Blog post on sustainability

[lttklisa]

Hi everyone,

Caro and me are interested in writing a blog post about sustainability. We like the topic proposed in the Q&A session today, but we could also imagine to write about something different within the field. If some of you would like to join, maybe we could brainstorm about it!

Best regards, Lisa

[ariannapisciella]

Hi Lisa, I would be interested to join you! let's talk more about it

[statzhero]

I did some research on ESG disclosures and related topics on sustainability, so this would be a topic I'd be interested as well.

Did you have any specific direction in mind?

[ariannapisciella]

Hi everyone,

today Caro, Lisa, Ulrich and me had a first brainstorming meeting. We came up with 4 potential topics to cover in our blog:

1. ESG performance and impacts measurement (firms perspective)

• How to measure sustainability performance?
• Assessment of the "Impact-Weighted Accounts" initiative by Harvard: https://www.hbs.edu/impact-weighted-accounts/Pages/default.aspx
• NYU version: Return on Sustainability Investment (ROSI): https://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/about/departments-centers-initiatives/centers-of-research/center-sustainable-business/research/return-sustainability-investment-rosi
• Possible empirical work to do: to check if the above methods can be applied, to check if companies disclose such information and calculate the gap between what companies disclose today vs. what they should disclose according to IWA/ROSI initiative.
• How does ESG lead to financial performance? (The mechanisms)

2. ESG scores (investors perspective)

• What do ESG scores actually measure?
• The Aggregate Confusion Project from MIT: https://mitsloan.mit.edu/sustainability-initiative/aggregate-confusion-project
• ESG score / CO2 emissions in ETF prospects

3. Greenwashing

• What are the definitions of Greenwashing? How to assess it? What are the outcomes?
• Potential mismatch between pledges / promises and the actual outcomes at the target date?
• Are sustainability disclosures truthful / material?

4. ESG disclosure content (regulators perspective)

• How should an ESG disclosure mandate look like?
• How to assess the content and quality of non-financial and non-textual information (looking images, tables, graphs) in sust. reports?

A common direction of all the above topics will be the Europe vs. US comparison.

We are now gathering more information/insights on the topics above and we plan to meet again on May 19 at 4pm CET. If any of you would like to contribute to our blog please feel free to reach us before that day!

Best Arianna

[David-Aguilera-Matus]

Hi Everyone! I'm interested in these topics, can you consider me? What platform do you use?