Welcome to our round up of 2019!
We have had a busy year, not only launching our ESG data, but also adding positive themes and SDG information to our online database of companies. We've added 155 companies to our coverage - mainly from client requests - and we've also welcomed two colleagues back from maternity leave, and one new full-time member of staff. But that's nothing compared to how busy our clients have been..!
Individuals logging in to our system has almost doubled in 2019 compared to 2018, with around 6800 unique log-ins, including over a thousand extra logins to our Funds database, reflecting the explosion of new ethical, ESG and impact funds to the market.
Most Searched Funds and Fund Providers.
Liontrust, Royal London and Aberdeen Standard Life dominate the fund provider top 10, with BMO, Kames, Janus Henderson and EdenTree also featuring. Aviva, Rathbone and Stewart Investors complete the Top 10 fund providers searched for. The individual funds searched for also show Liontrust and Royal London featured strongly in IFA's searches.
Top 10 Individual Funds Searched (out of 160+):
Top 10 Fund Providers (out of 70):
Most Searched Companies:
Users are, as ever, interested in the detail of what companies are up to - BP ranking of most interest to our users, followed by AstraZeneca. The rest of the top 10 for 2018 and 2019 show little movement - apart from Rio Tinto jumping up the ranks to replace RELX, and BHP replacing Smiths Group. Extractives and pharmaceuticals continue to dominate the Top 10 most searched companies, which may largely be explained by the complexity of decision making around these industries.
Top 10 Companies Searched:
Most Searched Issues:
Unsurprisingly, in the year that the Oxford English Dictionary named "climate emergency" as their Word of the Year, environmental issues (including our fossil fuels criteria) came top as the most searched for issue. Ethical Screening itself declared a Climate Emergency in October. Human rights, armaments and animal testing feature as the next most searched issues, followed by most of the more traditional negative screen issues including gambling, tobacco, pornography.
2019 has seen growth and change at Ethical Screening and across the sustainable finance industry, much welcomed by many of us who have been working in the industry for a long time. We sincerely wish our staff, clients, peers and friends all the very best for a sustainable future in 2020 and beyond.