HUB Ocean + DNB’s ESG Data Hub

Our CFO Martin Styrmoe Moen and Director of Ocean Innovation Jo Øvstaas kicked off a promising project with DNB’s ESG Data Hub.

ESG Data Hub aims to be DNB’s centralised, cloud-based platform for data to bring more transparency and effectiveness in finance, risk management, and investment decisions concerning ESG. The core principle of ‘the Hub’ is to pull data from public data sources and 3rd party data providers, and integrate them to internal data and systems, to service the entire group with ESG data and analytics.

We at HUB Ocean are excited to contribute to this project, whether it's through our expertise on ocean data collection and analysis, exchanging datasets from the Ocean Data Platform, or jointly testing some of our tools. The Vessel Emissions Tracker and the “Portfolio eViewer”- a POC that measures ships' CO2 emissions and risk exposure in marine protected areas - are examples of tools that the pilot aims at testing.

Martin Styrmoe Moen:
What's coming in terms of regulation for finance and companies is going beyond CO2. We also have to look at the impact on nature, biodiversity, and ecology, that have to be measured by data. We need a geospatial platform that can tie the data together, plot human assets and activities on the map. We believe the setup we have on the Ocean Data Platform can quite effectively address these challenges, – and we look forward to testing it in the pilot with DNB.

Jo Øvstaas:
Data interoperability remains a significant challenge in our work, as data catalogs often fail to communicate effectively with each other. Consequently, a substantial portion of our time, up to 80%, is devoted to extracting, structuring, and formatting data. Our primary focus is converting this valuable data into actionable data products that align with ESG reporting standards. By adopting a scientific mindset, we aim to gain profound insights into our partners' and users' requirements. Excited to engage in discussions with DNB, exploring innovative approaches to transform billions of data points into meaningful outcomes.

Head of DNB’s ESG Data Hub Aiko Yamashita:
Financial institutions will pave the way to the green transition, by moving capital from brown industries to green/sustainable industries, in a responsible, resilient manner. In order to do so, we need to secure foundational, trustworthy, on-time ESG data that will help us to for example quantify CO2 emissions and Biodiversity loss/gain. By using the latest data technologies and working closely with different stakeholders from the public sector, research, NGOs and 3rd party ESG data providers, DNB aims to deliver on its sustainability ambitions. We are very excited at the prospect of leveraging HUB Ocean’s data for regulatory reporting, customer engagement, and more!