Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)

Customised ESG research solutions driven by our in-depth understanding of sector- and country-specific ESG risks and opportunities.

ESG Research Services

Our ESG solutions analysts work as an extension of a client’s team, supporting them on executing ESG research and advisory. They are qualified to execute customised ESG, climate change and sustainable business development (SDG) mandates. They execute deep-dive ESG research while adopting a top-down, bottom-up or combined approach.

The ESG research solutions we provide includes building databases at the company and country level, developing frameworks, models, analysis, writing reports and preparing presentations. Our ESG support on climate change solutions includes opportunity assessment, risk analysis, climate financing and support on disclosures and reporting. The SDG mandates capture impact assessment and company benchmarking. Our ESG support includes risk assessment, scoring, integrated analysis and audits. We are also expanding our ESG franchise using AI-/NLP-driven solutions.

ESG Research Solutions & Support we offer

ESG Research Solutions & Support we offer

How we are different

Research pedigree
Research pedigree
a solid research pedigree, supporting ESG stakeholders and asset managers of different clients
Nearshore capabilities
Nearshore capabilities
we have offices in London, New York, Hong Kong, Beijing, Bangalore, Gurgaon, Colombo and Costa Rica for a follow the sun ESG Support
Automation philosophy
Automation philosophy
we are developing AI-/NLP-based solutions that include assessment of stocks/companies for any product-, business- or conduct-based risks/violations
Multi-language capabilities
Multi-language capabilities
our global platform of onshore and offshore delivery centres with multilingual capabilities enables us to service clients 24/7
Scalability
Scalability
our client support is fully scalable, reflected in the wide range of team sizes supporting our clients
Stronger service quality levels
Stronger service quality levels
we work in a consultative fashion, with client leadership and operational teams offering customised ESG solutions that are exclusive to our clients. This creates a competitive edge that is truly sustainable

What we have done

Support for Consulting and Corporate Firms
ESG Research
What we are proud of

Initiated the pilot with a detailed ESG report, including ESG scores

Client shared own IP (ESG checklist) and priority stock list

Support for Consulting and Corporate Firms
ESG & Climate Change Research
What we are proud of

Evaluating portfolio ESG performance against benchmarks

Enabling comparisons across companies: Introduced an ESG scoring methodology

Support for Consulting and Corporate Firms
ESG and Sustainable Development Goals Research
What we are proud of

Significant time savings for the client’s senior ESG analysts

Variety of ESG and SDG analyses support across portfolio companies

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Meet our experts

Achin Bhati

Head of ESG, Associate Director, Investment Research

Achin Bhati joined Acuity Knowledge Partners (Acuity) in January 2022 as Head of ESG Research. He has more than 15 years of experience in credit and investment research, including 8 years of experience in ESG research. He leads Acuity’s ESG research delivery franchise across its global delivery locations. Previously, Achin worked with MSCI as Vice President and ESG Research Production Controller for global coverage of publicly traded equities and fixed income issuers. Achin has led large global research teams, successfully delivering on expansion targets relating to global coverage of securities. He has extensive experience in ESG research across products, in diverse roles covering hands-on research, developing rating frameworks, strategic planning for coverage growth, production planning for targeted coverage, quality assurance and delivery.

Achin is well-versed in the ESG ratings framework and ESG assessment of fixed income issuers and is an ESG specialist for the BFSI, IT, retail, real estate and utilities sectors. During his tenure of more than 8 years with MSCI, Achin was instrumental in setting up onshore and offshore ESG research teams from scratch. He has also pioneered research and delivery of ESG data on social impact metrics and sustainable finance products such as green bonds. Achin has led cross-functional teams to drive strategic initiatives of transforming ESG research operations.

Achin Bhati
Ramesh Punugu

Director, IR

Ramesh has over 19 years of experience in global capital markets – research and investment banking. Prior to joining Acuity Knowledge Partners, Ramesh worked with the offshore research and analytics units of Crisil and iGate, managing sell-side research and investment banking teams for global clients. He started his career as an investment banker at Ind Global Financial Trust (currently part of Ernst & Young’s corporate finance practice in India), advising companies on M&A and capital raising. He holds an MBA and a bachelor’s degree in Technology.

Ramesh Punugu
Pedro Armstrong

Managing Director, Head of Business Development in North America

Pedro Armstrong is a Managing Director at Acuity Knowledge Partners and leads business development efforts in the Americas for the Corporate and Commercial Banking, Buy-side, and Sell-side segments. He is responsible for managing key client engagements and works in partnership with capital market firms to provide customized solutions across research and analytics support, origination and lending support, and marketing and compliance support. He has been with the organization for 12 years, serving in various roles across Sri Lanka, Costa Rica, and now the US. Prior to joining Acuity Knowledge Partners, he was a Central Bank Regulator at the Central Bank of Barbados. Pedro, who is a British Chevening Scholar, holds a Master’s degree (honors) in Banking and International Finance from Cass Business School, City University, London.

Pedro Armstrong
Chanakya Dissanayake

Managing Director/Country Head, Sri Lanka, Head of Investment Research

Chanakya Dissanayake leads the investment research vertical at Acuity and counts over 16 years with the firm. In addition, Chanakya manages the Colombo delivery center that provides investment research, quant – data science , commercial lending and FMS services. Investment research vertical is responsible for the buy-side, sell-side and private wealth management clientele that obtains equity and fixed income research from Acuity. Chanakya is a CFA charterholder and a fellow member of ACCA (UK) and CIMA (UK).

Chanakya Dissanayake
Balaji Ramakrishnan

Managing Director, Head of Business Development EMEA

Balaji Ramakrishnan leads Europe and Middle East business development for Acuity. Having spent his formative years in core banking technology operations, he brings a deep understanding of credit processes and the ability to make analytics-driven decisions. He works closely with senior client stakeholders as a trusted partner, shaping the business case for scaled efficiencies through centralisation, standardisation and intelligent automation within Commercial Lending and Asset Management verticals.

Balaji has established long-term partnerships with banks, asset managers and insurance firms across a number of front and middle office transformation initiatives over the past 20 years. Prior to Acuity, he worked at Accenture and Oracle, serving European financial services clients. He holds an MBA from the London Business School.

Balaji Ramakrishnan
Marie Filotti

Head of Asia-Pacific Business Development

Marie Filotti heads APAC Business Development at Acuity Knowledge Partners and is based in Hong Kong. She joined the firm in 2018 after 13 years in Investment Banking and Capital Markets, mainly at Nomura (previously Lehman Brothers), and also worked on the corporate side, having run Investor Relations at a China-based ASX-listed gas company. She uses her experience in the industry to advise our clients on best practices in implementation of engagements across all sectors. Marie holds a BA from Yale University and a Masters in Finance from Sciences-Po Paris.

Marie Filotti
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