UK Financial Watchdog The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) released the following on its review of ESG Benchmarks:

In September 2022, we sent a portfolio letter to benchmark administrators where we highlighted the risk of poor disclosures for ESG benchmarks. High quality ESG benchmarks are important to support trust in the market for ESG products and the transition to a net zero economy. 

We have now completed a preliminary review on ESG benchmarks. This found that the overall quality of ESG-related disclosures made by benchmark administrators was poor. We have sent a further letter to administrators outlining the issues identified, including:

• Not enough detail on the ESG factors considered in benchmark methodologies. 
• Not ensuring that the underlying methodologies for ESG data and ratings products used in benchmarks are accessible, clearly presented and explained to users. 
• Not fully implementing ESG disclosure requirements.  
• Benchmark administrators failing to implement their ESG benchmarks’ methodologies correctly – for example, using outdated data and ratings or failing to apply ESG exclusion criteria. 

See related article: DeSantis Leads Alliance of 18 States to Fight Against ESG Investing

We expect all benchmark administrators to have strategies to address the issues identified in this letter. We will be doing more work in this area to address the potential failings, and expect firms to be able to explain these strategies on request. We will use the full range of our tools where this does not happen. 

We have previously said that we support regulation of ESG ratings. We are working closely with Government on this, who are expected to shortly consult on whether and how to extend the FCA’s perimeter to include ESG ratings providers. We also support and encourage the development of a voluntary Code of Conduct for ESG data and ratings providers.