Coriolis Technologies announces Working Group to tackle ESG in international trade

Coriolis Technologies, a leading producer of data, analytics and insight into trade flows and supply chains, is pleased to announce several new partners to a non-competitive working group for organisations involved in the facilitation of international trade wishing to align the industry around a common standard for the monitoring and the measurement of ESG impact. The Working Group will convene on Friday 12th November for the first time to support the development of a platform to monitor and assess the effects of international trade on ESG.

Over 25 organisations have committed to participating in the working group, including Lloyds Bank, NatWest, the Institute of Export & International Trade (IOE&IT), International Trade and Forfaiting Association (ITFA), and the International Trade Centre (ITC).

The Kosmos Working Group, is driven by a global collaboration of banks, insurers, professional bodies and enterprise development specialists who wish to ensure country, supply chain and company level granularity to the development of a ‘for the industry by the industry’ standardised ESG scoring criteria, tool and methodology.

Dr Rebecca Harding, Coriolis Technologies Chief Executive, said:

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to bring together the finance and business communities to achieve sustainable trade in every sense of the word. Without shared standards, without effective automated and digital systems and without the independence that comes from everyone working together, the world will never achieve its sustainability objectives. The Kosmos Working Group is testimony to the fact that so many banks and international organisations genuinely want to drive change and harness their mechanisms for doing just that. On behalf of Coriolis Technologies, I am immeasurably proud to be facilitating action rather than words.”

Gwynne Master, Managing Director and Head of Working Capital Solutions for Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, said: 

“We’re excited to support the development of a standardised ESG scoring methodology, essential for the adoption and expansion of sustainability-linked products. A transparent and trusted ESG score for SMEs, particularly for those companies without dedicated internal resources to do this themselves, will be transformational. Here, we have the opportunity to enable customers to gain a greater understanding of their supply chains and access to funding to invest in a net-zero future.”.

Paul O’Donnell, Public Affairs Director at the Institute of Export & International Trade (IOE&IT), said:

“We’re delighted to be partnering with Coriolis Technologies to tackle ESG in international trade. Being able to implement sustainable trading practices is essential to us all achieving our Net Zero goals. The Kosmos Working Group shows how important collaboration across sectors is when facing this challenge. The IOE&IT is looking forward to engaging with the group and developing a shared vision for sustainable trading practices.

Johanna Wissing, Head of ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance), ITFA, said:

“Whilst ESG standards, the what we are measuring, abound there are very few tools to allow us to measure how those standards are being satisfied accurately and objectively. The technology proposed by Kosmos is the best opportunity the market has seen so far to overcome this critical challenge to ESG investment, to avoid greenwashing and to ensure that the efforts and funds of banks and other responsible participants are properly directed and make the biggest contribution to achieving the important objectives that underlie these standards.”     

Ian Sayers, Senior Advisor for Access to financing and investment at the International Trade Centre (ITC), added: MSME suppliers in emerging economies want to demonstrate their progress in ESG standards. ITC would like this initiative to help them to do that easily.

The Kosmos Working Group has committed to a level of time and expertise to drive forward the Coriolis Technologies Kosmos product. One goal is to develop an Environmental, Social, and Governance monitoring and passporting tool that is equally applicable for developing economies’ suppliers, supply chains and importers of traded products. Kosmos Consortium members will be closely involved in development and testing of the software, and;

• Collaborate with other fellow bodies, including ITFA, to agree a global standard for ESG monitoring, scoring and assessment, as required by industry & governments;
• Represent constituents’ priorities, giving them a platform to contribute to the industry standardisation of ESG;
• Actively promote the full engagement of constituent organisations with the initiative to work towards an industry-standard; and
• Provide access to industry leaders, expanding all members working knowledge of policy considerations enabling constituent support for ESG concerns.

This participation will drive the future direction of ESG standardisation and deliver solutions to some of the biggest challenges facing the trade industry. Ultimately the Coriolis Technologies Kosmos tool aims to:

1. Offer a simple, standardised and externally verifiable ESG score;
2. Provide transparency at the product level;
3. Achieve a granular understanding of supply chains through the tiers by allocating component products ESG scores in that supply chain.

Kosmos enables a business to monitor and assess the impact of its activities on ESG.

Organisations interested in joining the Kosmos Working Group can register their interest at https://pnq.a35.myftpupload.com/kosmos-working-group/