Securities identification service provider CUSIP Global Services (CGS) and municipal bond ESG scoring provider ACRe Data announced today a partnership to link municipal CUSIP identifiers with ESG scores and other geographic and socioeconomic data. The partnership aims to provide institutional and retail investors with a clearer perspective on ESG risk assessments of their municipal bond portfolios.

CUSIP’s ubiquitous nine-character alphanumeric security identification system is designed to enable investors to identify and track municipal securities and link them with the underlying issuing entity. Through the new partnership, CGS and ACRe will link the first six characters of the unique CUSIP ID for each municipal issue with the geographic identifier (GEOID) hierarchy for the issuer, including state, county, city and school district level detail. The GEOID-level detail will then be paired with ACRe’s proprietary ESG scoring rubric, giving market participants insight into what level of exposure their municipal securities have to certain ESG attributes.

At launch, CGS will provide two new data files augmented with ACRe data, including CGSACRe, which will link the first six characters of the CUSIP ID to the GEOID hierarchy for the issuer, and CGSACReESG, which adds ACRe’s proprietary ESG scoring data to CGSACREe.

Scott Preiss, Managing Director and Global Head of CUSIP Global Services, said:

“This new capability addresses a longstanding issue in the U.S. municipal bond market, where interested parties could not easily make the link between underlying issuer and related census, socioeconomic, climate change and crime data. Through this partnership with ACRe, we are able to deliver even more transparency into the municipal bond market, facilitating links to data that can be used to inform risk models and values-based investment strategies. We are honored to be in a position to support the municipal market in a way that will benefit both institutional and retail markets.”

John McLean, Managing Director of ACRe Data Inc. said:

“We’re thrilled to be working with CGS to start the process of embedding of vital ESG metrics into the foundational infrastructure of financial markets. We believe this standardized approach to ESG scoring and reporting will help market participants incorporate ESG into their workflows and speed the adoption of values-based investment strategies in the municipal bond market.”