Bloomberg chief outlines ESG data strategy

Bloomberg chairman Peter Grauer has mapped out the data giant’s strategy in the environmental, social and governance (ESG) space in a major keynote speech at Responsible Investor‘s ESG USA conference in New York.

Bloomberg has made ESG a strategic focus, recently buying environmental data provider New Energy Finance amid a consolidation of the ESG research sector.

Arch rival Thomson Reuters has also enhanced its offering in the area, with the acquisition of ASSET4 and Point Carbon. And index firm MSCI has become a player with the takeover of RiskMetrics, which includes the former Innovest and KLD research houses.

Grauer said the firm believes ESG will become fundamental to equity market analysis. Grauer said: “We believe this will be a long term growth area for us. We’ve really only just begun.”“Look at the eco system of risk that climate change presents – our role is to help get the message out and get acceptance,” the former investment banker stated. The media group plans to integrate ESG into the “decision-making process of the capital markets“.

He told delegates: “Our goal is to provide information that drives RI across the value chain.”

Grauer’s colleague Gary Turkel, global business manager, equities at the media giant, pointed to the success of Bloomberg’s disclosure score system, which ranks companies on how they disclose material information. The firm is now building a platform to enable companies to provide ESG data.

It plans to “architect” and formalise the data, standardised by industry and product line. “We see it going mainstream,” Turkel said.