Investors are facing a series of ESG data challenges, including coping with coverage and quality issues of reported company sustainability data and managing the increasing volume of information resulting from new regulatory ESG reporting requirements, according to a new survey released by business and financial markets information service provider Bloomberg.

For the study, the European ESG Data Trends Survey 2024, Bloomberg surveyed over 200 financial market participants Europe, across countries including London, Stockholm, Geneva, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris, and Milan, examining ESG data issues ranging from prioritization and challenges, to data management challenges and practices.

The primary ESG data challenge reported by the market participants in the survey was coverage and quality issues related to reported ESG data, with nearly two thirds (63%) citing this as their top concern, followed by “combining ESG with alternative data,” at a distant second place by 13% of respondents.

While investors view incomplete or low quality data as a concern, many of these issues will likely be addressed with the implementation of the EU’s Corporate Sustainable Reporting Directive (CSRD), although this will likely lead to a new challenge for market participants to manage the growing volume of reported ESG data. Accordingly, 41% of survey respondents reported that their top ESG data management challenge was the need to handle “constantly evolving and new ESG data content,” and another 25% cited linking ESG data content to existing data systems as the biggest challenge.

The survey indicated that many firms are still deciding on how to handle the new growing volume of ESG data. While 38% of respondents reported that ESG data is managed centrally with a proprietary solution, around a third (32%) of respondents said that they are currently managing ESG data using a more decentralized approach, with the data managed individually by business unit, and 20% said that they are still in the process of formulating and ESG data management strategies.

Nadia Humphreys, Head of Sustainable Finance Data Solutions at Bloomberg, said:

“While quality and comparability remain a global challenge, data management is coming into sharp focus for firms in Europe. If firms cannot organize their ESG data, they cannot effectively make decisions using that information.”

Click hereto access the survey.