This book details the difference between the two rating industries, but this difference is converging all the time. The concept of investing in a more responsible and sustainable manner is drawing in some of the world’s leading investors and, with it, regulations and policies are developing at the highest levels. However, the market is not getting what it needs to fully submit to the concept of responsible investing. It has called for more to be done from those tasked with injecting information into their processes, and two industries in particular have been identified as being natural partners. It has been suggested that they are on a collision course to serve the mainstream investor, and in this book, that collision course is contextualised, explained, presented, and finally its outcome predicted.

ESG Rating Agencies and Financial Regulation presents an essential and nuanced understanding of rating agencies through the utilisation of signalling theory. Daniel Cash provides fresh insight on the role of ESG rating agencies in the financial market and explores the relationship between ESG and modern business practices to explain the continued drive for effective ESG rating agencies.

In 2020, the G20 proposed a solution for the debt-related issues affecting the world’s poorest countries due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, their initiatives have failed to meet their objectives. The author argues that the reason for this failure is the inability to bring sovereign countries to the table to re-negotiate their debt agreements with private creditors as they fear credit rating agencies and the prospect of a downgrade. The author refers to this as the ‘credit rating impasse’. This book proposes a novel solution. The author asserts that there is a need in the literature to unpick the dynamic that exists and creates that impasse, namely the pressures that exist between sovereign states, private creditors, credit rating agencies, and the geo-political backdrop that is massively influential in the dynamic, that is, the adversarial relationship between China and the US. This book addresses the recent history of debt treatment for poorer countries and related successes and failures: COVID-19-related issues and the development of the Debt Service Suspension Initiative and the Common Framework for Debt Treatment. This book examines the reasons for their failure by analysing the positions of the sovereign states, the division between private and official creditors and between multilateral institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank, credit rating agencies, and the competing political entities of China and the US. It presents a wider picture of the systemic underpinnings to such debt-related issues and, when examined through a geo-political perspective, the subsequent chances of future debt treatment-related successes. Licence line: The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

This Palgrave Pivot aims to examine the bourgeoning relationship between the Principles for Responsible Investment and the Credit Rating Industry. Since May of 2016, when the partnership was initially publicised, the PRI have endeavoured to incorporate Credit Rating Agencies into its initiative via its ‘ESG in Credit Ratings Initiative’, and have been working diligently to find, and create common ground between Credit Rating Agencies and Institutional Investors seeking to be more forward-looking in their investment approaches. However, in recent years the ‘Big Two’ Credit Rating Agencies – Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s – have finally received record fines for their conduct in the run-up to the Financial Crisis. There is a need, then, to examine the incorporation of the Credit Rating Agencies into such a progressive initiative. To achieve this objective, this book examines the field of ‘responsible investing’, the credit rating industry, and the power dynamic that exists between the rating industry, investors, and the PRI (via its ‘Initiative’).

This book weaves together a comprehensive legal analysis of sustainable finance regimes governing Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) derivatives, with insightful sociological perspectives on risks and uncertainties. Sustainable finance offers a unique chance to channel capital towards sustainability goals, with ESG derivatives emerging as potent catalysts for a transition to a more sustainable economy. Beyond amplifying capital flow, they strategically align with effective ESG risk and uncertainty management. The book explores how integrating ESG derivatives can strategically serve sustainable investment, offering insights into optimal risk management. The work not only outlines challenges but presents potential solutions, highlighting ESG derivatives’ role in addressing market failures affecting sustainable finance, which is an aspect often overlooked by regulators in the EU, the UK, and the US. Serving as a strategy guide for countries adopting a diverse sustainable finance portfolio, the book targets policy practitioners and advocacy specialists, catering to a broad multidisciplinary audience amid the increasing interest in ESG-related products. The book’s dual emphasis on financial derivatives for ESG risk management and sociological perspectives positions it as an ideal resource for scholars, experts, practitioners, researchers, and curious minds across law, business, management, and sociological studies.

The Research Handbook on Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance presents a comprehensive view of a rapidly evolving area of study. Adopting a comparative approach, it goes beyond issues of sustainability and human rights, covering the whole spectrum of ESG and its regulatory developments.

What's a good company? Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investing is transforming the world of business and finance. Investors are using data on issues like climate and diversity to enhance returns and make an impact. But with scepticism creeping in, how far can we trust the numbers? Is all this data making a difference to people and planet, and have we actually lost sight of what we are measuring and why? Measuring Good Business explains what we can measure – and calls for honesty about what we can't. This is the first book to look at the numbers behind the ESG revolution. It sets out a bold blueprint to revolutionise the data based on bottom-up, inclusive metrics, customised data to meet investor needs and impact measures that put sustainability in context. It is essential reading for anyone creating, using or studying ESG and sustainability data. After unpacking what’s going on today, the book focuses on solutions, providing a how-to guide to improve measurement and make sustainable business more impactful. It shows why measurement matters in a highly accessible way through stories and insights based on practical experience. The book is relevant to a broad readership of data creators (e.g. those working in companies), users (e.g. capital market participants) as well as the large ecosystem of raters, rankers and standard setters across the private, public and non-profit worlds.

"This book provides relevant theoretical frameworks and the latest empirical research findings in the area of information technology as it relates to sustainable economic development and the development of knowledge societies"--Provided by publisher.

This book provides a critical assessment of the development of the Stewardship Code 2020, which sets out principles regarding the role of institutional investors in corporate governance. It discusses how the regulatory framework for stewardship evolved before and after the financial crisis, and how that evolution resulted in the 2020 Code. It then critiques the Code from a practical and academic perspective, as well as evaluating the wider regulatory framework; in particular, the position of the FRC (ARGA). The book concludes by offering insight into different pathways that the evolution of stewardship may continue to take. Stewardship Codes modelled on the U.K.’s original 2010 version have been introduced in numerous markets and as such the book will be relevant for an international audience of academics, regulators and policymakers in financial regulation, investment regulation and financial services.