Moody's Acquires Majority Stake in Climate Risk Analysis Firm

Moody’s has acquired a majority stake in Four Twenty Seven, a privately held risk-analysis firm established in 2012.

Four Twenty Seven provides analysis and advice to help clients integrate the dangers of climate change into investment decisions. As an affiliate of Moody’s Investors Service, the company will contribute to the Moody’s portfolio of risk-assessment services while promoting global standards for estimating environmental risk factors.

Four Twenty Seven will continue to operate under its existing brand with headquarters in Berkeley, California.

This deal complements Moody’s recent acquisition of Vigeo Eiris, an environmental, social, and governance risk-assessment firm. It is part of a Moody’s initiative to establish itself as a firm that promotes transparency and consistent standards when evaluating risks and opportunities worldwide.

“Four Twenty Seven has built a strong platform for quantifying climate-related exposures and producing actionable risk metrics, which are essential to understanding and informing climate risk and resilience measures,” said Myriam Durand, the global head of assessments at Moody’s Investors Service, in a statement. “Moody’s is committed to offering global, transparent standards for assessing environmental risk, and the acquisition of Four Twenty Seven advances our objective of integrating climate analytics into our offerings.”

Emilie Mazzacurati, the founder and CEO of Four Twenty Seven, provided a similar statement: “Four Twenty Seven’s climate risk analytics, combined with Moody’s global coverage and extensive analytical capabilities, provide an ideal path to help market participants integrate climate impacts into risk management and investment decisions.”

Four Twenty Seven tracks and evaluates scores of physical risks associated with environmental issues: water stress, heat stress, precipitation, hurricanes and typhoons, and sea-level rise are all taken into account.

The company quantifies climate-risk exposures across asset classes, drawing data from more than 2,000 companies, 1 million global corporate facilities, 320 real estate investment trusts, 3,000 US counties, and 196 countries.

Moody’s also announced it is acquiring RiskFirst, a financial technology company that does risk assessment for money managers and pension funds.