Fitch Expands ESG Ratings Service to Over $100 Billion of Structured Bonds with Labels

Sustainable Fitch, the sustainability-focused analytics division of Fitch Group, has announced the launch of its ESG Ratings for globally labelled structured bonds and covered bonds, expanding its dataset to include more than $100 billion in labelled structured bonds.

The news expands upon the company's debut of its ESG ratings product, ESG Ratings, Data & Analysis, earlier this year, by adding a dataset of more than $100 billion in labelled structured bonds to its initial collection of $500 billion in labelled and KPI-linked instruments.

Entity Ratings evaluate entities' positive and negative impact on the environment and society based on underlying business activities, strategy, targets, policies and procedures, and governance. Framework Ratings evaluate the use of proceeds, KPIs, and overall framework strength and governance.

With today's announcement, the company will offer ratings for covered bonds, as well as framework and instrument ratings for ABS bonds, including ratings for RMBS, CMBS, solar ABS, car ABS, consumer ABS, and utilities ABS.

Mike Simonton, Fitch's Head of Sustainable, stated:

"Sustainable Fitch was created with the intention of listening to investors and offering products that provide a complete assessment of ESG fundamentals. The expansion of Sustainable Fitch's ESG Ratings to worldwide branded structured bonds and covered bonds is in response to a crucial market need. Our ESG data and analysis, in conjunction with our ESG Ratings, provides investors with the required tools to evaluate ESG impact, outcome, and performance at the level of each individual aspect."