Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Finance: Why it May Help

Developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning have led to the creation of a new type of ESG data that do not necessarily rely on information provided by companies. This paper reviews the use of AI in the ESG field: textual analysis to measure firms’ environmental, social, and governance (ESG) incidents or verify the credibility of companies’ concrete commitments, satellite and sensor data to analyse companies’ environmental impact or estimate physical risk exposures, machine learning to fill missing corporate data (e.g. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions). We also discuss potential challenges, in terms of transparency, manipulation risks and costs associated with these new data and tools.