Terms and Conditions

1. Scope and Definitions

ESG.Guide GmbH, having its registered office at Universitätsring 10, 1010 Vienna, Austria (“ESG.Guide”, “we”, “us”, “our”), is a subsidiary of e-fundresearch.com Data GmbH and provides an information platform via the website www.esg.guide (“Website”). ESG.Guide is not a transaction, broker or advisory platform and does not provide any kind of investment service, advice or recommendation on any type of investment product or service.

These Terms and Conditions (“Terms”) govern the relationship between ESG.Guide and all organisations that have entered into a listing agreement with ESG.Guide (“Partners”) as well as all organisations, companies or individuals who access the Website or subscribe to the ESG.Guide Newsletter without having entered into such a listing agreement (“Readers”). Both Partners and Readers are to be qualified as entrepreneurs since they are – as natural persons or legal entities – acting for purposes relating to their trade, business, craft or profession according to Sec 1 Austrian Corporate Code. Where these Terms apply to both Partners and Readers equally, they are referred to collectively as “Users”.

Organisations eligible to become a Partner include asset managers, asset owners, service providers, financial institutions, and organisations or initiatives active in the ESG field. ESG.Guide offers three partnership tiers: the Associate Partner tier (“Associate Partner”), the Professional Partner tier (“Professional Partner”) and the Strategic Partner tier (“Strategic Partner”), each described in detail in Section 2.

The Website includes an organisation directory in the ESG field and individual profile pages for each Partner (“Organisation Profile”). The directory is created and maintained by ESG.Guide, with listed organisations divided into designated categories. Partners may publish documents and publications on their Organisation Profile (“Reports”). Strategic Partners additionally have access to a content publication feature comprising Insights, including insight commentaries being Insights directly linked to a published Report, and Event announcements (“Insights Feed”). All information and material published on the Website by Partners, including Organisation Profiles, Reports, Insights Feed posts and any other material submitted by a Partner, is referred to as “Content”. Readers can browse the directory and available Content without registration. Some Content may require registration or submission of contact details to access. Organisations that wish to have their listing removed may request this at any time by contacting service@esg.guide.

ESG.Guide may syndicate Strategic Partner Content to investRFP, a sister platform operated by e-fundresearch.com Data GmbH (“investRFP”), reaching a vetted network of asset managers, asset owners and institutional investors and may integrate information and data from investRFP on the Website.

These Terms shall apply to the exclusion of all other conditions except where alternative provisions have been agreed in writing. For any questions, Users can contact ESG.Guide by email (service@esg.guide), mail or through the contact form in the “contact” section of the Website.

2. Organisation Profiles and Partnership Tiers

2.1. Registration

To establish an Organisation Profile, an organisation must enter into a listing agreement with ESG.Guide. The organisation’s representative must complete a registration process, selecting the applicable partnership tier and providing the organisation’s information details. Partners shall only provide accurate and complete information, in particular organisation name and logo, e-mail address, postal address and information to verify the representative’s affiliation with the organisation. By completing the registration process, the representative confirms the accuracy of the information provided and compliance with these Terms.
Each Partner is solely responsible for keeping their login information (e-mail address and password) confidential. Partners shall hold ESG.Guide harmless from all damages arising from failure to keep login information confidential. ESG.Guide can only verify whether valid login information is used. Partners shall notify ESG.Guide immediately upon becoming aware of any unauthorised use of login information or any other breach of security.

2.2. Partnership Tiers

ESG.Guide offers three partnership tiers:

Associate Partner

The Associate Partner tier provides a verified listing and a concise introductory Organisation Profile on ESG.Guide. This represents the entry-level presence within the ESG.Guide ecosystem.

Professional Partner

The Professional Partner tier provides a full Organisation Profile, including professional branding, detailed organisation data, integrated contact information, sector tags and listed services. In addition, Professional Partners may publish Reports on their Organisation Profile.
Reports are self-published by the organisation and are, by default, publicly visible to all visitors of the Website. Organisations may elect to place Reports behind a contact detail submission form or link to external content. ESG.Guide takes no responsibility for any external links or content hosted outside the Website.

Strategic Partner

The Strategic Partner tier includes all features of the Professional Partner tier and additionally provides access to an Insights Feed. Strategic Partners further benefit from:

Priority placement and enhanced ranking within the ESG.Guide directory;
Syndication of Content to investRFP;
Enhanced visibility via the ESG.Guide Newsletter and the ESG.Guide LinkedIn page, through which ESG.Guide may, at its own editorial discretion, amplify Content published by Strategic Partners on the Website;
The ability to link official Reports directly to insight commentaries for a cohesive content narrative.

The amplification of Partner Content via ESG.Guide’s own channels is covered by the Partner’s acceptance of these Terms. ESG.Guide retains full editorial discretion over which Content it chooses to amplify and is under no obligation to do so.

2.3. Validation and Access Management

After registration, ESG.Guide will validate the organisation’s affiliation and whether the organisation fits within the subject area of the Website. Following a positive validation, an Organisation Profile will receive a mark indicating successful validation.

ESG.Guide reserves the right to refuse or revoke a request for an Organisation Profile or to revoke an existing listing agreement without giving reasons. Further, ESG.Guide reserves the right to, in its sole discretion, restrict a Partner’s access, temporarily or indefinitely block an Organisation Profile, or issue a warning, in particular if:

The Partner breaches these Terms;
ESG.Guide is unable to verify or authenticate any information provided by the Partner;
Other Users complain about the Partner’s activities on the Website;
ESG.Guide believes that the Partner’s actions are illegal or may cause loss or liability to others or to ESG.Guide.

2.4. Information Access and Support

Content provided by Partners is, by default, accessible to all visitors of the Website without restriction, unless the Partner elects to restrict access to certain Content as set out in Section 2.2. ESG.Guide endeavours to provide its services with reasonable skill and care. If Partners experience any problem with the Website, the matter should be raised in writing to ESG.Guide by e-mail (service@esg.guide) or through the contact form in the “contact” section of the Website. Sufficient detail on the nature of the issue should be provided. ESG.Guide will confirm receipt and aims to provide a written response within a reasonable time.

3. Keyword Tag Sponsoring

ESG.Guide offers Keyword Tag Sponsoring to Professional and Strategic Partners. Keyword Tag Sponsoring allows a Partner to exclusively sponsor selected keyword tags, positioning the organisation prominently within the relevant topic pages and directory searches on the Website.

Key terms of Keyword Tag Sponsoring:

Each keyword tag is available for exclusive sponsorship by one Partner at a time;
The sponsoring Partner has the first right of renewal of its sponsored keyword tags at the end of each agreement term at the current rate or at a rate negotiated with ESG.Guide;
Pricing is as set out on the Website in the “Partnership Options” section.

The minimum term and notice period provisions set out in Section 4 apply to Keyword Tag Sponsoring agreements. Individual arrangements may be agreed in writing.

4. Term and Termination

Listing agreements are entered into for an indefinite term. The minimum term is twelve (12) months, unless otherwise agreed in writing. Either party may terminate the agreement at the end of any term by giving three (3) months’ written notice. Termination by the Partner cannot take effect before the end of the minimum term. Termination does not entitle the Partner to a refund. Termination must be made in writing.

Partners may further terminate the listing agreement at any time by deleting their Organisation Profile. Such termination does not affect any existing claims by ESG.Guide arising from the Partner’s activity on the Website or under the agreement until the end of the term.

Each party has the right to terminate the listing agreement for cause with immediate effect by written notice. Cause exists where the other party has materially breached its obligations under these Terms and has not remedied such breach within a reasonable cure period specified in writing by the terminating party.

Individual arrangements regarding the term, notice periods or renewal basis may be agreed in writing and shall take precedence over the default terms set out above.

5. Pricing for Products and Services

The pricing schedule for products and services is provided by ESG.Guide on the Website in the “Partnership Options” section. ESG.Guide reserves the right to amend its prices, fees, dates, periods and product and service portfolio with effect for the future.

6. Readers and Newsletter

Readers may browse the Website and access Organisation Profiles and publicly available Content without registration. Some Content, including certain Reports and Insights, may be accessible only upon registration or submission of contact details. ESG.Guide reserves the right to place additional Content behind a registration or login requirement at any time.

Readers may subscribe to the ESG.Guide Newsletter, a periodical publication distributed by e-mail (“Newsletter”). To do so, Readers must provide a valid e-mail address and confirm their agreement to receive it. Readers may unsubscribe from the Newsletter at any time.

ESG.Guide reserves the right to remove a Reader’s newsletter registration without giving reasons. Further, ESG.Guide reserves the right to, in its sole discretion, restrict a Reader’s access to the Website or issue a warning, in particular if:

The Reader breaches these Terms;
ESG.Guide is unable to verify or authenticate any information provided by the Reader;
ESG.Guide believes that the Reader’s actions are illegal or may cause loss or liability to others or to ESG.Guide.

7. Content and Information

The Website is a platform where Partners may create Organisation Profiles and publish Content. ESG.Guide acts as a hosting provider and does not, as a general rule, create, edit or adopt Content as its own.

Content – whatever its nature (financial or otherwise) – is provided for information purposes only. Any information provided by Partners is understood to represent marketing information and marketing material and does not represent advice to any party in any form. Any Content posted on the Website does not necessarily reflect the opinion of ESG.Guide, and ESG.Guide does not endorse, recommend or advise on any product, service or investment referred to in any Content. Content contributions of Partners to the Website reflect the opinions of the author(s) involved and not those of ESG.Guide or its staff.

The information should neither be regarded as an offer nor a solicitation to buy, sell or otherwise deal with any investment referred to therein and is not intended for distribution to or use by any person in any country where the investment products and services referred to are not authorised or registered for distribution, or in which the dissemination of information on the funds or services is forbidden. Specific regimes might allow Partners to use or restrict the use of the Content provided. As ESG.Guide makes Content available to all visitors without geographic restriction, Partners are solely responsible for ensuring that any Content they submit complies with all applicable fund marketing, distribution and financial promotion rules in any jurisdiction in which it may be accessed. ESG.Guide accepts no responsibility for any regulatory consequences arising from Content published by Partners on the Website.

The information has no value in terms of legal, accounting or tax advice and is only valid at the time given. It cannot appropriately substitute the knowledge and skills of the user of the information and Content may be removed at any time without prior notice if it violates these Terms. ESG.Guide cannot be held responsible for any direct or indirect consequences resulting from the use of Content. None of the material included in the Content has been audited by any independent body and may be altered by the Partner at any time without any notice.

Partners are responsible for keeping their organisation information, including logo(s) and contact details, up to date.

Occasional Publishing on Behalf of Partners

On an occasional basis, ESG.Guide may publish Content on the Website or its channels on behalf of or in the name of a Partner, based strictly on content provided by that Partner. In such cases, the Partner warrants that the content it provides for publication is accurate, complete, compliant with all applicable laws and does not infringe any third-party rights. ESG.Guide’s liability in connection with such publication is limited to cases of gross negligence or wilful misconduct on ESG.Guide’s part in the act of publishing, for example by materially altering the content without the Partner’s approval. Such occasional publishing does not constitute a formal content, editorial or public relations service.

8. Copyright and Intellectual Property

Partners retain all ownership rights in any Content they submit to the Website. By submitting Content and accepting these Terms, each Partner grants ESG.Guide a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual and irrevocable licence to use, host, store, reproduce, publish and distribute such Content, including all text, images, logos and other materials contained therein, for the limited purposes of operating, promoting and improving the Website and its associated channels (including the ESG.Guide Newsletter, investRFP and the ESG.Guide LinkedIn page). This licence ends when the Partner deletes the relevant Content or its Organisation Profile expires.

8.1. Partner Warranties Regarding Content

Each Partner warrants in respect of all Content it submits, including text, images, logos, graphics and any AI-generated material, that:

It owns or holds all necessary rights, licences and consents to submit, publish and authorise ESG.Guide to use the Content as described in these Terms;
All images, photographs and graphics are either owned by the Partner, licensed for commercial use, or in the public domain, and their use on the Website does not infringe any third-party copyright, moral rights or other intellectual property rights;
All logos submitted are owned by or licensed to the Partner, and the Partner has the right to use and authorise ESG.Guide to display them;
Any AI-generated content (text or images) submitted to the Website complies with all applicable laws and with the terms of service of the AI tool used to generate it, and the Partner has verified that it holds such rights as are necessary for commercial publication;
The Content does not contain any material that is defamatory, obscene, unlawful or otherwise objectionable.

Each Partner shall fully indemnify and hold ESG.Guide harmless from and against any claims, damages, liabilities, costs, losses and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or in connection with any breach of the above warranties, including any third-party claims alleging infringement of copyright, image rights, moral rights, trade marks or other intellectual property rights in Content submitted by the Partner.

8.2. ESG.Guide Platform and Materials

The elements of the Website, including text, pictures, illustrations, design, structure and database contents, are subject to copyright protection and may not be copied, transmitted, made available, presented, performed, modified, translated, utilised or disseminated without a formal licence agreement or prior written consent from ESG.Guide.

9. Use of the Website

The Website shall be used safely and in accordance with applicable laws. Each time a User connects, they must ensure that their IT installations do not suffer any technical anomaly or contain any virus or other programme that could jeopardise the security of the use of the Website.

The User’s web browser installation must comply with the minimum required configuration necessary to be able to use the full functionality of the Website. ESG.Guide shall provide information on the most appropriate internet browser versions on request. In general, each User must take all reasonable steps to maintain the security of their access to the Website. Users must further comply with the legislation at their place of residence and/or domicile and with the legislation of the place where they use the Website.

Users are prohibited from using the Website, in particular but not limited to:

Decompiling, disassembling, reverse engineering, copying, transferring or otherwise using the Website or any Content except as permitted by copyright law;
Promoting any illegal activity, or advocating, promoting or assisting any unlawful act or violating existing financial regulations;
Violating legal rights (including the rights of publicity and privacy) of others or providing any material that could give rise to any civil or criminal liability under applicable laws or that otherwise may be in conflict with these Terms;
Providing any material or Content that is pornographic, obscene, improper, offensive, threatening, harassing, libellous, hate-oriented, harmful, defamatory, racist, xenophobic, shocking, inappropriate for minors, illegal or otherwise objectionable;
Providing any material or Content that attempts to falsely state or otherwise misrepresent identity or affiliation with a person or entity;
Providing material or Content that promotes, provides or relates to instructional information about illegal activities or promotes physical harm or injury against any individual or group;
Transmitting any unsolicited or unauthorised advertising, promotional materials, “junk mail”, “spam”, “chain letters”, “pyramid schemes” or any other form of solicitation;
Providing any material that may infringe the intellectual property rights or other rights of third parties, including trademark, copyright, patent or right of publicity, or which otherwise constitutes or promotes counterfeit materials or goods;
Using the Website in a manner that (i) is likely to interrupt, suspend, slow down or hinder the continuity of the Website, (ii) constitutes an intrusion or attempt to break into the Website or ESG.Guide’s IT infrastructure, (iii) will divert the Website’s system resources, (iv) may place a disproportionate load on the infrastructure of the Website, or (v) constitutes an attack on the security and authentication measures of the Website or ESG.Guide’s IT infrastructure;
Intruding into a third party’s computer system, engaging in any activity that may damage, control, interfere with or intercept all or part of a third party’s computer system and violating its integrity or security, or otherwise transmitting any materials or Content that is harmful for third-party information systems (including but not limited to viruses, worms, Trojans);
Distributing any part of the Website, including but not limited to any Content, in any medium without prior written authorisation of ESG.Guide or the respective owner;
Otherwise using the Website for purposes other than those for which it is designed.

Users shall fully indemnify and hold ESG.Guide harmless from and against any claims, damages, liabilities, costs, losses and expenses arising out of (i) their negligent breach of these Terms, (ii) their negligent violation of any third-party right, including without limitation any intellectual property, right of publicity or privacy right, and/or (iii) any of their Content negligently causing damage to ESG.Guide or a third party.

10. Warranty

The Website is provided “as is”. While the Content of the Website is assembled with care by Partners, ESG.Guide as a hosting provider does not have any influence on the correctness, accuracy, up-to-date nature, completeness or, more generally, the quality or reliability of Content and does not adopt it as its own. Accordingly, ESG.Guide does not give any warranties of any kind, either express or implied, for Partners’ Content and its accuracy or completeness. The use of Content is at the risk of the Reader. ESG.Guide is not liable for any wrongful information provided by any Partner. Users shall verify all information prior to entering into any financial obligations with another party.

ESG.Guide provides the Website with due care. However, it is not possible to entirely avoid errors, infringements by third parties or mistakes in content originating from ESG.Guide. Nevertheless, ESG.Guide will take diligent efforts to eliminate any noticed or notified errors within a reasonable time.

ESG.Guide cannot furthermore guarantee that the Website is available uninterruptedly. Temporary connection interruptions may occur. ESG.Guide reserves the right to carry out maintenance works at any time without prior notice.

If a User finds inadmissible Content on the Website, they may report it to service@esg.guide. ESG.Guide will review reported Content and make diligent efforts to eliminate infringing Content and to take legal action as appropriate.

11. Liability

ESG.Guide shall not be responsible for any losses, penalties, surcharges, damages, interest or other liabilities arising from the use of the Website and its Content. Users will not make any claim (direct or indirect) against ESG.Guide in respect of the above. The limitation of liability does not apply to damages caused by ESG.Guide by gross negligence or intent, injury of life, personal harm or injury of health, and claims under the product liability act.

Users must prove the existence of intent or gross negligence and assert claims for damages within one year from the date of the damage-causing event.

Furthermore, ESG.Guide shall not be liable for any direct or indirect loss or damage which may be caused in relation to:

Any error or negligence by a User, internet service provider or third party, in particular when using the Website;
Interruption, stoppage or malfunction of the use, in particular in the event of maintenance or repair of the computer service, technical breakdown of the computer system, or overload of the internet network or disconnection of data lines;
A virus originating on the internet which neither the User’s anti-virus system nor the reasonable measures taken by ESG.Guide or its web hosting partner could have detected;
Unlawful access by a third party to ESG.Guide’s or a User’s computer system as a result of error or negligence by the User;
Any event not directly attributable to ESG.Guide and beyond its reasonable control;
Content hosted on or accessed via external links, including content hosted on investRFP or any other third-party platform.

In the event of force majeure or in the occurrence of an event falling outside the control of ESG.Guide, the latter may interrupt or be obliged to interrupt all or part of the Website without prior notice. ESG.Guide cannot in any circumstances be held responsible for such interruptions and/or delays in re-establishing the service unless gross negligence on its part has been proven.

ESG.Guide shall not be held liable in the event of problems attributable to the defective operation or poor configuration or general use of a User’s computer equipment, or where the computer equipment used is not sufficiently powerful or suitable. The same shall be true for any loss or damage that connection to the Website and/or the use of any software thereon may cause to computer equipment (hardware, software) or to stored data.

The Website may contain links to third-party websites or services that ESG.Guide does not control. These websites and services are the responsibility of their respective owners and are governed by their own terms of use. The inclusion of these links does not imply an official endorsement on the part of ESG.Guide or its staff. This applies equally to external content linked via Organisation Profiles and to content hosted on investRFP or any other third-party platform.

12. Applicable Law

Any legal dispute arising from the use of the Website shall be governed exclusively by Austrian substantive law, without giving effect to any principles of conflicts of law.

All disputes directly or indirectly relating to or in connection with the use of the Website, including the question of the applicability of these Terms, shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Austrian court having jurisdiction ratione loci and ratione materiae for 1010 Vienna, Austria.

These Terms may be amended without prior notice. Amended Terms will be published on the Website.

Contact

ESG.Guide GmbH
Universitätsring 10
1010 Vienna, Austria
Tel: +43 1 3483003
E-mail: service@esg.guide