Financial services group Apex Group Ltd on Monday announced it has launched a new ESG database and benchmarking platform for private markets.
Apex’s ESG data service is run as a ‘Data as a Service’, or DaaS, platform and draws on information from more than 400 GPs, 1,500 portfolio companies in more than 45 countries since 2019. It includes proprietary and verified data that can be used for benchmarking.
“Independent data assessment, verification and benchmarking is essential to ensure the integrity of ESG reporting and to drive positive change,” said Joshua Brunert, global head of ESG product development at Apex in a statement. “When it comes to ESG, it is no longer acceptable for private markets investors to ‘mark their own homework’ in-house.”
Existing clients only
Apex said its new ESG data service will be exclusively available to its existing clients. The firm already has managed a proprietary ESG database since 2019.
ESG data collection and reporting have become increasingly important in the private markets. The next step in the evolution of ESG for these market participants is to compare ESG performance metrics against industry peers.
‘Meaningful comparisons’
Brunert said that verified and accurate data makes possible “meaningful comparisons” against international standards and to monitor change over time. “With Apex Group’s pioneering ESG Data as a Service Solutions, private markets investors can now, for the first time, accurately compare ESG performance against their peers and sector,” he said.
Apex’s ESG DaaS database will include dozens of anonymized data points for peer comparison including environmental and carbon footprints, disclosure and management of climate-related risks and opportunities, diversity and inclusion statistics, cybersecurity breaches and best practice, as well as revenue generation from green, sustainable or socially impactful products and services.
ESG Data Convergence Initiative
Apex, a global financial services firm with a significant presence in Luxembourg, said it recently has become a technology platform provider for The ESG Data Convergence Initiative, or EDCI, an industry-led initiative compiling ESG metrics for private equity.
As a supporter of the EDCI, Apex said it is streamlining data submission and validation for member GPs. To date, the EDCI has over 260 GP and LPs managing more than 25 trillion dollars in assets, streamlining the private investment industry’s approach to the collection and reporting of ESG data.