Is Your Junk Bond Spewing Carbon? Goldman May Have an Answer

(Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is rolling out a new tool for investors trying to figure out the carbon footprint of their financial holdings.

The move comes as world leaders gather in Glasgow, Scotland, for the COP26 climate summit, widely viewed as a make-or-break moment for humanity to get the planet back on track to avoid devastating temperature increases.

“We have had incoming from clients asking about how to think about their portfolio from the carbon lens,” Sarah Lawlor, a Goldman trading executive focused on sustainability issues, said in an interview. With the new carbon analytics tool, investors will be able to measure their overall portfolio’s carbon emissions and dig into individual securities with the highest carbon-intensity levels, she said.

Available on Marquee, the bank’s portal for institutional investors, the tool allows Goldman clients to measure the carbon emissions of their portfolio, including public equity, junk bonds and other corporate debt. It also serves as a corporate engagement tool. Users can see if a company is on track of achieving their de-carbonization goals or net-zero objectives.

“Today we’re launching all U.S. assets and bonds,” said Anne Marie Darling, who leads sales strategy for Marquee. “In the next week or two we’re launching Europe.”

Investors can compare carbon-intensity levels of an investor’s securities across different companies, sectors and industries, as well as against a benchmark such as the S&P 500 index.

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