Increasingly, environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors inform the decisions that financial services leaders make, from day-to-day operational choices to long-term strategic planning. Individual firms may not always share the same views or pursue the same priorities, but they have collectively embraced the idea that financial metrics are not the only measure of success.

In this paper, the first of three in-depth analysis into ESG data challenges and opportunities, we investigate why financial service firms desperately need more ESG data, where they currently lack the data and analysis they crave, and how they might begin to close some of these gaps. Future papers will explore cloud-based solutions for solving the ESG data disconnect and spotlight new value propositions.