Business Situation
As a signatory to the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), the client committed to aligning its lending and investment portfolios with net-zero emissions by 2050. To operate this ambition, the bank required a strategic partner capable of delivering:
- Extensive climate and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data aggregation
- High-quality data validation and verification
- Custom ESG screening frameworks
- Sector-specific, financially material key performance indicators (KPIs)
With portfolios spanning multiple sectors and geographies, the client needed a scalable, tech-powered approach anchored in human ESG expertise to ensure actionable insights and regulatory readiness.
SGA Approach
1. Strategic Onboarding & Regulatory Interpretation
- Engaged in multi-round consultations with the client to understand the product vision, taxonomy use cases, and target client segments
- Interpreted the EU Taxonomy framework, referencing the European Commission’s Delegated Acts, TEG reports, and EU Taxonomy Compass
2. Sector-Centric Activity Classification
- Conducted a deep-dive activity assessment across high-impact sectors:
- Construction & real estate
- Energy & utilities
- Manufacturing, BFSI, and transport
- Mapped sector-wise activities as eligible, aligned, transitional, or enabling under the Climate Delegated Act
3. Technical Screening & KPI Framework Development
- Developed a repository of relevant key performance indicators (KPIs) for both financial and non-financial entities, aligning with:
- Substantial Contribution Criteria (climate mitigation/adaptation)
- Do No Significant Harm (DNSH) provisions
- Minimum Safeguards Screening (MSS)
- Evaluated numerators and denominators for each KPI to ensure alignment with Article 8’s disclosure format
4. Technology-Assisted Research & Data Aggregation
- Utilized a hybrid model by integrating:
- Artificial intelligence (AI)-enhanced data tagging for taxonomy-aligned disclosures
- Sector SMEs for nuanced interpretation of ambiguous or unstructured company data
- Built customized data collection templates, SOPs, and sector-specific KPI guidance documents to ensure consistent delivery across companies
5. Assurance, Quality & Iterative Refinement
- Identified taxonomy-reported data that had third-party verification/assurance
- Integrated findings from initial data sweeps into template refinements and long-term data governance strategies
- Created a repeatable process for ongoing assessment, expansion, and regulatory updates
Key Takeaways
Tech-Enabled ESG Aggregation
Leveraged intelligent automation tools (IDEAT & QA modules) for faster, consistent, and transparent data extraction from structured and unstructured ESG documents
Human-Centric Analysis for Contextual Integrity
ESG domain experts brought context, credibility, and nuance to data interpretation, especially for Scope 3 emissions and thematic screens
Sector-Tailored KPI Engineering
Designed financially material KPIs specific to industry drivers, enabling better ESG benchmarking, performance tracking, and risk mitigation
Accelerating Sustainable Finance
Helped the client embed ESG rigor and net-zero readiness into portfolio strategies, reinforcing their leadership in climate-aligned banking
