Sustainalytics buys real estate climate risk firm

Aquantix's climate-risk models use artificial intelligence to assess physical risks for about 500 million residential and commercial assets.

Morningstar Sustainalytics has bought Montreal-based climate-risk tech firm Aquantix.

The acquisition will significantly expand Morningstar Sustainalytics’ climate data capabilities in the real estate sector, where Aquantix specializes.

The acquired company’s climate-risk models use artificial intelligence to assess physical risks for about 500 million residential and commercial assets across 180 countries, according to the firms.

“Banks, lenders and real estate asset managers require a comprehensive understanding of the impact that climate change has on their portfolio of real estate investments,” said Morningstar Sustainalytics commercialization director of real estate solutions, Toby Messier, in the announcement.

“Aquantix fills this void by capturing millions of climate-related data points and providing meaningful property risk metrics that measure the estimated asset damage from emerging climate events across various time frames and scenarios.”

Aquantix has a strategic partnership with fellow Canadian firm Teranet, from which Morningstar will also benefit, the acquiring firm stated.

Teranet, which specializes in registry services and real estate data and analytics, uses Aquantix’s property climate risk information for the packages it provides to financial institutions and regulators.

This story was originally published on ESG Clarity.