This paper investigates the role of the intensity and relevance of ESG materiality in equity returns. Adopting the classifications of materiality provided by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), the paper introduces the concept of the financial relevance and financial intensity...

At the end of 2018, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) released the codified version of its standard that established measurement and reporting criteria for companies' material environment, social, and governance (ESG) issues. By introducing the concept of financial relevance...

This paper uses the study of two ESG data vendors – KLD and Innovest – to exemplify the “social origins of ESG” argument made by Eccles and Stroehle (2018). Based on in-depth interviews with the organizations' founders and historical document analysis, we recap the history of the cases...

The 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have created a framework for environmental and social impacts, which many large institutional investors and an increasing number of corporations are using to guide their resource allocation decisions or highlight those already in place....

Can custody banks become key players in climate change? Custody banks joining the battle against climate change will signal a significant shift in governance ideology for this highly regulated industry so critical to the global financial system. While global custody banks provide the unseen but...