Putting ESG into portfolios and valuations, and telling real impact from labels.
Three large Indian cement makers publish emission intensity figures that look comparable but are not. Their latest reported numbers, the differences in units, boundaries, scopes and assurance, and how to compare them properly. Educational, not investment advice.
Stewardship codes ask mutual funds, insurers and pension funds to act as responsible owners of the companies they invest in. SEBI's six principles, the other Indian codes, and how to read a fund's voting record.
The SASB Standards list the sustainability topics most likely to matter financially in each of 77 industries. How they are built, how analysts use them, and the updates under way at the ISSB.
ESG raters often disagree about the same company. The research on how much and why, the three sources of disagreement (scope, measurement and weight), the problem of rewritten history, SEBI's attempt to narrow the gap, and how to use ratings that disagree.
The ESG indices that Indian ESG funds and index funds track: Nifty100 ESG, Nifty100 Enhanced ESG, Nifty100 ESG Sector Leaders, BSE 100 ESG, and the global Dow Jones Best-in-Class (formerly DJSI) indices. Their rules, exclusions and weighting, and the checks to run before using one.
The greenium is the small yield discount that investors may accept on a green bond. The ways to measure it, the forces that drive it, the evidence from India's sovereign and municipal green bonds, and its real effect on a company's cost of capital.
Blended finance uses public or philanthropic money to take extra risk so that private investors will fund projects they would otherwise avoid. The main tools, the size of the market, India's viability gap funding schemes, and the questions to ask about a blended deal.
"Responsible investing" covers very different approaches, from simply avoiding tobacco to funding projects for measurable social change. The full spectrum, what each approach can and cannot do, and how SEBI's six ESG fund strategies fit onto it.
A six-step process for building ESG into a stock analysis: pick the material issues, gather evidence, link each issue to a line in the model, test it, ask management the right questions and keep monitoring. With an ESG factor log and a worked example.
ESG-integrated valuation is not a separate method. It means building material ESG factors into the cash flows, discount rate and terminal value of a normal DCF or multiples analysis.
A step-by-step, made-up cement example that turns an intensity-based carbon scheme like India's CCTS into after-tax cash flows, a present value and a sensitivity table, and then tests whether paying for an emission cut is worth it.
The four standard ways to measure a portfolio's carbon exposure, worked through on a three-stock example: financed emissions, carbon footprint, WACI and forward-looking alignment metrics, plus the EU climate benchmarks and the traps in each number.
ESG investing uses ESG information to manage risk and return. Impact investing sets out to cause a measurable positive change. The definitions, the key differences, investor contribution versus company impact, the size of the market and the signs of impact-washing.
The main tools for measuring social and environmental impact: the theory of change, the five dimensions of impact, the GIIN's IRIS+ metrics and the Operating Principles for Impact Management, with a worked example that adjusts results for what would have happened anyway.
SEBI's 2023 rules for ESG mutual fund schemes: the six strategies, the 65% BRSR Core test, naming, voting and assurance duties, the history of flows into Indian ESG funds, and a seven-point test for checking whether a fund lives up to its label.
The three tools investors have for changing company behaviour: talking, voting and selling. The research on which ones work, collaborative engagement through Climate Action 100+, the retreat of the net zero alliances since 2025, and Indian examples.
The Social Stock Exchange segments of NSE and BSE let non-profits raise donations through listed zero coupon zero principal instruments. The eligibility rules, how a ZCZP issue works, the 2026 changes including the new CSR route, the market's size so far and what donors should check.
The ESG issues that matter most differ by industry. A one-page summary of nine Indian sectors, with links to a short map for each: the material issues, how they reach the financials, where to find the data and the Indian rules to know.
For lenders, the big ESG issues sit in the loan book and in customer data: climate credit risk and financed emissions, data privacy and cyber risk, fair lending and governance. The issues, the data and the RBI and DPDP rules to know.
For IT services companies, people and data are the core ESG issues: attracting and keeping talent, protecting client and personal data, and powering offices and data centres with clean energy. The issues, the data and the rules to know.
Cement is one of the most carbon-intensive industries, and India's carbon market now puts a price on it. Emissions intensity, alternative fuels, dust, mining and safety are the key issues. The data to use and the CCTS and CBAM rules to know.
Steel faces carbon pressure from three directions: the EU's border tax, India's coming carbon targets and the new Green Steel Taxonomy. Emissions intensity, safety, water and community issues, the data to use and the rules to know.
For power companies, the transition from coal to renewables is the central ESG and business question. Coal dependence, air pollution rules, water, ash and land for renewables, with the data to track and the Indian rules to know.
Most of an oil company's emissions come from customers burning its fuels, which makes transition strategy the core ESG issue. Scope 3, methane, process safety, carbon targets for refineries and policy risk, with the data to track.
For consumer goods companies, most ESG issues sit in the supply chain and in packaging: plastic EPR, farm sourcing, water and product health. The issues, the data and the rules to know.
For drug makers, the biggest ESG risks are about product quality and trust: manufacturing compliance, ethical marketing, effluents and access to medicines. The issues, the data and the Indian rules to know, including revised Schedule M and UCPMP 2024.
For carmakers, the biggest emissions come from the vehicles on the road, so fuel efficiency rules and the shift to EVs drive the ESG story. CAFE III, PM E-DRIVE, end-of-life vehicle rules, supply chains and safety, with the data to track.
