Patently false?
But in a statement to Wealth Professional, a spokesperson from Refinitiv rejected the study’s claims that it made ESG data changes unannounced.
“The updated Refinitiv ESG Score, which was launched in 2020, was a response to customer feedback driven by the maturation of the market and the increase in data access that this brought, which encouraged a need to review and update how we scored companies,” the spokesperson said via email. “The changes made were the product of extensive engagement with the industry globally, with formal meetings on the topic which started in 2019, prior to the implementation in 2020.”
The spokesperson shared an online press release dated April 15, 2020 announcing enhancements to Refinitiv’s ESG scoring methodology, which it said were made following a series of industry roundtables along with four years of market feedback.
According to the spokesperson, the data provider engaged with some of the world’s largest asset managers and investment banks, as well as niche ESG investment managers, regulators, and representatives from academia.
“Our clients were not only aware of the new ESG Score program, many were actively involved in the process and kept frequently informed of the plans and the potential impacts of changes to methodology pre-implementation,” they said. “Whilst we welcome feedback on our scoring methodology, the conclusions drawn by the study, that changes were made in a secret and blackbox manner, are patently false – a fundamental flaw in the study.”
