REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

Climate Risk and Climate Transition Opportunity Analytics Solutions

Introduction and Purpose

The Maryland State Retirement Agency (the “Agency”) for the benefit of the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System (the “System”) is distributing this Request For Information (“RFI”) to firms wishing to license and provide relevant products and services to the System that identify best-in-class climate risk analysis and data solutions that enhance the System’s ability to robustly integrate both physical and transition climate risk considerations across its entire portfolio.

The Agency intends to choose a firm from this process to provide related products, solutions, and services.

However, the Agency may: (i) chose one or more firms to provide the products and services; or (ii) determine not to choose any firm to provide the products and services described in this RFI, in each case if it is deemed to be in the best interest of the System.

The Agency seeks to enter into a contractual arrangement with a fixed pricing schedule for a 5-year period, with options for additional renewal terms of up to four (4) additional years. Exercise of the renewal options remain at the sole discretion of the Agency.

The Board of Trustees for the System manages a diversified investment portfolio valued at approximately

$73.5 billion as of June 30, 2025 for the exclusive benefit of participants of the System, which includes the several retirement and pension systems for state employees, teachers, and employees of participating municipalities. The System’s asset allocation is available on the Agency’s website:

https://sra.maryland.gov/fiscal-year-quarterly-updates. The System’s custodian is State Street Bank and

Trust.

Further information regarding the System is set forth in the System’s Comprehensive Annual Financial

Report, a copy of which is available on the Agency’s website: https://sra.maryland.gov/annual-financial-reports.

Timeline and Submission Details

Date Action

10/29/2025 RFI is issued.

11/5/2025

Due date for questions relating to the RFI. All questions relating to the RFI must be submitted via e-mail to: ekamonjoh@sra.state.md.us.

11/12/2025 Answers to questions will be posted to the Agency’s website www.sra.state.md.us

12/1/2025

Responses to RFI must be submitted as an electronic copy to:

ekamonjoh@sra.state.md.us. Please note that the RFI submission should not contain a fee schedule. A fee schedule should be submitted under a separate cover to the specified email address.

Agency staff will review submissions and contact those firms, if any, from which it desires additional information.

https://sra.maryland.gov/fiscal-year-quarterly-updates https://sra.maryland.gov/annual-financial-reports https://sra.maryland.gov/annual-financial-reports mailto:ekamonjoh@sra.state.md.us http://www.sra.state.md.us/ mailto:ekamonjoh@sra.state.md.us

If your firm wishes to respond to this RFI, please email an electronic copy of the firm’s response to the RFI and to the questionnaire attached hereto as (Attachment 1) by 4:00 pm EST, December 1, 2025, to the email address listed below:

Firms that respond to the RFI by submitting a proposal to provide one or more of the requested services are referenced in this RFI as “Offerors”. The term “Contractor”, as used in this RFI, refers to an Offeror who ultimately enters into a contract with the System pursuant to this RFI.

Please note that a separate email containing the fee schedule must be sent to the email address below and must have a subject line of “Fee Schedule Proposal - Climate Solutions Products and Services RFI”.

The electronic submission of the RFI questionnaire should not contain the Fee Proposal. Commingling the fee schedule with the RFI submissions will disqualify the Offeror.

Edward Kamonjoh

Senior Governance Manager ekamonjoh@sra.state.md.us

On the RFI submission’s cover page and the Fee Proposal cover page, please provide the firm’s name, primary contact person’s name, phone and fax numbers, email address, and mailing address.

This RFI, all responses, and resulting agreements are subject to Maryland’s Public Information Act, Md.

Code Ann., General Provisions Article (“GP”) §4-101 et. seq. In the response, Offerors must specifically identify those portions of their proposals, if any, which they deem to include confidential commercial or financial information or trade secrets under GP § 4-335, and must provide justification why such material should not, upon request, be disclosed by the Agency/System. A blanket statement declaring that the entire response is confidential is not sufficient and will not be honored. Upon request for this information from a third party, the Agency will make an independent determination whether the information is disclosable.

All questions relating to the RFI should be submitted via e-mail to ekamonjoh@sra.state.md.us. Firms should not contact the System’s Chief Investment Officer, Investment Division Staff, Board of Trustees, System’s consultants or other Agency personnel to gain additional information regarding this RFI.

Attempting to do so may result in the firm’s disqualification.

Please note that the System will not be liable for any costs incurred with responding to this RFI. Also, the

Agency reserves the right to evaluate submissions in its discretion. The Agency may decide to cancel the

RFI at any time and reissue this or a similar request at a later date.

As part of the RFI questionnaire review process, the Agency requests copies of the Offeror’s standard form of contract for the services described under this RFI. Notwithstanding this request, the Agency expects the selected contractor to sign the form of contract and its exhibit attached as Attachment 2. Please note that this contract and its exhibits are attached for informational purposes only at this time and are not required to be completed and submitted in an Offeror’s response to the RFI.

Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs) are encouraged to respond to this RFI. Offerors who consider themselves to be minority contractors are encouraged to obtain certification from the Maryland

Department of Transportation. A minimum certified Minority Business Enterprise subcontract participation goal has not been established for this RFI, but certified MBE subcontract participation may be considered in evaluating proposals under certain circumstances. Offerors are encouraged to utilize MBEs for any subcontracting opportunities that may arise. The Agency also encourages

Offerors to include socially and economically disadvantaged individuals on the team responding to this solicitation, if applicable.

POTENTIAL SCOPE OF SERVICES

The Agency is issuing this RFI to identify best-in-class climate risk analysis and data solutions that would enhance the System’s ability, consistent with applicable fiduciary obligations, to robustly integrate both physical and transition climate risk considerations across its entire portfolio. The System has identified the following areas of need:

I. Physical Climate-Related Financial Risks to the System: Analyzing portfolio for climate-related acute and chronic physical risks and hazards to asset performance over the short- (less than

3 years), medium- (3-7 year), and long-term time horizons.

II. Carbon Footprint and Sector Exposures: Assessing portfolio carbon emissions and developing a baseline from which future annual exposures can be measured. Identifying exposure to high-impact, carbon-intensive sectors, and the likelihood of material transition risks impacting the

System’s portfolio value over the short- (less than 3 years), medium- (3-7 year), and long-term time horizons.

III. Transition Risk Assessments: Evaluating portfolio companies’ and assets’ transition readiness, especially in high-impact sectors.

IV. Asset-Class Specific Risk Metrics: Defining and tracking climate-related physical risk and climate-related transition risk metrics and formulating resilience and transition readiness metrics across all asset classes to enable portfolio-level evaluations of climate risks and investment opportunities.

V. Performing Scenario Analyses: Provide approaches for analyzing the short, medium and long-term risks and opportunities under multiple climate warming scenarios, loss and damage potential from climate-related physical hazards, and the impact of varying policy/regulatory developments, including stress-testing the portfolio’s resilience under these scenarios.

VI. Emerging Climate Technology Investment Opportunities: Identifying opportunities to invest in climate solutions (e.g., resilience-related measures across real assets, emerging clean energy technologies, etc.) and tracking the System’s portfolio’s alignment with both resilience requirements under various temperature scenarios, and a low-carbon energy transition.

VII. Systemic Climate Risk Monitoring: Regularly assessing the potential systemic risks that climate change poses to our investment portfolio (e.g., macro-economic impacts, market shocks from climate events or policy changes, etc.) and integrating climate risk (both physical and transition) into overall risk management.

VIII. Usage of Scientific Best Practices: Utilizing the best available data, scientific practices, and climate science in climate risk analytics.

The System seeks information from service providers whose data, tools, and analytics can identify, quantify, and manage both physical and transition climate-related financial risks and opportunities across a multi-asset class portfolio. To fully understand the distribution of assets in our investment portfolio, please reference the latest publicly available information referenced in the System’s Annual

Comprehensive Financial Report – Investment Section (page. 95). The System desires climate solution https://sra.maryland.gov/sites/main/files/file-attachments/2024-acfr_final_investment.pdf?1738697641 https://sra.maryland.gov/sites/main/files/file-attachments/2024-acfr_final_investment.pdf?1738697641 sets that are comprehensive in coverage, methodologically robust, data-rich, insight-dense, and producing decision-useful analytics at both the total portfolio and individual asset levels.

The ultimate goal of the RFI is for the System to identify and obtain solution sets that enable it to fulfil its fiduciary duty to protect its investment portfolio from climate-related risks and to capitalize on investment opportunities tied to the transition to a low-carbon economy – in a rigorous, quantifiable, and transparent manner.

Through this RFI, the System aims to:

A. Understand the capabilities of leading climate risk data and analytics solutions providers in meeting the foregoing requirements.

B. Assess to what extent each solution provider enables the System to quantify, evaluate, and manage physical and transition climate-related risks and identify physical and transition climate-related investment opportunities in our portfolio.

C. Evaluate the comprehensiveness, quality, and rigor of each solution provider’s data and methodologies – including the full lifecycle of data acquisition, cleansing, modeling, validation, and evolution of climate risk metrics.

D. Identify leading practices with respect to data integrity, methodological transparency, and analytical sophistication in the climate risk domain.

E. Inform the selection process for comprehensive and robust climate risk data and analytics solution sets.

Solution provider respondents are requested to provide detailed answers to the questions listed in the forthcoming sections and encouraged to cite examples and include relevant supporting documentation to substantiate the responses provided. The quality and depth of information provided will be critical in the

System’s evaluation of respondents’ submissions.

ATTACHMENT 1

CLIMATE RISK AND TRANSITION OPPORTUNITY ANALYTICS SOLUTIONS

QUESTIONNAIRE

If your firm is offering its services jointly with another firm or firms, please so indicate, and provide the information requested for all parties.

1. Solutions Provider Background and Experience

a. Organization and History:

Provide the following information with respect to the firm:

i. A brief history of the firm, including its year of organization; jurisdiction in which it is domiciled; its size; the ownership structure of the firm, including any parent, affiliated companies or joint ventures; the percentage of the firm owned by current employees; a list of the beneficial owners of at least 5% of the firm including individuals and all other entities; and its experience in providing climate risk and climate-related financial analytics.

ii. The address of any principal office required by the jurisdiction in which the firm is domiciled, the firm’s headquarters, and any branch offices.

iii. Describe any significant developments in the firm that have occurred since January 1, 2020 (changes in ownership, personnel reorganization, corporate restructuring etc.).

iv. Describe any anticipated changes in the firm’s ownership structure or any other significant changes in the organization, including changes to the structure of the firm or its relationship with affiliates and parent company, if any, and corporate restructuring.

v. Provide an overview of your organization and its experience in providing climate risk and climate-related financial analytics.

vi. For how long has your organization offered climate risk data/tools, and what is the history (and future) of their development – including how the solutions are/were built and by whom, and the process and cadence by which they are maintained.

b. Client Base:

i. Describe your organization’s client base for climate risk solutions and your firm’s experience serving institutional investors.

ii. Indicate any public pension fund clients or case studies where your climate analytics have been utilized.

c. Team Expertise:

i. Outline the qualifications and experience of the team supporting your firm’s climate risk and opportunity analytics.

ii. In particular: How many staff are dedicated to: (i) data acquisition and quality assurance; and (ii) research/model development for climate risk.

iii. Describe the credentials and expertise of the respective teams.

iv. Indicate what the turnover of relevant staff has been over the past five years.

d. Value Proposition:

i. List your firm’s primary competitive advantages in the climate risk analytics space.

ii. Reflect on any blind spots in your firm’s current suite of climate solution offerings.

2. Multi-Asset Class Coverage

Please detail your firm’s coverage of:

a. Public Corporations:

i. Does your firm cover publicly traded equities and corporate debt? Detail how many companies are in your data coverage universe broken out by geography/market type, company size, etc.

ii. Indicate whether your firm has minimum market-cap or index inclusion criteria.

b. Sovereign and Sub-Sovereign Debt:

i. Does your firm provide climate risk assessments for sovereign bonds or sub-sovereign/municipal bonds? If so, describe the data and metrics used.

c. Private Markets:

i. Describe your firm’s coverage for private assets.

ii. Explain how your organization sources or estimates private assets data and indicate whether your firm can ingest data from the System’s private asset managers or what proxies are used for missing data.

iii. Discuss relevant climate risk channels and associated portfolio economics, including for technology/software and healthcare/biotech industries.

d. Real Assets:

i. Explain any specialized modules for real estate properties or infrastructure assets.

ii. For real estate assets, detail how your firm assesses property-level physical risks and building energy efficiency or emissions. Elaborate on your platform’s ability to ingest geolocation, property characteristics and other real estate portfolio information to assess asset-level climate risks and generate a portfolio-wide risk profile that can be benchmarked against industry benchmarks or other portfolios.

iii. Identify any scientifically robust or industry-standard methodologies or models used to evaluate transition risks and provide a basis for electing such methodologies or models.

iv. Describe your firm's ability to provide data on existing financial incentives oriented towards mitigating climate risk costs including incentives and policies (e.g. at the State or Federal levels etc.) that support renewable energy and energy efficiency.

v. For infrastructure assets explain how your analytics solution sets evaluate asset-specific physical and transition risk exposures.

e. Other Asset Classes:

i. Note your firm’s coverage of commodity or alternative investment asset classes and indicate whether your organization’s solution sets allow for look-through analysis of pooled funds and hedge funds.

Clearly identify any gaps from asset classes your firm does not cover. If certain asset classes require a different solution or partnership – indicate that.

3. Carbon Footprint Data and High-Impact Sector Exposure

The System seeks to measure its portfolio’s carbon footprint and identify exposure to high-impact

(high-emitting) sectors. Regarding underlying emissions data, provide information on:

a. GHG Emissions Data Sources:

i. What are the sources of your firm’s carbon emissions data?

ii. Does your firm primarily use company-reported data, or does it also provide modeled estimates for non-disclosing companies?

iii. If using reported data, how do you ensure it is standardized and comparable?

iv. If modeling missing data, describe your firm’s data estimation methodologies.

b. Scope 1, 2, and 3 Coverage:

i. Does your firm provide all three emissions scopes? Please detail coverage for Scope 1 and 2 and Scope 3 data.

ii. What proportion of companies in your coverage universe have full versus partial Scope

3 data?

iii. If Scope 3 data is estimated, explain the data’s basis, reliability, and any associated limitations.

c. Data Quality and Hygiene:

i. Describe your firm’s emissions data quality controls.

ii. How does your establishment verify or cross-check emissions data from companies?

iii. Describe any adjustments made if companies use different reporting boundaries or if data appears anomalous.

iv. Explain how lags in data are handled and articulate any data hygiene processes employed to ensure data integrity.

d. Portfolio Carbon Footprinting:

i. What library of metrics does your organization provide for portfolio-level carbon footprints?

ii. Can your firm’s solutions calculate available metrics for any custom portfolio or index?

iii. Describe any footprinting methodologies used.

e. High-Impact Sectors:

i. How does your organization identify high-impact sectors or the largest contributors to portfolio carbon risk?

ii. Does your firm flag the contribution of specific sectors or top emitters to the total carbon footprint?

iii. Describe any sector classifications used and whether a list of industries considered carbon-intensive or identified to have high transition-risk is maintained.

f. Ownership of Fossil Fuel Reserves:

i. Beyond carbon emissions, does your firm track metrics like embedded fossil fuel reserves or potential emissions from reserves (e.g., for oil, gas, coal companies)?

ii. Describe how you quantify such metrics.

4. Sector-Specific Transition Assessments

Describe any sector-specific analytics you provide for assessing how prepared issuers and companies are for a low-carbon economy transition:

a. Assessment Frameworks:

i. Does your firm use specific frameworks or scorecards for certain sectors?

ii. Please list the key indicators used in your assessment of companies in high-impact sectors.

b. Transition Readiness Ratings:

i. Does your firm provide overall transition risk or transition readiness ratings for issuers? If so, are these ratings sector-relative or absolute?

ii. Explain in detail how the ratings are derived and whether they are aligned with any external standards or initiatives.

c. Alignment Metrics: Does your firm assess portfolio alignment with existing goals to abate climate change? If so, describe the methodology used.

d. Use of Scenarios in Transition Risk:

i. Describe how your firm’s transition risk assessments incorporate different climate scenarios or policy forecasts.

ii. Explain how such assessments are integrated into your ratings or if they are provided as a separate analysis.

e. Regulatory and Policy Risk Data:

i. How does your firm account for policy and regulatory risks?

ii. How does your team track relevant policy developments and reflect their impact on companies or sectors?

5. Physical Climate Risk Assessment

Please detail your firm’s capabilities in the areas below:

a. Hazards Covered:

i. Which physical climate hazards are included in your organization’s analysis?

ii. Clarify how your firm assesses the financial implications (vulnerability, relative damage values, etc.) for climate-driven acute events and chronic trends.

iii. Explain how cascading risks or interdependent hazards are assessed.

b. Geospatial Resolution:

i. At what level of granularity does your firm assess physical risks?

ii. For real estate or infrastructure assets, do your solutions analyze risks at the specific property or asset location?

iii. For publicly traded companies, does your firm assess risk at the facility level or is risk rated at a company-wide level?

iv. Please detail how your firm maps company operations to climate hazard data.

c. Data Sources and Models:

i. Describe the climate data and models underpinning your firm’s physical risk analysis.

ii. Clarify any downscaled climate model projections used for future hazards, describe the source of datasets (e.g., NOAA, NASA, FEMA, etc.) used for current and historical hazard data, and indicate which standard scenarios your firm’s projections are aligned with.

iii. If your establishment uses proprietary or third-party models, provide relevant details.

d. AI Augmentation:

i. Specify whether and how your firm uses AI or machine learning techniques in its climate risk models and modelling – identify where AI is applied within your analytical framework.

ii. Outline the credentials, background, and professional experience of your AI team, and indicate whether the team is a dedicated or matrixed resource.

iii. Describe whether your firm’s AI platform/models are built in-house (proprietary), licensed from third parties, or based on open-source frameworks – clarify the intellectual property ownership and licensing structure of any AI-driven tools.

iv. Explain the process for testing and integrating AI into your climate risk assessments and modeling frameworks – the underlying approach described should include:

• The types of training data are used

• How models are validated and tested for reliability

• The use of supervised, unsupervised, or hybrid machine learning approaches

• Documentation of AI model limitations (e.g., false positives, biases, etc.)

• Whether AI outputs feed directly into investor-facing risk ratings or serve as intermediate diagnostics

e. Scenarios and Time Horizons:

i. Over what time horizons does your firm assess physical risks? Can users select different time horizons (short, medium, long-term) and different climate warming scenarios (fully integrating emissions feedback into warming) for future risk projections?

ii. Explain how scenario uncertainty is handled.

f. Risk Metrics and Outputs:

i. How are physical risks reported?

ii. Detail any ratings or indices used for each hazard per asset/company.

iii. Describe whether/how your organization quantifies potential financial impacts if any at the asset level, among/within an asset class, and across the portfolio.

iv. Do/can you provide your outputs over different time horizons, including the very short term (within 12 months) to 2050 and beyond?

v. Articulate any financial risk or expected loss metrics expressed for certain assets under specific conditions.

g. Portfolio-level Assessment:

i. How does your platform aggregate physical risk at a portfolio level (e.g., VaR, financial vulnerability, percentage of portfolio at high risk of coastal flooding, etc.)?

ii. Can/how does your firm identify the top sectors/industries, assets or holdings contributing to the portfolio’s physical climate risk?

iii. Describe any reporting capabilities that show distribution of risk (e.g., portfolio exposure by hazard type, geography, asset class, etc.).

h. Adaptation and Mitigation Factors:

i. Does your firm’s analysis consider asset-level risk mitigants or adaptive measures? If so, how do you obtain this information and integrate it into risk ratings?

i. Sample Output:

i. Provide an example of how a particular asset or company in a coastal area would be evaluated for flood and hurricane risk.

ii. Explain the output and express how an investor should interpret the output (attach a sample report or visualization to substantiate).

6. Climate Scenario Analysis and Stress Testing

Provide detailed responses to the following inquires:

a. Supported Scenarios:

i. Which climate change scenarios does your firm support for its analysis?

ii. Can your firm’s clients run custom scenarios or variations?

b. Time horizons covered:

i. Do your firm’s outputs enable the ability to show multiple time horizons, including the very short-term (within one year), short-term (less than 3 years), medium-term (3-7 years), and long-term (7+ years)?

ii. Can the outputs show, for example, the evolution of VaR (or equivalent metric) from both physical and transition related risks at both the asset and portfolio levels over these scenarios?

c. Transition and Physical Risk Integrated Scenarios:

i. Do your firm’s scenarios incorporate both transition and physical risks in an integrated way?

ii. If so, how does your firm model the combined effect on asset prices or economic indicators?

d. Macro-Economic Coverage:

i. Describe if and how scenario analysis is linked to macro-economic variables and asset class returns.

ii. Do your firm’s tools and solutions quantify climate impacts across all asset classes and macro variables?

e. Climate Stress Tests:

i. Can your firm perform stress tests for shorter-term climate-related shocks?

ii. Describe any predefined stress test scenarios used and existing options to create custom scenarios.

iii. Articulate your platform’s ability to conduct stress tests that integrate climate risk with financial outcomes (e.g., valuation, credit risk, cash flows, etc.).

f. Portfolio-Level Outputs:

i. What outputs are produced from scenario analysis at the portfolio level?

ii. Can the outputs depict differences in expected returns or probabilities of severe losses in a particular climate scenario vs. a baseline? Substantiate how such outputs are expressed.

g. Granularity of Results:

i. Is it possible to drill down into sector or asset class impacts within a scenario analysis?

(e.g., scenario outputs that show equity portfolio could lose X%, fixed income Y%, and real estate Z% by a given year under a specific transition scenario?

ii. Similarly, do your solutions identify which sectors are most adversely affected under a given scenario?

h. Interpretation and Use:

i. How are your asset-owner clients using your firm’s scenario analysis results?

ii. Highlight any unique features including optimizations based on scenario outcomes, etc.

7. Data Integrity, Quality Control, and Update Frequency

Detail your data governance and update practices:

a. Source Transparency:

i. List the primary data sources used in your organization’s climate risk platform and provide relevant details with respect to how transparent these sources are to end users.

Responses should be comprehensive and specific enough to facilitate an understanding of the provenance of data inputs.

b. Data Update Schedule:

i. How frequently are different data types updated? For example, do physical risk model updates occur with new climate model releases or on a set schedule?

ii. Provide an update cadence for key datasets (emissions, company financials, climate hazard layers, scenarios, etc.). How regularly does your firm incorporate latest scientific findings into its climate solutions offerings? Provide relevant examples to substantiate your responses.

c. Quality Assurance:

i. Describe the quality assurance and quality control steps in your data pipeline (e.g., validation rules, expert reviews, winsorization, third-party audits, etc.

ii. Describe your data management practices. Highlight any policies, protocols, and practices that demonstrate the robustness of your data integrity processes.

d. Handling Gaps and Uncertainty:

i. How does your firm handle missing or incomplete data?

ii. Does your firm provide transparency on which data is reported vs. estimated?

iii. Does your firm quantify uncertainty in data (e.g., with a range or confidence interval for estimated data)?

8. Analytics Methodology

Describe the intellectual framework rigor of your climate risk models and analytics:

a. Methodological Approach: Provide an overview of the methodologies behind your key analytics (both transition and physical risk).

b. AI Integration:

i. Are any advanced or novel AI use cases embedded in your firm’s climate risk solution sets that represent best-in-class climate risk modeling? For example, is your firm using

NLP to analyze disclosures, generative AI for scenario simulation, or neural networks for geospatial hazard classification?

ii. Please describe in detail any such innovations and elaborate on how they improve analytical insight or scalability.

c. Key Model Assumptions:

i. What are the primary assumptions driving your firm’s climate risk models?

ii. For physical risk, what assumptions are made about adaptation measures or socioeconomic developments in scenario projections?

iii. For transition scenarios, what technology/adoption assumptions are embedded?

iv. Please highlight the assumptions that materially affect outputs.

d. Financial Metrics:

i. What is the methodology and approach to the financial metrics that your firm’s model provides?

ii. Describe whether, and if so how, your firm utilizes probability analysis and assessments, and whether the model assesses asset value at risk, and also sensitivity of revenues and costs to climate-related financial risks.

e. Handling of Non-Quantifiable Factors:

i. How do your firm’s analytics handle factors that are difficult to quantify?

ii. Describe any qualitative risk indicators, scenario narratives, etc. used to contextualize quantitative outputs. Provide relevant edifying details for any qualitative frameworks or layers applied.

f. Benchmarks or Standards: Are your organization’s metrics and models aligned with any industry standards or frameworks?

g. Peer Review and Methodological Transparency:

i. How does your organization vet its climate solutions methodologies?

ii. Have any aspects of your firm’s models been reviewed in academic or industry journals?

iii. Describe the qualifications of the teams and/or individuals guiding model development.

iv. What evidence and assurances do you provide your clients with to instill confidence with respect to the soundness, robustness, and credibility of your models?

9. Model Governance, Validation, Back-Testing, and Stress Testing

Address the following inquiries, providing concrete examples as applicable:

a. Model Governance:

i. Describe how your firm governs and updates its models.

ii. What is the cadence for recalibrating or updating models?

iii. Do you have a model validation team or process that reviews model performance and limitations? Elaborate with relevant details and/or examples.

iv. Expound and substantiate your establishment’s quality assurance and control processes for model development and model deployment.

v. How are your clients informed of model changes?

b. AI Governance:

i. Describe your firm’s governance process for AI model oversight.

ii. How does your organization ensure that models remain up to date, minimize drift, and are not biased or unstable over time?

iii. What is the process (and who is responsible) for testing and deploying new AI-based features into production (e.g., dedicated AI team, model risk committee, etc.)?

c. Back-Testing Physical Risk Models:

i. Has your firm performed back-tests of your physical risk analytics against historical events or loss data?

ii. Provide any evidence or studies that demonstrate the accuracy or predictive power of your physical risk assessments or ratings - include statistics (e.g., correlations, ROC/AUC for classification of high vs low risk, etc.) that express model performance.

d. Back-Testing Transition Risk Models:

i. Describe whether/how your firm has evaluated its transition risk metrics against actual financial performance or events?

ii. Provide any analysis or case studies of how well your firm’s assessments and/or ratings correlated with outcomes.

e. Recent Case Studies:

i. Share any specific instances where your firm’s model was tested by real events.

ii. Did those events fall within predicted risk ranges for the affected assets/areas in your platform or did they reveal any need for model recalibration?

iii. What did your organization learn and update as a result?

f. Model Updates:

i. Describe the process for updating your firm’s models following back-testing against actual events.

ii. Have you made recent improvements (e.g., in the last 1-2 years) to your methodologies based on new data or observed model shortfalls?

iii. Expound on how methodological improvements are prioritized.

iv. Articulate your firm’s quality control and assurance processes for model update development prior to production environment deployment.

v. Provide examples where institutional clients influenced model (re)development.

vi. Explain how your firm handles client disagreements regarding model outputs.

g. Statistical Significance:

i. Provide information on the statistical robustness of your firm’s models. For example, if your firm uses regression models or machine learning for any part of the analysis, does it report goodness-of-fit measures or confidence intervals?

ii. If scenario simulations are conducted, are any confidence levels or ranges around the point estimates provided?

iii. Share any validation reports or technical documentation as attachments or references to support your responses.

10. Delivery, Reporting, User Experience, and Data Privacy/Security

Detail how your firm’s analytical insights are delivered to your clients:

a. Platform and Tools:

i. Describe the primary delivery mechanism for your firm’s solutions.

ii. Indicate whether your firm offers data feeds and APIs for integration into internal systems and indicate whether such offerings come at an additional cost.

b. Reporting Capabilities:

i. Discuss the standard reports, dashboards and/or data visualization capabilities that accompany your firm’s climate solution sets.

ii. Indicate whether, for example, your platform can generate reports depicting climate risk exposure via financial metrics (e.g., VaR, losses/damages, etc.), by asset class, by manager, and at total portfolio level.

iii. List some of the key report types and provide sample report templates or screenshots as components of appendix submissions.

c. Customization:

i. To what extent can clients customize analyses and reports? Can assumptions be adjusted? Can custom groupings be created?

ii. Can users upload their own data (for example, internal data on private assets or additional information on a set of companies) to integrate with your firm’s analytics?

iii. Describe your platform’s customization capabilities in detail.

d. Data Privacy:

i. Describe and provide your data privacy and data security policy. For example, do clients have their own sandbox?

ii. Does your firm use client data to train its models?

iii. Detail how your organization ensures your clients’ data remains secure.

11. Climate Opportunities and Positive Impact

Describe how your firm’s solutions identify environmentally sustainable investment opportunities

(e.g., renewable energy, clean energy technologies, etc.):

a. Opportunity Identification:

i. Does your firm track or rate climate solutions providers including companies that are enabling a clean energy transition?

ii. What metrics (beyond revenue) identify companies that are climate leaders or climate-solution-provider opportunities for investment and how are such metrics incorporated into your organization’s analytics and ratings?

b. Thematic Investments: To what extent can your firm’s climate solutions platform be used to construct or inform thematic portfolios such as those comprising companies with robust low-carbon transition strategies?

c. Impact Measurement: Does your firm’s platform measure or capture positive investment impacts such as avoided emissions, renewable capacity financed, etc.?

12. Implementation, Training, and Support

Describe how your firm operationalizes its climate solutions platform for clients:

a. Onboarding Process:

i. Outline the typical implementation timeline for an asset owner client such as the

System.

ii. Articulate how long it typically takes to get similarly situated clients with a multi-asset-class portfolio up and running on your firm’s platform.

b. Data Integration:

i. How does your firm’s platform interface with custodial data or common portfolio systems?

ii. Describe the flexibility of your climate solutions’ ability to integrate with existing risk, performance, and portfolio management systems.

c. Training and User Support: Describe your firm’s client support model (e.g., on boarding on-site/virtual training sessions, user guides, knowledge base, dedicated support staff, etc.).

d. Upgrades and Enhancements: How frequently does your firm release significant enhancements or new datasets, and how are these updates delivered to clients?

e. Trial Periods:

i. Does your firm provide potential clients with a sandbox environment or proof-of-concept trials to evaluate whether your firm’s solutions are fit-for-purpose?

ii. Describe what a client trial would entail.

f. Service-Level Agreements (SLAs): What SLAs does your organization offer clients with respect to system uptime, support response times, and data delivery?

g. Solutions Pipeline: What relevant new products or major enhancements are planned for your firm’s climate solutions platforms over the next 24 months?

13. References and Case Studies

a. References: Provide three references for existing clients with a similar profile as the System

(e.g., U.S. state pension funds or asset owners with climate-oriented investment mandates).

i. Include client name, contact name, telephone number, number of years the client has retained the firm, the types of services provided, countries covered by the provided services, and the client’s total assets.

ii. The references should include clients whose assets are greater than $5 billion. The

Agency reserves the right to contact any of the clients named to request references.

b. Case Studies:

i. Attach or provide links to any public case studies, white papers, or reports that illustrate how your firm’s solution sets have been used in practice by similarly situated institutional investors to manage climate risks and opportunities.

ii. Highlight any case studies where your solutions have influenced clients’ investment strategies.

14. Additional Information

Provide any additional relevant information or capabilities not covered in this RFI that you believe sets your firm’s climate solutions apart or would be valuable to the System.

15. Fee Proposal and Pricing Structure

a. Describe the pricing model (e.g., enterprise license vs. per-user licenses, modular pricing for different components, pricing based on AUM or number of portfolios, term of the agreement, etc.).

b. Provide a Fee Proposal in the form of a fee schedule for all the products and services requested and describe how the fees are calculated.

c. As described in the RFI, the Fee Proposal should be submitted by email with the subject: “Fee

Schedule Proposal - Climate Solutions Products and Services RFI” to the email address below:

Email Address for Submission of Fee Proposal

Edward Kamonjoh

Senior Governance Manager ekamonjoh@sra.state.md.us

Do not submit the Fee Proposal with the email containing your RFI questionnaire responses. The Fee Proposal and RFI questionnaire responses should not be submitted together.

d. Any contract resulting from this process is likely to have an initial term with fixed pricing for a

5-year period with options for additional renewal terms of up to four (4) additional years.

Exercise of the renewal options will be at the sole discretion of the Agency. The Fee Proposal should include a fee schedule for each year of the proposed 5-year term as well as the optional renewal periods. All fees should be provided in US dollars.

e. The fee schedule shall provide reasonable detail about the fees proposed to be charged for particular product licenses and/or services, as applicable. Where applicable, fees for specific services based on units of work should indicate the usual anticipated time required to complete the service.

16. Other Requested Documentation

a. Please provide a copy of the firm’s (and, if a wholly owned subsidiary, the parent’s) most recent audited financial statements. If this is not available, please provide an explanation.

b. Please provide a copy of the firm’s Code of Ethics. Do the firm and its employees comply with a code of ethics and standards of a professional association? If so, which professional association?

c. Please provide a copy of the firm’s standard contract for the products and services being offered.

d. Describe the levels of coverage for any professional liability insurance the firm carries. List the insurance carriers supplying the coverage and supply certificates evidencing the coverage.

e. SSAE 16 SOC 1 Type II and/or SOC 2 Type II Audit Report

i. Provide an annual audit performed by an independent audit firm in accordance with audit guidance: Reporting on Controls at a Service Organization Relevant to

Security, Availability, Processing Integrity, Confidentiality, or Privacy (SOC 2) as published by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).

ii. The firm should use the most current audit guidance promulgated by the AICPA or similarly recognized professional organization, as agreed to by the System.

ATTACHMENT 2

FORM OF CLIMATE RISK AND OPPORTUNITY PRODUCTS AND SERVICES AGREEMENT

This Master Services Agreement is made as of the day of , 202[5] by and between the Maryland State Retirement Agency for the benefit of the Board of Trustees for the Maryland State

Retirement and Pension System (collectively, the “System”) and [ ] (the

“Contractor”).

In consideration of the mutual covenants and promises herein contained and other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficient of which is hereby acknowledged, the System and the Contractor agree as follows:

1. Scope of Services.

1.1 The parties enter into this Master Services Agreement, together with the following exhibits which are attached and incorporated herein by reference (“MSA”) to establish the general terms and conditions to be incorporated by reference into any Addendum executed by the parties. Each Addendum will identify the products and/or services (collectively the “Services”) to be provided by the Contractor and the fees due for such Services (the “Fees”). Each Addendum, plus this MSA, shall be one separate and complete agreement (the “Agreement”), independent of any other Addenda the parties may execute. In case of a conflict between the MSA and an Addendum, the provisions of the Addendum shall govern.

Capitalized terms that are used but not defined in this MSA shall have the meanings given to them in the

Addendum.

1.2 The Contract Manager, as identified in Section 29, or a successor designated by the System

(the “Contract Manager”) may, at any time, by written order, make changes in the work within the general scope of the Agreement. No other order, statement or conduct of the Contract Manager or any other person shall be treated as a change or entitle the Contractor to an equitable adjustment under this Section. Except as otherwise provided in this Agreement, if any change under this Section causes an increase or decrease in the Contractor’s cost of, or the time required for, the performance of any part of the work, whether or not changed by the order, an equitable adjustment in the Agreement price shall be made and the Agreement modified in writing accordingly. The Contractor must assert in writing its right to an adjustment under this

Section within thirty (30) days of receipt of written change order and shall include a written statement setting forth the nature and cost of such claim. No claim by the Contractor shall be allowed if asserted after final payment under this Agreement. Nothing in this Section shall excuse the Contractor from proceeding with the Agreement as changed.

1.3 If, as and when the Contractor develops or upgrades systems and technology services intended to assist clients in analyzing, monitoring and administering their global investment program, the

Contractor shall provide such systems and technology services to the System at no additional cost. Such upgrades do not include new services generally sold as a separate service by the Contractor.

2. Term and Renewal.

2.1 Unless sooner terminated in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement:

(a) the initial term of this Agreement shall be the [five (5)] year period beginning [____], 202[4] and ending [____], 202[__]; and

(b) at the sole option of the System, this Agreement may be extended upon the same terms and conditions for up to four (4) successive one (1) year renewal periods.

3. Termination.

3.1 One party may terminate the Agreement or any Addendum on notice to the other upon the other party’s failure to cure a material breach within ninety (90) days after notice of a demand to cure the breach. Fees shall be prorated for the period prior to the notice of termination.

3.2 If the Contractor ceases or plans to cease to offer all or any part of the Services to all clients for any reason, the Contractor may terminate the applicable Addendum, or Addenda, as to all or a portion of the Services by providing the System at least one hundred and eighty (180) days advance notice. The

Contractor shall promptly refund the portion of Fees paid for the discontinued Services for the period following termination.

3.3 The System may terminate the Agreement or any Addendum at any time upon thirty (30) days’ notice at its sole discretion.

3.4 The termination of any individual Addendum shall not result in termination of the

Agreement but shall only result in termination of such Addendum.

3.5 Audit, confidentiality, document retention, patents, copyright, intellectual property, warranty, and indemnification obligations under this Agreement and any other obligations specifically identified shall survive expiration or termination of the Agreement.

3.6 Upon termination of the Agreement, the Contractor, at its own expense, shall deliver any equipment, software, or other property provided by the System to the place designated by the Contract

Manager.

4. Fees and Payment.

4.1 In consideration of the satisfactory performance of the work set forth in this Agreement and any Addendum, the System shall pay the Contractor in accordance with the rates and terms in the applicable

Addendum.

4.2 Invoices must be provided in the format and on the schedule identified in the Addendum.

Payments to the Contractor pursuant to this Agreement shall be made promptly after the System’s receipt of a proper invoice from the Contractor. Charges for late payment of invoices, other than as prescribed by

Title 15, Subtitle 1, of the State Finance and Procurement Article, Annotated Code of Maryland, as from time to time amended, are prohibited. The System reserves the right to withhold final payment under this

Agreement until after certification is received from the Comptroller of the State of Maryland that all taxes have been paid by the Contractor. The System represents and warrants that, as a governmental pension plan within the meaning of Section 414(d) of the Internal Revenue Code, it is tax-exempt.

4.3 In addition to any other available remedies if, in the opinion of the Contract Manager, the

Contractor fails to perform in a satisfactory and timely manner, the Contractor will be notified and provided a time specified by the System to cure the breach. If the breach is not cured within the time specified within the notification, the Contract Manager may refuse or limit approval of any invoice for payment and may cause payments to the Contractor to be reduced or withheld until such time as the Contractor meets performance standards as established by the System pursuant to this Agreement.

4.4 The System may deduct from and set off against any amounts due and payable to the

Contractor any back-charges, penalties, or damages sustained by the System, by virtue of any breach of the

Agreement by the Contractor. Nothing herein shall be construed to relieve the Contractor of liability for additional costs resulting from a failure to satisfactorily perform the Services. Payment of an invoice by the

System is not evidence that Services were rendered as required under this Agreement.

5. Patents, Copyrights, Intellectual Property

5.1 If the Contractor furnishes any design, device, material, process, or other item, which is covered by a patent or copyright, or which is proprietary to or a trade secret of another, the Contractor shall obtain the necessary permission or license to permit the System to use such item or items.

5.2. Except as provided in Section 5.4 of this Agreement, the Contractor agrees that all documents and materials, including but not limited to, reports, drawings, studies, specifications, estimates, tests, maps, photographs, designs, software, graphics, mechanical, artwork, computations and data prepared by or for the Contractor for purposes of this Agreement (“Work Product”) shall become and remain the sole and exclusive property of the System. The System shall have the right to use the same without restriction and without compensation to the Contractor other than that specifically provided by this Agreement.

5.3. Except as provided in Section 5.4 of this Agreement, the Contractor…