Revamped ESG data industry body targets interoperability

illuminem summarises for you the essential news of the day, reviewed by our editorial team. Read the full piece on Responsible Investor or enjoy below:

🗞️ Driving the news: The Future of Sustainable Data Alliance (FoSDA) has published its first major report since restructuring as an independent membership organisation, putting interoperability at the centre of its work on ESG and sustainability data

🔭 The context: The sustainable-data ecosystem spans multiple reporting frameworks, regulations, ratings and data providers
• FoSDA argues that making these systems work together can improve comparability for investors while reducing duplicated reporting requirements and costs for companies
• Its membership now includes major providers such as MSCI, LSEG, Bloomberg, S&P Global, CDP and Moody’s

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: Efficient interoperability could make sustainability information easier to compare and integrate into investment decisions, potentially improving the flow of capital toward environmental objectives
• It could also reduce the reporting burden on companies, leaving more resources for substantive sustainability action

⏭️ What’s next: The focus would shift from agreeing on interoperability in principle to making different standards and data systems work together in practice — particularly as global sustainability disclosure requirements continue to evolve

💬 One quote: FoSDA says interoperability should help “ensure that investors receive comparable information” while limiting companies’ reporting burden.

📈 One stat: 16,000 companies are covered by LSEG’s ESG datasets, illustrating the scale of the data ecosystem that interoperability efforts need to address

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