Special Report - The Growth of Sustainability Across Fixed Income Investments

by Reynard Loki
Dec 8, 2014 12:30 PM ET
Reynard Loki covers news about sustainability and CSR.

CSRwire

Part one of a special three part Sustainability Finance Report

Bloomberg and Calvert Investments Share Tools and Processes to Apply ESG Factors to Fixed Income Investment Analysis

The steady growth of sustainability across the equity investing landscape—stocks, ETFs and even exchanges—has given investors interested in SRI (socially responsible investing) more to chew on when considering ESG (environmental, social, governance) factors in their investment decisions.

But what about ESG integration on the fixed-income side? For many investors—particularly older investors for whom bonds represent a substantial portion of the portfolio—incorporating ESG factors has become an increasingly important aspect of the investment research process. However, assessing the relevance of ESG impact on an issuer's default risk remains a challenge. A recent webinar helped shed light on this emergent area of SRI.

Co-hosted by Bloomberg and Calvert Investments, "Bonding with ESG: Integration in Fixed Income Analysis" was a show-and-tell for both organizations. From Calvert, attendees got a behind-the-scenes look at the firm’s internal fixed income investment decision-making process. From Bloomberg, attendees were introduced to Bloomberg Professional service platform tools available for ESG integration in fixed income investment analysis. By providing an overview of the current state of fixed income ESG analysis, the webinar gave attendees some key tools and approaches to help identify broader sustainable finance opportunities.

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Reynard Loki covers news about sustainability and CSR. He has written about social innovation, social enterprise, business ethics, ethical consumerism, animal rights and sustainable finance. A co-founder of MomenTech, a New York-based experimental production studio, he maintains the blog 13.7 Billion Years and is a contributing author to Biomes and Ecosystems (Salem Press, 2013), a comprehensive reference encyclopedia of the Earth's key biological and geographic classifications. He is a member of Farm Sanctuary, Sea Shepherd, Global Ethics Network and the Food & Water Watch Special Blog Outreach Unit.