Ogier's Sustainable Investment Consulting has welcomed Hardik Shah as its new client director in Singapore, further strengthening the consultancy's growing global service offering.

Hardik was voted the number one research firm analyst by the Independent Research in Responsible Investment (IRRI) Survey in 2015 and 2016 and has more than 15 years' experience in environmental, social and governance (ESG) research and investing, climate change and carbon credits advisory, and business intelligence.

"We are thrilled to welcome Hardik to our team. He brings with him a wealth of experience in asset management, data analytics and consulting, combined with a deep passion and resilient mindset that really helps drive forward the sustainability field. We know that Hardik is going to be an incredibly valuable asset to the business and we can't wait to see what we achieve together," said Leonie Kelly, global head of Sustainable Investment Consulting.

Prior to joining Ogier, Hardik was responsible for building investment and asset management firm GMO's global ESG capability across investment product areas and asset classes. His work included the creation of GMO's proprietary country ESG model as well as the company-level GMO ESG score, helping various investment teams with their ESG integration and engagement efforts, and designing fund level ESG reports for various strategies.

At Sustainalytics, a leading independent ESG and corporate governance research, ratings and analytics firm, he led a global team of analysts focused on ESG ratings and thematic research. Previously, Hardik was an ESG ratings associate at MSCI and, as a senior climate change consultant with Ernst & Young, he helped register a wide variety of carbon credit projects with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) under the Clean Development Mechanism defined in the Kyoto Protocol.

Hardik regularly volunteers with the CFA Institute as well as the CFA Society Singapore. He is a member of CFA Institute's ESG Technical Committee and has also been actively involved in reviewing, updating and co-authoring new ESG-related content for the CFA as well as CFA Institute's Certificate in ESG Investing curricula.

Ogier's Sustainable Investment Consulting works with clients at all stages of their sustainability transformation, including asset owners, asset managers, banks and corporates. The team advises on the full spectrum of regulatory requirements across all markets including Europe, the US and Asia - and goes beyond strategy and compliance to become a partner for transformation.