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Morningstar Sustainalytics Enhances Physical Climate Risk Capabilities with XDI and Veridion
Morningstar Sustainalytics Enhances Physical Climate Risk Capabilities with XDI and
About this update from Morningstar, Inc.
Morningstar Sustainalytics, a leading provider of sustainable investing research, ratings, and data, today announced it is collaborating with XDI (Cross Dependency Initiative), physical climate risk specialists, and Veridion, an AI-powered business data platform to further develop its physical climate risk product for asset managers and asset owners. This development intends to address a key gap in existing climate risk tools by seeking to translate physical hazard exposure into financially relevant insights. While the industry has made progress in identifying which assets face exposure to floods, wildfires, heat stress and other climate hazards, converting that exposure into metrics that support real investment decisions remains an evolving challenge. A group of asset managers and asset owners will act as partners, providing ongoing input on use cases, data needs, and integration into existing investment workflows. This will build on Morningstar Sustainalytics’ broader climate offering, including its Low Carbon Transition Ratings and existing Physical Climate Risk Metrics. David Pagliaro, president, Morningstar Sustainalytics, commented: “Working with XDI and Veridion reflects an important evolution in how physical climate risk is assessed and applied in investments. Physical asset-level hazard data has become more available, but investors have lacked a consistent framework to determine financial relevance at the portfolio level. By connecting exposure, asset materiality and financial impact through business interruption, this approach aims to help institutional investors identify where physical risks are most likely to affect long-term value and inform the integration of those insights into portfolio construction and risk management.” This development brings together three complementary capabilities from each organization to create a more integrated view of physical climate risk. XDI will provide asset-level hazard impact analysis through its engineering-based Climate Risk Engines, combining sub-asset data, hazard modeling and forward-looking climate scenarios to estimate how climate hazards translate into operational disruption. These are designed to be consistent with key industry frameworks such as the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). Veridion will supply the geolo...