Sovereign debt investors wanting to know how countries are dealing with climate change will soon have help from the ASCOR Project, launched Tuesday by a coalition of institutional investors.
The project represents international institutional investors with a collective $5 trillion in assets, including BT Pension Scheme, London, Church of England Pensions Board, London, asset managers, green finance organizations and academics.
ASCOR — Assessing Sovereign Climate-related Opportunities and Risks — is expected to be the first publicly available, independent, and open-source investor framework and database assessing the climate action and alignment of sovereign bonds, according to project officials.
It will allow investors to assess individual country climate change approaches and progress. It will also help investors meet their own net-zero commitments and regulatory demands, including Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosure reporting.
The first phase of the project is a global public survey to get feedback from stakeholders in 25 pilot countries. Based on those responses, the project is expected to produce the ASCOR framework and final country assessments before the end of the year. Project officials are also planning an ASCOR roundtable with governments.
Victoria Barron, head of sustainable investment at the £46.9 billion ($57.2 billion) BT Pension Scheme and vice chairwoman of the ASCOR Project, said in an interview that many investors hold sovereign debt but there is little information on how it is or could be impacted by climate change.
"It will be good for investors and also for issuers and other stakeholders. We think there is a really big demand for it," Ms. Barron said.
Ms. Barron said that sovereign bond issuers who have been approached are very interested. "For others, it is going to be a very new conversation," she said.
