With the growth of sustainable, responsible, and impact (SRI) investing, the measurement and assessment of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) impacts of investment is becoming an imperative issue. Numerous concerns have been raised over the reliability of existing ESG ratings, including the incomparability between different ESG metrics, biases and inconsistencies in rating construction, and low correlations between different ratings. This calls for greater standardization of ESG information disclosure and impact measurement, as well as properly valuing impact, not just in its natural unit but also in monetary terms.
The Sim Kee Boon Institute (SKBI) and Singapore Green Finance Centre (SGFC) presented a live webinar on ESG Measurements and Standards on 31 August 2021. It was held as a side event of the 4th Annual Global Research Alliance for Sustainable Finance & Investment (GRASFI) Conference. The session covered two main topics: (1) divergence and convergence of different ESG ratings, and (2) how measurements can move beyond ratings toward an impact-weighted account. We were honoured to have the following esteemed speakers at our event.
Industry Panel on the Recent Development of Impact Measurement
Moderator:
Dave Fernandez, Professor of Finance (Practice), SMU; Director, SKBI; Co-Director, SGFC
Panellists:
Dave Chen, CEO/Chairman, Equilibrium; Adjunct Professor of Finance, Northwestern University – Kellogg School of Management
Adrian De Groot Ruiz, Executive Director, Impact Institute
Wong Dan Chi, Head of ESG Integration, APAC, Schroders; Adjunct Faculty, Singapore Management University
Research and Policy Panel on Measurements and Standards
Moderator:
Liang Hao, Associate Professor of Finance, SMU; Lee Kong Chian Fellow, SMU; Management Committee Member of SGFC
Panellists:
Andrew King, Questrom Professor in Management, Boston University
Shawn Cole, John G. McLean Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
Michael Tang, Head of Listing Policy & Product Admission, Singapore Exchange (SGX)