Provider of environmental, social and governance (ESG) research Morningstar Sustainalytics has acquired Aquantix, a Montreal-based technology company that develops and delivers property-level climate risk data services for the real estate and mortgage lending industries.

The company’s artificial intelligence-powered models quantify the impacts of climate change on half a billion residential and commercial assets in 180 countries. With the demand for climate-related data accelerating among real estate investors, banks and lenders, its technology and expertise will enable Morningstar Sustainalytics to help these key stakeholders assess climate-related risks in the global real estate space. 

Morningstar Sustainalytics will also benefit from Aquantix’s strategic partnership with Teranet, a provider of modern registry solutions, real estate ecosystem platforms, and data and analytics. The Canada-based firm integrates Aquantix’s property-level climate risk data into its offerings to provide federally regulated financial institutions and regulators with data solutions. Collaborating with Teranet, the company notes, will deliver high-quality real estate climate data solutions to decision-makers in real estate, banking, lending and insurance.

“Real estate is an asset class directly impacted by increasing physical climate risks,” says Azadeh Sabour, senior vice-president of climate solutions at Morningstar Sustainalytics. “With the addition of the Aquantix team and their technology, we are fast-tracking our asset-level data collection and developing innovative climate-focused solutions for the commercial and residential real estate market.”