive connections with experts in other environmental and social fields such as natural resources vulnerability and human rights. Together with associate consultants in Guernsey, Jersey and Geneva, this means that we can provide timely, critical and professional insight into the sustainability credentials of companies.
ESG insight and risk assessment during due diligence
The pre-acquisition due diligence phase is a vital component to manage client risk and value. ESI Monitor can contribute to identifying and evaluating risks in the following fields:
We have specific experience of the OECD’s Due Diligence Guidance, both as it relates to financial institutions and responsible corporate conduct more widely. With our emphasis on digital solutions, we can provide swift and targeted insights into reputationally-relevant ESG issues found online. We have already developed web scraping and data mining applications which can be tailored to seek for intelligence relating to specific organisations or investees.
ESG Assurance Claims
We are very familiar with the sustainability claims that may be made by issuers during a promotion or listing process and can critically interrogate or verify claims made under a range of regimes including the Climate Bond Principles, the Common Principles for Climate Mitigation Finance Tracking, and the Guernsey Green Fund (GGF) designation.
Portfolio monitoring and management
For ongoing monitoring and management of portfolio ESG exposure, we can provide use of our portals and data capture services as well as bespoke reporting and dashboards. Our focussed and scalable approach is well suited to engaging organisations and investees with limited internal resources to conduct their own ESG assessments. We can work closely with either investors or investees to define their sustainability policies and help them implement effective management systems. For listed investments, we can provide and interpret data and aggregated ratings on assets and portfolios of interest, using MSCI and Sustainalytics data products.
Our project management of commissions is controlled to a high standard to ensure client confidence and efficiency. For assurance engagements, we can deliver to the IFAC’s International Standard for Assurance Engagements (ISAE 3000 Assurance of Non-Financial Information). We can also provide access to accredited verifiers if this is required.
