News in the spotlight: EBA launches consultation on simplified climate risk stress test
The European Banking Authority has published the draft methodology, templates and guidance for the 2027 EU-wide stress test, launching an early industry consultation to help banks prepare.
Products and Services
New Forests launches AUD 1bn Global Natural Capital Fund
New Forests has launched its first global natural capital strategy, the Global Landscape Opportunities fund, seeking to raise AUD 1bn for institutional investors. The 10-year vehicle established in Luxembourg integrates forestry, agriculture, carbon and biodiversity markets across five regions: North America, Europe, Australia-New Zealand, Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa. The fund targets an internal rate of return of 10–12%, positioning large-scale ecological restoration as a competitive institutional asset class. Asset allocation will be 60–80% in developed markets (US, Canada, Europe, UK, Australia, New Zealand), up to 30% in developed Latin America (Brazil, Uruguay, Chile), and up to 20% in Southeast Asia, other Latin America regions and Africa. The strategy invests across sustainable forestry assets, agricultural land and food production systems, carbon and climate-related investments, and biodiversity and ecosystem markets. New Forests brings 20 years of experience investing across regional markets into a single, globally integrated portfolio.
Anterra Capital raises USD 100mn for agriculture startups
Anterra Capital has closed a USD 100 million first close of its third fund targeting AI-driven food and agriculture startups, halfway toward its USD200 million final close goal. The Amsterdam-based VC is backing scalable, science-based solutions as the agrifood sector shifts away from hype-driven investments. Fund III focuses on vertical AI applied to the USD10 trillion, largely under-digitized food and agriculture industry. The firm is investing in AI-native platforms that modernize food distribution, address bottlenecks in production, and apply AI to biology for animal health and crop protection. Already, Fund III has invested in Anchr, an AI operating system for food distribution backed by Andreessen Horowitz, and Animerra, a veterinary biologics company founded by Anterra. The fund’s backers include Rabobank, the world’s largest agricultural lender; Novo Holdings, a top global life sciences investor; and Zoetis, the largest animal health company. Many previous investors returned for Fund III, reflecting confidence in Anterra’s disciplined approach focused on strong business fundamentals rather than passing trends like quick commerce or vertical farming.
Regulations, Law and Frameworks
EBA launches consultation on simplified climate risk stress test
The European Banking Authority has published the draft methodology, templates and guidance for the 2027 EU-wide stress test, launching an early industry consultation to help banks prepare. The 2027 exercise introduces major simplifications while preserving robustness and comparability, cutting required data points by 55% compared with the previous test, mainly by drawing on regular supervisory reporting. The streamlined approach simplifies stress test definitions and removes overlapping templates and datapoints that duplicate supervisory reporting. This reduces duplication, lowers administrative burden and improves data consistency, comparability and quality for supervisors. A major innovation is the first structured integration of climate risks into the EU-wide stress test. Transition and physical risks are incorporated alongside macro-financial shocks through a dedicated module. At this stage, climate risks will be assessed separately and will not affect core stress test results, marking an important step toward embedding climate considerations into prudential supervision.
ESG Data and Analytics
Bloomberg expands climate toolkit for portfolio risk and transition analysis
Bloomberg has expanded its Transition Toolkit to help investors turn transition intelligence into portfolio decisions. The update adds climate alignment scores, scenario analysis and temporal carbon attribution, giving investors a more forward-looking view of how companies and portfolios are exposed to the shift to a low-carbon economy. The new climate alignment scores compare companies against sector- and region-specific transition pathways, making it easier to assess whether a business is tracking toward a credible decarbonization trajectory. Bloomberg has also integrated climate risk scenarios and stress testing into its portfolio management tools, so users can estimate market value impacts across funds, indices and ETFs under different transition pathways. Bloomberg says the toolkit is designed to support transition fund construction, assess the credibility of corporate transition plans and help users meet growing disclosure and stress-testing requirements. The updated toolkit is available through the Bloomberg Terminal and Data License.
Upright Project launches vertically-trained LLM
The Upright Project has launched the first vertically-trained large language model built for sustainability quantification. The model answers high-stakes sustainability questions on any company, fund or portfolio and links every answer to the underlying scientific evidence, ESG reports and other sources, so users can verify and defend the output. The LLM is trained on scientific research and open-source methods, not just corporate reporting. When claims conflict, it prioritizes the strongest scientific evidence. The model is optimized for double materiality, climate risk assessment, financial effects, net impact, UN SDGs, EU Taxonomy and SFDR principal adverse impacts, covering all 80+ ESRS sustainability matters. It uses product-level data to estimate impacts, which Upright says can drive up to 96% of identifiable impacts and opportunities across the full value chain. The system can quantify positive and negative impacts across four dimensions—society, knowledge, health, environment—and 19 categories throughout upstream, internal and downstream value chains.
S&P Global launches UN Global Compact Portfolio Screening Tool
S&P Global Sustainable1 has launched the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) Screening Dataset, a one-stop screening solution that helps investment managers, bankers and non-financial corporates assess whether companies align with the 10 UNGC Principles across human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption. The dataset combines two evidence streams: controversy screening, which tracks corporate controversies linked to one or more UNGC principles, and business involvement screening, which flags revenues from specific controversial products. S&P has applied the dataset to 16,500 companies globally and expects to cover around 24,000, providing clear UNGC alignment labels for portfolio construction and risk oversight. Built on S&P Global’s AI and machine learning capabilities, the system continuously scans millions of public sources in multiple languages—news, NGOs, regulators and other stakeholders—to detect emerging risk incidents in real time. A dedicated controversy team verifies the AI findings, ensuring evidence-linked flags rather than unverified signals.