Independent academic research by Bayes Business School
Assessing the impact of ESG in fixed income
Key results and investment implications
Higher ESG ratings improved risk-adjusted returns, but beware the many subtleties
ESG tilts would have historically improved performance at the margin
Excluding controversial sectors would not have hurt historical performance
Enhancing the ESG credentials generally led to a reduction in the tail risk of a portfolio
When looking at aggregate ESG scores, there is not a smooth increase in average return from quintile 5 (the worst ratings) to quintile 1, with quintile 5 outperforming quintiles 2-4. Also, while the top quintile outperformed the bottom quintile, both segments outperformed the benchmark index.
Outperformance was not consistent over the whole period, being largely concentrated to the three years to early 2016, and between late 2018 to early 2020.
The results were mixed when focusing on the individual E, S and G factors. As an example, ranking by environmental scores alone, top-quintile portfolios outperformed the bottom quintile, but the cumulative sector-adjusted performance for the bottom quintile was higher than for the top quintile. The results using just social scores were mixed and the results focusing on governance alone was muted.
Even at the sub-category level, there were some very disappointing results. For example, the study found that those companies with the highest scores for human rights significantly underperformed the benchmark with almost 100% statistical certainty.
There are many subtleties which are missed when just comparing top and bottom quintiles based on aggregate scores
Top quintile: As illustrated in Figure 2, some of the historical outperformance relative to the benchmark is attributable to the sector effect, but a larger amount comes from the ESG effect.
Bottom quintile: All the benchmark-relative outperformance is due to the sector effect with the ESG effect being negative.
An ESG effect was visible at the aggregate level
Bonds with the best aggregate ESG scores outperformed bonds with the worst ESG scores
First, Bayes split the universe of bonds into quintiles, based on each issue’s composite ESG score. They found that the top 20% of bonds by ESG score outperformed the bottom 20% by roughly 3% – a statistically significant margin – over the decade studied.
Tilting a portfolio to favour stronger ESG scores positively influenced the return at the margin
A more popular way to increase the ESG scores of a portfolio is to tilt individual bond weights up or down relative to the benchmark based on their ESG scores. Using a tilting formula similar to that used by MSCI in some of its Factor Index range but applied to aggregate ESG scores, Figure 3 shows some historical marginal outperformance.
Similar results were observed when tilting scores based on individual social and governance scores, and by sub-category labels. The results were more positive when evaluating performance based solely on the environmental scores.
Excluding low-ranking issues had little impact or is impractical
One way to increase the ESG scores of portfolios is to exclude low-ranking issues. The study found that excluding the bottom quintile of ESG scoring issuers did not significantly affect past performance. It also found that unless investors only focused on the top 20% of bonds by ESG score, there was no discernible difference in outcome – outperformance in this case.
Excluding 80% of securities in a fixed income benchmark is not a practical approach due to liquidity and default risks that would become far more acute with such a concentrated portfolio
Exclusions are a common approach to addressing ESG issues. We note that such an approach is typically taken to reduce the wider costs for society or the environment (‘externalities’) of entities held within a portfolio, rather than to reduce financial risks associated with ESG issues.
The historical returns from a portfolio that excluded the most common controversial sectors – tobacco, mining, defence, and oil and gas producers – were statistically identical to the benchmark (see Figure 4). The main reason
is that these sectors only account for a small proportion of the benchmark.
One of the supposed advantages of integrating ESG considerations into a portfolio is that it has a positive impact on tail risk. To investigate this, Bayes examined a range of risk metrics that focus on the measurement of tail risk.
Figure 5 shows the figures for quintile portfolios based on composite ESG scores. Generally, there is an increase in tail risk as we move from quintiles 1 towards quintile 5. Bayes observed similar results when looking environmental and social scores, but not when focusing on governance scores.
"There has been little independent research into the effect of applying ESG factors in fixed income. In commissioning this study our aim was to expand the body of work available for reference, in particular to asset owners, who must consider ESG in the context of their fiduciary duty.”
Robert Sawbridge, Head of responsible investment at Insight Investment
Top business school proves ESG doesn’t harm corporate bond portfolios
IPE
7/07/2022
Mallowstreet
11/07/2022
Should regulation
for ESG data be prescriptive?
"Coverage of ESG has been
increasing over the years,
but not all data providers
have the same reach."
Carly Thomas, ESG analyst
at Insight Investment
Tagesspiegel
21/07/2022
ESG selection does
not weigh on bond returns
[Paraphrased from German]
Robert Sawbridge, head of responsible investment at Insight Investment, criticised a lack of consistency in the quality and methodology of ESG data providers and said he would like to see greater standardisation of ESG data published by companies. "Ultimately, more independent verification of the published data would also contribute to more transparency," he added.
Institutional Money (Germany), 19/07/2022
No loss of earnings with an improved ESG profile in bond portfolios
[Paraphrased from German]
A new study by Bayes Business School (formerly Cass Business School), commissioned by Insight Investment, provides additional independent, academic support for considering ESG risks in fixed income portfolios and was intended to give investors a better understanding of performance drivers when implementing ESG strategies.
Press coverage
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OVERVIEW
KEY RESULTS AND IMPLICATIONS
KEY INVESTOR TAKEAWAYS
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ANDREW CLARE,
PROFESSOR OF ASSET MANAGEMENT
AT BAYES BUSINESS SCHOOL
At a minimum, the study found that enhancing the ESG profile of a fixed income portfolio has not led to any deterioration in the risk-adjusted performance of fixed income portfolios.
Given this, investors should feel confident that integrating ESG considerations could be a worthwhile exercise.
“
”
Conducted detailed analysis on the benefits or otherwise of integrating ESG considerations into a European corporate bond portfolio
Explored how different ESG implementation strategies affected performance
What did Insight ask
Bayes to investigate?
Seeking to identify how much out or underperformance an ESG strategy would deliver would lead to spurious conclusions as the results would be dependent on the time period, market, ESG data source and method of implementation.
Therefore, we asked Bayes Business School (Bayes) an open question to ‘assess the implications of applying ESG factors within a fixed income portfolio’.
Why did Insight consider Bayes Business School?
Insight commissioned Bayes because the institution could not only apply academic rigour to the analysis, but their experience of working for pension funds meant they would also consider the practical aspects of the answer.
The research was conducted by Professor Andrew Clare, Professor of Asset Management, Professor Nick Motson, Professor of Finance, and Professor Aneel Keswani, Professor in Investment Management.
Click here to find out more about Bayes Business School.
Why did Insight
commission the study?
Fixed income assets are the core allocation for many institutional investors. However, much of the academic research into how environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors influence investment performance has focused on listed equity markets rather than fixed income.
While the industry has a feeling for how ESG factors impact performance in fixed income, Insight felt it was important to commission a rigorous, independent academic study on the topic.
Why did Insight
commission the study?
Why did Insight consider Bayes Business School?
What did Insight ask
Bayes to investigate?
What did Bayes analyse?
Using 10-year data to 31 December 2021, Bayes analysed the impact on performance of three portfolio construction methods:
They also examined the impact of ESG scores on tail risk.
As a basis, Bayes created a hypothetical ESG reference portfolio (‘benchmark’ for the purpose of this study) based on the constituents of the iBoxx EUR Corporates bond index sourced from IHS Markit , overlaid with corporate ESG data from Refinitiv .
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ROBERT SAWBRIDGE,
HEAD OF RESPONSIBLE INVESTMENT
AT INSIGHT INVESTMENT
The study provides additional independent, academic support for the consideration of
ESG risks in fixed income portfolios, gives investors a better understanding of the influences on performance and highlights
that there are still many areas where further research would be helpful.
“
”
Investment implications
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This is a positive finding for investors that use an exclusionary approach, as it shows that, in this sample over the past 10 years, such an approach would not have detracted from investment returns.
The results were also similar when using the tilting methodology adopted by FTSE, suggesting that the tilting methodology employed did not influence the result.
While it is difficult to draw definite conclusions from the results with regard to the relationship between ESG ratings and downside risks in a corporate bond portfolio, arguably the results show that ranking using the composite ESG or individual environmental rating generally leads to a reduction in downside risk.
The results suggest that pursuing higher ESG-scoring portfolios could lead to more attractive risk-adjusted returns.
However, over short time periods, the exposure to issuers with higher ESG ratings may not lead to a return benefit, and may potentially detract performance.
Focusing exclusively on a single
ESG measure or sub-category
is not a reliable indicator of superior performance, potentially due to the introduction of sector concentration risks.
Portfolios can be tilted
towards particular ESG characteristics without having a material effect on the risk and return characteristics of the portfolios
Results suggest that the choice of tilting methodology did not affect the outcome.
Investors can align their portfolios with their ESG views through the exclusion of controversial sectors without impacting performance unless a large proportion of the benchmark is excluded.
Enhancing the ESG
credentials can help to
reduce the frequency of extreme downside outcomes.
Investment implications
Investment implications
Investment implications
Key investor takeaways
Insight believes the study reinforces the importance of understanding the purpose and limitations of using ESG data, and the need for ESG data to mature at a much faster pace than it has done to date.
Addressing the data limitations
Read more
Understanding the limitations of ESG data
Read more
Determining the purpose of ESG ratings
Read more
Determining the purpose of ESG ratings
It’s important to determine whether any chosen ESG ratings or scores aim to reflect financial risks, such as how an entity is exposed to and manages ESG issues that could affect their creditworthiness; or broader non-financial performance of an entity regarding ESG matters, such as the environmental impact of its operations.
In our experience, ESG ratings in most cases are more focused on financial risks, but there is a variety of approaches taken by different providers today.
Understanding the limitations of ESG data
Not all data providers will have the same coverage on each and every issue, creating data gaps. Also, the choice of any ESG benchmark used will influence the results
Addressing the data limitations
We use proprietary questionnaires to help fill data gaps and, where opportunities arise, we seek to engage more widely to encourage more transparency. This is particularly important in asset classes such as secured finance, where the quantity and quality of ESG disclosure lags more traditional credit markets.
We illustrate the last point in Figure 6, taken from an OECD study published in March 2022. For example, one provider gave Boeing a rating around 30 while another a rating around 90 (on a standardised scale).
ESG ratings agencies may produce very different answers because they employ very different methodologies. By contrast, credit rating agencies have the more precisely defined task of calculating the probability of default, meaning methodologies are more aligned and ratings are typically bunched far closer together.
PRESS COVERAGE
Bayes:
Could the outperformance of the top-quintile portfolio be due to inadvertent tilting towards higher-performing sectors? To investigate, Bayes separated out the ‘sector effect’ (by adjusting the sector exposure of each quintile to match the sector exposure of the benchmark) to reveal the ‘ESG effect’.
Such a broad analysis does not always tell the whole story, as illustrated by the following observations which were uncovered after further interrogation:
Coverage gaps:
Major limitations of ESG ratings include:
Varying quality:
Different methodologies:
Even when data providers have ESG data on issues, there may be weaknesses due to incomplete, irrelevant or stale data
Different data providers can have widely differing ESG ratings for the same issuer, while differences are typically much narrower for credit ratings
Addressing data gaps:
The ratings from Prime form an additional input into our investment process and are not the only driver of decisions.
One input into a broader process:
We overlay third-party data with qualitative input from our in-house experts to strive for a more accurate and reliable reflection of the risks that issuers face. We believe our judgement and experience, coupled with direct and collaborative engagement, helps to transform the data from information into insights useful for decision making.
Insight’s proprietary Prime ESG ratings source data from multiple ESG data providers to broaden the coverage.
Multiple ESG data sources:
Insight’s proprietary Prime ESG risk ratings aim to highlight where issuers are exposed to ESG risks that could affect their creditworthiness, rather than to score issuers on their non-financial performance or activity regarding ESG issues.
Qualitative overlay:
Clarity on usage:
Below are some ways that Insight is trying to address the data limitations:
Read Press release
Overview
Quintile scores: they ranked the universe into quintiles using composite ESG scores; individual
E, S and G scores; and ten sub-categories, such as emissions. They also separated sector effects, caused by the inadvertent deviation to sector weights relative to the benchmark, to isolate the ESG effects
Portfolio tilts: they adjusted bond weights up or down relative to the benchmark based on their ESG scores, using two industry-standard tilting methodologies
Controversial sector exclusions: they excluded the most common controversial sectors – tobacco, mining, defence, and oil and gas producers – in isolation and in aggregate
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Investing Insights
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Responsible Investment
at Insight
While we are encouraged by recent moves, and planned initiatives, to bring such developments about, ESG data needs to mature at a much faster pace than it has done to date.
While the above initiatives help, we are striving to do more in these areas and beyond. We also believe that the industry needs greater regulation – to drive the provision of standardised data that is most relevant to decision making, and is reliable and accurate – and greater independent verification of the validity of what is published to hold ratings providers to account.
learn
more
Why did Insight
commission the study?
Why did Insight consider Bayes
Business School?
What did Insight
ask Bayes to investigate?
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What did Insight
ask Bayes to investigate?
What did Bayes analyse?
What did Bayes analyse?
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Tilting a portfolio to favour stronger ESG scores positively influenced the return at the margin
A more popular way to increase the ESG scores of a portfolio is to tilt individual bond weights up or down relative to the benchmark based on their ESG scores. Using a tilting formula similar to that used by MSCI in some of its Factor Index range but applied to aggregate ESG scores, Figure 3 shows some historical marginal outperformance.
Similar results were observed when tilting scores based on individual social and governance scores, and by sub-category labels. The results were more positive when evaluating performance based solely on the environmental scores.
The results were also similar when using the tilting methodology adopted by FTSE, suggesting that the tilting methodology employed did not influence the result.
Excluding low-ranking issues had little impact or is impractical
One way to increase the ESG scores of portfolios is to exclude low-ranking issues. The study found that excluding the bottom quintile of ESG scoring issuers did not significantly affect past performance. It also found that unless investors only focused on the top 20% of bonds by ESG score, there was no discernible difference in outcome – outperformance in this case.
Excluding 80% of securities in a fixed income benchmark is not a practical approach due to liquidity and default risks that would become far more acute with such a concentrated portfolio
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"There has been little independent research
into the effect of applying ESG factors in
fixed income. In commissioning this study our
aim was to expand the body of work available for reference, in particular to asset owners, who must consider ESG in the context of their fiduciary duty.”
Robert Sawbridge, Head of responsible investment at Insight Investment
What did Bayes analyse?
What did Bayes analyse?
