Our planet is increasingly exposed to the unpredictable consequences of climate change and the depletion of natural resources. The investment needed to reach the targets set in the Paris Agreements for 2030 is considerable, and public investment will not be enough.

The finance industry has a decisive role to play in chanelling investments that, as well as generating a return, will help in the pursuit of environmental and social goals. In addition to financial data, asset management companies and financial advisors must incorporate ESG factors into their analysis, and present this clearly to their clients. This is a sizeable challenge for the industry given the huge increase in data volumes and the lack of standards.

As a responsible bank, BIL is fully committed to sustainable finance. To improve its offering, the bank has partnered with CANDRIAM, a leader in this field:. The partnership will give access to CANDRIAM’s ESG expertise: proprietary data, training and advice. With better visibility over, and a greater ability to measure, ESG factors, BIL will be perfectly equipped to reflect them in its investment decisions and in the products and services that it offers its clients.

Alessandra Simonelli, Head of Sustainable Development at BIL, said: “We believe that banks have a key role to play in fighting climate change. By providing clients with clear information on the sustainability of our products, and by developing our ESG range, we will be contributing to this. We felt it essential to join forces with a partner like CANDRIAM whose core business is based on combining fundamental analysis with use of ESG data.”

David Czupryna, Head of ESG Development at CANDRIAM, added: “Because they finance the personal and business projects of the future, banks have a key role to play in the transition towards a more sustainable world. CANDRIAM is proud and honoured to have been chosen to support BIL in its journey as a responsible bank. We will do everything we can to advise it and help make its long-term vision a reality.”

CANDRIAM is one of the first signatories of the UN Principles for Responsible Investment. For its assessment process, CANDRIAM employs a dedicated ESG research team, which examines companies’ ESG performance either in absolute terms or relative to industry peers, focusing on those ESG factors considered to be most significant.