Library | ESG issues

Environmental

The environmental pillar in ESG (environmental, social, and governance) assesses an organisation’s impact on the planet. It includes issues such as climate change, biodiversity, waste management and water management. Strong environmental practices help businesses reduce risks, comply with regulations, and drive long-term sustainability.

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A risk professional’s guide to physical risk assessments: A GARP benchmarking study of 13 vendors

Climate Financial Risk Forum (CFRF)
GARP benchmarks 13 vendors’ asset-level climate physical risk models, finding wide dispersion in hazard and damage estimates due to differing data, assumptions and methods. The report stresses due diligence, transparency and improved asset data when selecting vendors.
Research
23 October 2025

The (mis)use of scenarios in fossil fuel and industry climate disclosures

Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility
The report analyses climate disclosures by investor-owned carbon majors, finding widespread misuse of climate scenarios to claim Paris alignment. Common issues include outdated scenarios, opaque assumptions and misleading aggregation, which obscure transition risks and may misinform investor decision-making.
Research
28 March 2025

Banking on business as usual: The energy finance imbalance

Reclaim Finance
The report assesses energy financing by 65 major banks (2021–2024), finding fossil fuel finance more than double sustainable power supply. The energy supply financing ratio stagnates around 0.42:1, far below net-zero benchmarks, with regional disparities and weak translation of climate commitments into financing shifts.
Research
29 September 2025

On the horizon: Climate-induced inflation and the price of food

The Autonomy Institute
This report analyses climate-driven food price inflation in the UK, linking global heat and drought shocks to rising import costs. It projects 25–34% cumulative food inflation by 2050, with disproportionate impacts on low-income households and increased poverty risks.
Research
17 July 2025

The global human impact on biodiversity

Global meta-analysis of 2,133 studies finds human pressures consistently shift community composition and reduce local biodiversity across terrestrial, freshwater and marine systems, but do not cause uniform biotic homogenisation. Impacts vary by pressure, organism group and spatial scale, informing conservation benchmarking.
Research
26 April 2025

Historical redlining and cumulative environmental impacts across the United States

This study analyses 202 US cities, linking historic redlining to higher present-day cumulative environmental burdens. Using EJScreen data and modelling, it finds redlined neighbourhoods face significantly greater combined pollution exposures, particularly from traffic, hazardous waste and wastewater sites, with strongest disparities in western regions.
Research
30 December 2025

The Climate Resilience Investment Framework (CRIF)

Institutional Investor Group on Climate Change (IIGCC)
IIGCC’s Climate Resilience Investment Framework provides investors with a structured approach to manage physical climate risks, integrate adaptation into portfolios, and guide asset-level, portfolio, and policy actions, prioritising real estate and infrastructure through a process-based methodology aligned with financial materiality.
Research
18 June 2025

Unlocking Opportunity: Addressing Livestock Methane to Build Resilient Food Systems

Ceres
This Ceres report outlines the financial and climate case for reducing livestock methane. It maps methane exposure across food supply chains and sets out strategies for companies and investors to manage risk, strengthen resilience, and capture value through near-term methane mitigation.
Research
14 March 2025

The role of traceability in critical mineral supply chains

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
The report examines how traceability can support responsible critical mineral supply chains. It outlines policy drivers, system components, costs and limitations, and mineral-specific challenges, concluding that well-designed traceability can enhance due diligence, transparency and supply security when proportionate and risk-based.
Research
26 February 2025

Growing resilience: Unlocking the potential of nature-based solutions for climate resilience in sub-Saharan Africa

World Resources Institute
The report assesses nature-based solutions for climate resilience in sub-Saharan Africa, reviewing nearly 300 projects. It finds growing adoption but insufficient scale, highlighting financing, policy, and capacity gaps, and recommends integrating NBS into infrastructure planning, diversifying funding, and strengthening social inclusion and local capability.
Research
13 March 2025

Climate inequality & just transition: An introduction for actuaries

Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA)
This report explains climate inequality and climate justice, outlines risks from unjust climate transitions, and frames just transition principles. It highlights how climate impacts amplify inequality and sets out roles for actuaries in risk assessment, fairness, and supporting equitable climate-resilient development.
Research
3 October 2024

Fashion’s plastic paralysis: How brands resist change and fuel microplastic pollution

Changing markets foundation
The report examines fashion brands’ continued reliance on synthetic fibres, highlighting how voluntary commitments, lobbying, and weak accountability delay fibre reduction and regulation. It links current business models to rising microplastic pollution and concludes that systemic policy and production changes are required.
Research
24 September 2024

Climate data in the investment process: Challenges, resources, and considerations

CFA Institute Research & Policy Centre
The report examines how climate-related data are used in investment decision-making, highlighting limitations in availability, consistency, and comparability. It reviews greenhouse gas metrics, evolving global disclosure standards, and regulatory milestones, and outlines practical strategies for investors managing imperfect climate data.
Research
10 April 2024

The economic commitment of climate change

This study estimates that climate change has already committed the global economy to around a 19% average income reduction by mid-century, largely independent of future emissions. Near-term damages are projected to substantially exceed mitigation costs, with disproportionate losses in lower-income, low-emitting regions.
Research
19 December 2025

Distinguishing among climate change-related risks

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
The report distinguishes planetary, economic and financial climate risks, clarifying their differing scopes, timeframes and responsible actors. It argues that conflating these risks weakens policy and investment responses, and calls for clearer delineation to improve risk assessment, accountability and targeted climate action.
Research
1 January 2025

Quantitative climate scenario analysis in financial decisions: Case studies

Climate Financial Risk Forum (CFRF)
This CFRF report presents nine case studies demonstrating how quantitative climate scenario analysis informs financial decisions. It assesses physical and transition risks across assets, sectors and geographies, translating climate pathways into impacts on valuations, credit risk and losses to support risk-based decision-making.
Research
22 October 2025
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