The International Financial Corporation (IFC) has developed an AI-powered platform for sustainable investments in emerging markets. MALENA uses 15 years of emerging markets data and natural language processing to dissect unstructured ESG information, and transforms it into “actionable insights”, the IFC claimed. The tool allows users to upload documents to the site and view outputs such as gender data, greenhouse gas emissions, and sentiment insights. Platform users can process vast amounts of text, identify more than 1,000 ESG terms, and predict trends with 91% accuracy. According to the IFC, emerging market investors have suffered from shortages of ESG data due to limited disclosure regulations and missing coverage by data providers in those regions. The IFC partnered with European asset manager Amundi to develop MALENA, which it tested alongside New Development Bank, as well as an export credit agency and a capital markets regulator. “MALENA is a catalyst for sustainable investment in emerging markets,” said Emmanuel Nyirinkindi, Vice President of Cross-Cutting Solutions at IFC. “Equipping investors and analysts with the tool enhanc[es] their ability to make informed decisions and contribute to meaningful, sustainable development.”
IFC unveils MALENA, an AI-powered tool for analysis of ESG data in emerging markets. MALENA uses data and natural language processing to distill complex ESG information into actionable insights for sustainable investments.
🌐 Now available to the public: https://t.co/4uw8a5QCes pic.twitter.com/EFtjSjgY7g
— IFC (@IFC_org) February 13, 2024
