AllianceBernstein has been awarded Sustainability reporting of the year, Global for its first report of this kind.

The inaugural Municipal Impact Report in 2023 showcased the impact of each of its investment across "historically disinvested communities" spanning the US.

The award-winning report highlights 19 key performance indicators across six sectors – allowing its clients to assess population and communities each investment impacts, and the effectiveness of the strategy during the investment period.

Presenting how it delivers impact in the municipal bond market, the investor claimed in its submission that the market is "fertile ground" for impact investing as it targets public goods and services.

Investing in education, clean water supply, efficient energy infrastructure, increased access to healthcare, economic development, affordable housing, mass transportation and decaying physical infrastructure, AllianceBernstein screens its investment universe of opportunities to align with its impact themes. It then prioritises them by demographical focus – so it can target investment into localities, communities and institutions it deems requires funding. It then completes a use of proceeds-driven analysis for each investment opportunity, spanning both environmental and social impact.

The investor focuses its sustainability engagement across resource governance, community sustainability and social impact.

"The AB Municipal Impact Report showcases to our clients the direct results the AB Municipal Impact SMA strategy accomplishes by investing in historically disinvested communities across the country. The strategy's goal is to make environmentally, socially and financially productive investments to reduce gaps that exist in areas such as academic achievement, economic development and the provision of healthcare," said Marc Uy, portfolio manager of the AB Municipal Impact SMA Strategy at AllianceBernstein.

"We believe this report helps foster deeper conversations with both existing clients along with prospects on demonstrating the merits of impact investing as well as providing an additional resource in demonstrating AB's broader commitment to responsible investing.

"The inaugural report was launched in 2023, so we are delighted it has been recognised in this year's Sustainable Company Awards for the Sustainability reporting of the year, Global category."