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The investor sentiment shift towards a conscientious society, a greener planet and improved governance practices is driving all financial institutions, whether big or small, traditional or fintech, to be fully in control of the ESG standings of their investment and underwriting positions, and embed ESG considerations into their reporting and risk management frameworks.

At the start of 2021, we saw a high-profile event where many professional hedge fund managers lost out due to retail investors purposefully making investments to push up stock prices; this activity was coordinated via social media. If firms were using more sophisticated ESG big data mining techniques to take account of sentiment analysis from social media feeds as part of risk monitoring exercises, for example, they would likely have detected that millions of retail customers were taking long positions in companies they were shorting.

Real-time reputational risk monitoring around ESG issues is now commonplace for most tier-one financial institutions. Sentiment monitoring of popular major social media platforms, such as Reddit and Twitter, that use well-chosen search terms can quickly pick up on reputational risk or issues surfacing online about a company.

The same goes for more exhaustive web searches for company references and regulatory filings; such exercises can spot when a company is gaining traction for the right or wrong reasons. Likewise, ESG analysts can use advanced data mining techniques to trawl through controversies or customer complaints and analyse them periodically to find common themes.

But, identifying the right ESG data source, deciphering it and collating it is not straightforward. Whereas financial reporting is standardised and in familiar formats, corporate reporting around ESG dimensions is anything but. Companies are not yet obliged to report most ESG-related information in a standardised manner; therefore, practice is fragmented and disparate. There are few standard templates, meaning that companies will publish different information in different ways.

Much ESG information is also self-reported through periodic sustainability reports and annual reports. Inevitably, this opens the possibility of greenwashing. Understandably enough, corporates are keen to paint themselves in the best light possible.

For that reason, a simple plug and play off-the-shelf ESG score is not good enough any longer. We have seen some firms inadvertently over-invest in carbon due to relying too heavily on these off-the-shelf ESG scores or indeed announcing a sustainability strategy that is incompatible with their current (on or off) balance sheet holdings.

Cutting through the noise, obtaining relevant information quickly, and analysing it effectively, is no small task. We have also seen the opening of something of a two-speed market. Big global institutions have been highly active in either building their own in-house data analytical capabilities for ESG or acquiring one of the new breed of fintech data aggregators or a combination of both. M&A in this space has been prolific.

This means that the big institutions can track data signals across multiple sources and decipher them almost instantly. To adjust their responses, they can react to breaking news or controversies, machine-read legal documents, or even analyse investor sentiments from social media. In recent years, even large credit rating agencies and market data providers went on a buying spree to remain competitive and cater to the ESG and sustainability-related demand. However, it is often far more challenging for smaller players with constrained budgets having to stretch across many competing priorities.

For any manager left in any doubt of the need to prioritise this if nothing else, recent market events should be your wake-up call to cast the data net much, much wider.

If even a sliver of a silver lining can be found in the pandemic, ESG moving well and truly into the mainstream of financial services has to be a good contender. ESG is now well on its way to redefining capital markets as we know it into a more transparent and conscientious one.

Budha Bhattacharya is head of analytics for ESG IQ, developed byKPMGLighthouse. He is also an industrial professor of finance and banking at UCL, Institute of Finance and Technology.

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How Financial Institutions Are Trying To Make Sense Of ESG Data - Todayuknews - Todayuknews

Decarbonisation and sector disclosures

The metals and mining sector is in the very early stages of a 30-year transitionto carbon neutral production. The roadto net zero carbon emissions, or carbon neutrality, will have a crucial impact on corporates in the sector through at least two channels: (a) through the growth in demand for various metals needed to build a green economy, and (b) through the decarbonisation of operating and business processes.

While the metals and mining sector is one of the biggest producers of carbon dioxide, emitting around 4.5Gt of CO2 equivalent per year, many of the world's largest miners haveset net-zero carbon targets,announcingprojects to 'green'the production ofaluminium, copper, steel, etc. Large-scale net-zero carbon projects remain elusivebutthe first steps to decarbonise have at least been taken.In June, for example, the Swedish consortium SSAB, LKAB & Vattenfall, produced the first hydrogen-reduced sponge iron (i.e. steel) on asmall scale.Meanwhile, alarge number of public corporates in the sector have begun toreport their carbon footprint by disclosing Scope 1, Scope 2 and in some cases, even Scope 3 emissions, although thesedisclosures aremostly voluntary and requireimprovement in the quality, frequency and credibility.

In thehighly energy-intensive aluminium industry, the most advanced companies are trying to maximise the use of renewable energy but are still far from producing 'green'aluminium across the supply chain. Projects to produce 'green' nickel and copper have been announced over the last couple of years but are still far from completion.Decarbonisation will require a huge amount of investmentinto new technologies, such as greenhydrogen production, carbon capture, storage and transportation. Technological transformation will trigger significant investment,which will be reflected in new greendebt and equity supply.

In this article, we discuss how the metals and mining sector is shifting towards carbon neutrality. We look at theemissionsproduced, the sector's current stance, the level of reporting from corporates andthe targets they have set. We also examine thesectors share in the supply of 'green' and sustainable debt in the total green finance supply, the potential amount of investmentrequired, and what it all means for investors.

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Decarbonisation and sector disclosure for metals & mining - ING Think

Colonialism has left a deep and enduring mark on the world. Its roots have anchored themselves across the globe, and its long shadow maintains an unequal balance of power and wealth between the Global North and South.

There are many architects of colonialism, with the East India Company and its complex history of trade monopolies, war and slavery among the most notorious. The company established infrastructure, like railroads and ports, in foreign lands to extract raw materials, which, in turn, were used to manufacture goods. Many of these were often even sold back to the countries from which the materials were taken.This method allowed many imperialist entities to substantially expand their wealth at the expense of others.

Although these practices are largely confined to the past, some suggest big tech companies are following in their footsteps. These companies are, too, accused of engaging in trade monopolies, play a key role in the industry of war, and are even swept up in allegations of benefitting frommodern slaveryprevalent in supply chains. Where goods once traded included cotton, silk or tea, today theyre minerals mined to make electronic components, and information. Although the days of the East India Company areover, is big techtoday partaking in a form of modern colonialism by entrenching themselves in the new power networks of technology and data?

Digital colonialism, says Michael Kwet, a visiting fellow at Yale Law Schools Information Society Project, is the use of technology for the political, economic, and social domination of another territory. Its principally achieved through the ownership and control of the digital ecosystem, comprising software, hardware, network connectivity, data, platforms, and intellectual property (IP). Kwet adds the US is by far the leader, with China and Europe vying to close the gap, alongside some Global South-based corporations seeking to impose their influence abroad, in what he terms South-on-South colonialism.

Big tech takes advantage of a borderless internet to impose its products and services in poorer countries, maintaining its dominance by retaining control over technology and property. This means the Global North, in effect, controls a potentially highly lucrative part of their respective economies, Kwet says making inroads before local companies can. Uber, for instance, had set up in Africabefore African companies could compete on the same footing. Global South populations, in turn, play the role of passive user, consumer, and producer of low-level goods and services, ranging from mining to sweatshop labour.

Colonialists of the past established trade monopolies, frequently engaged in warfare and built the slave trade industry

To expand its empire across the Global South, Kwet says tech firms employvarious tactics. They setthe rules, like IP, and seizethe first-mover advantage. They also take advantage of networks by blocking interoperability between platforms, which could allow many services to operate instead of just a few.

Instead of colonising the land and establishing infrastructure for extraction, Kwet continues, through digital colonialism, tech giants colonise the technology for data extraction and rent. He adds that networks like Facebook extract data, process it on server farms, and use it to provide services in a scenario in which the South cannot compete. He explains the North also has heavy machinery in place, like cloud centres, that are required for data-driven services. Kwet says these arent easy to replicate,and are comparable to machinery once used to drill deep beneath the surface to mine minerals like diamonds and gold.

Big tech takes advantage of relationship patterns that were established historically, argues Olufunmilayo Arewa, Shusterman professor of business and transactional law at Temple University. In Africa, she says, European powers once exercised control over social, political, and economic institutions, with countries integrated into the global economic system primarily as a source of raw materials, including peopleand agricultural products. The colonies, in turn, imported manufactured goods from the powers that controlled them. Arewa believes these patterns are mirrored in the modern era, as African nations still maintain similar economic relationships with external powers with an added digital dynamic.

African countries are an important source of raw materials for the industrial and digital economies, including metals such as tantalum, which is important for electronic components, she says. Many countries in Africa, however, remain economically marginalised, in important respects, and a capacity gap is evident, particularly in key skills needed in the digital economy.

She says the introduction of new technologies draws attention to lawmaking within Africa, as many current laws and regulations were put in place before the digital revolution. The poor fit of existing regulations, many of which may predate modern technologies and business practices, isan issue of ongoing contestation globally, with the lack of regulatory oversight giving tech companies a green light to experiment in various territories as they see fit.

Undoing digital colonialism, Arewa suggests, would involve establishing relationships not built on colonial parallels. This would mean engaging with countries in the Global South as partners, rather than grounds for exploitation, she says. Several measures can be adopted from a trade perspective, meanwhile, according to Abhijit Das, head of the Centre for World Trade Organisation (WTO) Studies at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade. He believes there should be no obligations on digital issues in free trade agreements at the WTO, such as forcing countries to liberalise e-commerce, with these agreements now the most important legal instrument for exacerbating digital colonisation. Countries should also have the flexibility to impose restrictions on cross-border data flows, and mandate localisation of servers within their territory. This, Abhijit says, will help developing countries create a vibrant domestic digital sector without becoming dependent on imports of digital products.

He adds countries must also be able to tax digital players, and nations must not be arm-twisted into not imposing taxes on foreign suppliers of digital services either. This is on top of governments being able to sufficiently regulate the digital sector, in light of provisions in existing trade agreements that tie the hands of governments.

The continued appropriation of data from the stream of the collective human experience is a phenomenon of historical significance, comparable with the original land grab, says Nick Couldry, professor of media, communications and social theory at LSE. He believes this data colonialism exacerbates historic power dynamics with regards to the worlds resourcesgiven that data, and the value derived from it, represents a completely new type of asset to grab and appropriate.

The continued appropriation of databy companies thriving in Silicon Valleyhas been likened to the original land grab

Couldry adds historiccolonialism evolved over the course of four centuries into complex imperialist political structures and cultures of racism. Its much too early to say, therefore, if data colonialism will ever evolve in the same way. He says, however, the underlying principles of colonialism, which centred on imposing Western superiority to appropriate resources across the world, will continue through the rhetoric of big data. This language of dataism, he adds, is based around the idea that the maximum amount of data must always be gathered, whatever the cost.

Data colonialism can, in principle, thrive everywhere, so it takes place not only in the Global South but also in the North. Ultimately, though, the key targets for data extraction will always be shaped by historical colonialism, Couldry continues, leaving many African countries vulnerable to the Trojan Horse offerings by companies like Facebook. He uses Facebook Free Basics as an example of a free, limited internet service for developing markets that was found to ignore local sites and prioritise Western ones instead. Where we think data colonialism is headed, as it grows within the power structures already inherited from capitalism, Couldry explains, is to make possible an entirely new type of social and economic order, based on much more intensive governance of people in the interests of value extraction."

The only way to end digital colonialism, Kwetadds, is by reconstructing the digital economy in a way that strips out the system of private property and production for profit, and replaces it with one organised by society to service society on egalitarian terms. This includes free and open source software, a phasing out of IP, stronger privacy laws, and a digital tech deal that would fund the production, maintenance, and access to technology for everyone. This must be formulated collectively by people across the world, he says, fuelled by a movement that intersects with broader political, economic, and social justice ambitions.

Couldry says hes optimistic about resisting data colonialism in the long term, provided were not misled by false solutions. He says a good starting point would be to imagine a world that refuses to intensify data colonialism and instead relies less on data-extracting platforms for the conduct of our daily lives. For this to be effective, though, it must be through collective means, as theres no other way to resist something as large as an entire social order except by imagining and starting to live out a different one.

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Is big tech the new East India Company? - IT PRO

Thursday, 14 October 2021, 5:45 pmPress Release: MarketResearch.biz

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