Platform visualises environmental effects of investments

Clever Franke has designed a new visual platform that will show investors the macro-level social and environmental effects of their portfolios

Spotted: Investment platforms help investors to keep track of the financial value of their portfolios, but Dutch design firm Clever Franke has taken this a step further with their visual platform for Swiss bank Globalance. Acting as a “Google Earth” for investors, the interface Globalance World maps the macro-level social and environmental effects of their portfolios through four perspectives: climate, megatrends, footprints, and returns. Through a series of data visualisations, users can review the impact of entire market indices or individual companies, and with a Globalance portfolio, they can also get personalised maps that show the impact of their personal investments. 

Globalance World relies on a few key visuals to keep their users informed. The first is a data visualisation that shows the effects of their investments on an interactive 3D globe. For example, it can illustrate if a portfolio aligns with the 2 degree Celsius climate stabilisation plan set by the Paris Agreement. If the globe is covered in orange landmasses, then the warming potential of the portfolio is too high. Another visual is an organic pebble shape that is used to represent individual assets in map view.

Each pebble has nine different axes based on data points that measure a company’s overall footprint. Investors can make comparisons in two different ways: the first is the contrasting shapes and sizes that allow for quick, intuitive comparison; the second is by clicking on individual assets for further details on what the shapes mean and how they align with bigger trends.

Clever Franke believes that existing financial visualisations put too much emphasis on hard financial information without context, and short-term, reactive information. The company contends that providing investors with macro-level details on the impact of their portfolio shifts their attention to more conscious investments. 

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