eVestment, the global leader in institutional investment data and analytics, has expanded its “responsible investing” or “ESG” (environmental, social and governance) data collection efforts with asset managers to satisfy the rising demand from investors globally for greater transparency into the managers’ responsible investing practices.

Many asset managers are proactively incorporating ESG factors into their investment policies and seeking to influence the companies that they invest in through active engagement. With the changes in data collection, eVestment is providing an opportunity for managers to tell their responsible investing story more thoroughly to potential investors both on the firm and strategy level.

“As investor appetite for ESG grows and evolves so too must the ESG information that helps inform our investment decision-making process,” said Scott Perry, partner at NEPC, a leading institutional investment consultant. “We see this interest as a long-term trend and we’re excited to work with eVestment who is at the forefront among data providers, offering both quantitative and qualitative intelligence.”

Prior to these changes, eVestment collected data on ESG strategies only on the product level. With these just-released enhancements, eVestment will now capture information on firm-wide ESG compliance, including key professionals dedicated to ESG efforts and approach to active ownership. Investors and consultants will now not only be able to vet specific products, but also entire asset management firms for their compliance with ESG requirements, which is crucial as public scrutiny of investors’ portfolios increases.

“We’ve long been a leader in collecting data from asset managers on the product level, and we’ve seen a 150% increase in ESG screening activity worldwide in the last 18 months,” said Maria Simon, eVestment’s client segment marketing leader. “As with all changes to our systems and solutions, input from our clients was crucial to the development of these enhancements. There is a substantial need for transparency in the ESG space and the reception among those we’ve shared this with has already been very positive. We look forward to collecting and providing this new information to institutional investors and consultants.”