Services
Profundo provides action-oriented research, advice, and capacity building for civil society and public organisations. Select one of our services to learn about what we can offer. Contact us to find out more, we always aim to tailor our approaches to the needs of our clients!
Equity Analysis
We analyse the financial indicators of companies and assess how companies and their financiers could be affected by Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) risks related to deforestation, emissions, human rights abuses, resource depletion, health impacts and other sustainability issues. We calculate the external damages caused by companies and their supply chains, as well as their financiers. And we estimate how profits are distributed across international supply chains, to identify which companies would be best-placed to finance sustainable transitions.
Sustainability risk analysis
Assessing the financial risks of poor management of their impacts on the environment and human rights on the financial parameters of companies, as well as the risks for their investors and financiers.
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Gerard Rijk
Senior Equity Analyst
Gerard coordinates our equity research on companies active in international commodity chains and finance. He is a macroeconomist and has worked for the Dutch bank ING.
Participatory research
We collect and analyse primary data on labour rights, deforestation, human rights, and other sustainability challenges, as well as strategies for driving meaningful change. Using participatory research methods, we ensure that workers, smallholders, and communities help shape the questions, gather information through online surveys, interviews, and site visits by local consultants, and even analyse the results. This approach helps document the impacts of unsustainable corporate behaviour and identify opportunities for sustainable transitions, highlighting priority areas for interventions by trade unions, civil society organisations, and government bodies.
Sustainability risk analysis
Collecting primary data through interviews, digital surveys, site visits, etc. to examine labour rights, gender inequality and biodiversity risks occurring in the production and processing stages of international supply chains.
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Diana Quiroz
Senior Researcher Participatory Methods
Diana coordinates our participatory research activities and collaborates with civil society to identify strategies for driving meaningful change. Originally from Mexico, she has a background in environmental resource management and agriculture and has worked in Germany, Yemen, and Liberia.
Financial and tax research
We analyse how individual companies and complete sectors are financed by banks, institutional investors and other financiers, to assess what financiers could do to foster sustainable corporate practices and evaluate how much financiers earn from financing certain companies. Financing data can be combined with emissions data, to calculate financed emissions. We collect data on exclusions by financial institutions and we dig into ownership structures and the international tax avoidance schemes set up by companies.
Financiers' analysis
Identifying the financiers (banks and investors) of unsustainable companies, and assessing their potential influence on corporate practices.
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Ward Warmerdam
Senior Financial Researcher
Ward coordinates our research on the financing of companies by various types of financial institutions. He is a sinologist with a background in economics, politics and international relations, a.o. in China.
Policy research
We assess and benchmark sustainability policies of companies and financial institutions against international standards, agreements, and best practices. We have a strong track-record on case studies analysing how the financial sector implements such policies through its screening processes, voting practices, engagement and exclusion strategies. We evaluate if companies live up to sustainability and CSR standards, for example with regards to labour rights, environmental management and biodiversity impacts. And we analyse public policies in the economic, tax and environmental domains, which could shape or restrain the sustainable transformation of the corporate and financial world, and propose alternative policies. Based on our research, we further support our clients to provide recommendations to the private sector and its regulators.
Benchmarking financial institution policies
Assessing responsible and credit policies of banks and investors, benchmarking them against international standards, agreements and initiatives on a wide range of sustainability topics.
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Jan Willem van Gelder
Director
Jan Willem has a broad experience in financial, policy and trade research and consulting, focusing on corporate impacts on sustainability. He studied development economics and founded Profundo in 2000.
Supply chain and market research
We analyse how commodities (agricultural, livestock, forestry, fishery, energy, mineral commodities as well as value-added products) find their way from production countries to consumer goods companies and supermarkets through international supply chains. We identify the sustainability impacts along these supply chains, map the key stakeholders, and conduct power analyses to assess the leverage of different actors to foster just transformations. Moreover, we evaluate policy options to stimulate more transparency and sustainability due diligence in international supply chains
Supply chain mapping
Identifying stakeholders in international supply chains and quantifying their trade relationships, to analyse and visualize the power relations in these chains.
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Barbara Kuepper
Senior Researcher Sustainable Supply Chains
Barbara coordinates market research and the analysis of trade relationships in international supply chains. She has a background in physical geography and previously worked at Greenpeace International in Germany.
Advice
Through our collaborations with civil society and public organisations across the world on many different sustainability issues, we have built up a deep understanding of how irresponsible corporate practices can be challenged and how sustainable transitions can be stimulated. Based on this experience, we can complement our research work on various themes with action-oriented advice.
Policy advice
Drafting alternative policies and designing new policy instruments, which could facilitate the sustainable transformation of markets and sectors.
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Jan Willem van Gelder
Director
Jan Willem has a broad experience in financial, policy and trade research and consulting, focusing on corporate impacts on sustainability. He studied development economics and founded Profundo in 2000.
Trainings
Through a combination of theory and practice, case studies, and interactive exercises, our trainings will help participants to get up to speed about the topic at stake. Whether you want to deepen your understanding of sustainability issues or economic sectors, influence policymaking, or hold stakeholders accountable, Profundo’s trainings provide the knowledge and skills you need to drive impactful change.
Trainings on finance and sustainability
Understanding how finance can drive corporate change, designing responsible investment and credit policies, learning about the integration of sustainability criteria in financial regulations and designing impactful case studies.
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Juliette Laplane
Senior Policy Researcher
Juliette specialises in sustainable finance. She supports civil society organisations in shaping strategies to influence the financial sector by providing policy research. Additionally, she delivers trainings on various sustainability topics. Previously, Juliette worked for an ESG rating agency and in the banking sector. She holds a background in Finance.