ALTERNATIVE DATA AND SUSTAINABILITY
The growing public awareness to climate change has driven the market for environmentally sustainable businesses and in particular environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data. Today, the financial industry has increasingly embraced new data technologies in order to enhance investment performance and to deliver positive social and environmental impact compared to benchmarks. New fintech companies thus have emerged that calculate companies’ ESG scores, ranking and indices based on alternative data sources (e.g. satellites) and alternative analysis techniques (e.g. artificial intelligence [AI] and machine learning).
My research on “Application of Advanced Data Analytics to Environmental Risk” focuses on harnessing the potentials of the digital revolution to transform the global financing systems. This research suggests the high-impact opportunities of new data technologies for investors and business leaders as these technologies can help us to conduct a deeper analysis and to create investable insights using ESG data. We also investigate the barriers and risks of using these new technologies. My research projects therefore will provide a clear guidance on how to translate these data into insights for ESG integration and investment.
Publications:
In, S.Y., Park, K.Y., & Eccles, R. G. (2020). What Does Carbon Data Tell You (or Not)?. Available at SSRN 3754098
In, S.Y., D. Rook and A. Monk (2019) "Integrating Alternative Data (Also Known as ESG Data) in Investment Decision Making" Global Economic Review, 48(3), 237-260. Full Article
In, S.Y. and Park, K. Y. (2019) “When Do Firms Oversell or Undersell Environmental Sustainability?: An Empirical Analysis of Sustainability Communications,” Available at SSRN 3264923
In, S.Y., Eccles, R. G., & Lee, Y. J. (2020). Looking Bank, Looking Forward: Scientometric Analysis on 47 Years of Sustainability Research. Available at SSRN 3693254
Project in Progress:
In, S.Y., & Schumacher, K. Carbonwashing: A New Type of ESG Greenwashing in a Post-Paris Climate Agreement World.
In, S.Y., Rogers, J., Monk, A., & Rook, D. The Value of Long-Term Investing: Portfolio Resilience and Corporate Innovation Introduction (in collaboration with Long-Term Stock Exchange [LTSE])