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How Climate Change Could Impact Credit Risk 

ESG Research , Fixed Income , Risk Management

Investors are increasingly focused on gauging the risks related to climate change. We investigated how various climate scenarios could impact the credit risk of portfolios. In one scenario, 16% of investment-grade issuers could migrate to high yield.

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Understanding Carbon Exposure in Private Assets 

ESG Research

Public companies and managers of listed assets face growing disclosure requirements. But private companies have not received the same level of scrutiny. How can investors in private assets calculate their exposure to carbon emitters, and what can they do about it?

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Creeping Crypto: Cryptocurrency Risk and ESG 

ESG Research

Institutional investors may have more exposure to cryptocurrency risk than they realize. We find that cryptocurrencies were a part of business for at least 52 companies covered by MSCI ESG Research, including 26 MSCI ACWI Index constituents.

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Stress Testing Portfolios for Climate-Change Risk 

ESG Research

How quickly companies implement net-zero pledges can affect the value of investments. Stress testing can be used to test how the valuation of a portfolio could change under different climate transition speeds or scenarios chosen by the investor.

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Constructing Net-Zero Portfolios: Three Approaches 

ESG Research

While investors around the world are committing to bring the carbon footprints of their portfolios to net-zero by 2050, figuring out how to do so is not a simple matter. What alternatives do investors have?

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Measuring the Temperature of Your Portfolio 

ESG Research

Institutional investors are setting targets to align their portfolios with a 1.5˚-2°C global warming scenario. But measuring and reporting portfolio temperature rise remain challenging. How can investors measure the temperature of their portfolios?

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Regulatory Risk Rises for South Korean Employers 

ESG Research

Are South Korean companies ready to deal with the country’s new workplace-safety law? Our research finds that many of those companies — often located in the machinery and metals and mining industries — are ill-prepared.

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Are SPACs Riskier than Conventional IPOs? 

ESG Research

SPACs exploded in popularity in 2020, but these “blank-check” shell IPOs offer some unusual governance risks to investors. In this blog post, we examine some of the challenges.

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Are APAC’s High-ESG-Risk Stocks Cleaning Up Their Act? 

ESG Research

The APAC region’s ESG performance has suffered from a combination of low ESG adoption and awareness and limited ESG regulation and reporting. But marked improvements are surfacing in environmental and social performance in certain sectors

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亚太高ESG风险公司是否正在“除弊去疴” 

ESG Research

亚太市场公司的MSCI ESG评级通常低于全球同业公司。但这种情况正在快速变化，即使是某些表现最差的行业（例如能源和原材料）也开始改善其ESG实践。

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Mining’s Impact on Biodiversity: A Rising Risk? 

ESG Research

Will biodiversity losses become the next crisis facing humanity, possibly surpassing climate change? Growing scrutiny on biodiversity risks could have implications for mines that threaten biodiversity or environments of high conservation value.

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Mining Energy-Transition Metals: National Aims, Local Conflicts 

ESG Research

Investors are scouting for companies that mine the metals needed in new energy technologies. But some mining projects key to the transition from fossil fuels may face opposition from Native Americans for threatening sacred areas or traditional ways of life.

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Exxon Mobil: Drilling Down on the Proxy Vote 

ESG Research

The historic win of at least two seats on Exxon Mobil’s board by activist shareholder Engine No. 1 signals a dramatic shift in investors’ thinking about climate change — and in their willingness to vote for climate action. But there is a deeper story.

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Race & Ethnicity Disclosure: US Companies’ Rocky Start 

ESG Research

Violence against the Black and Asian American communities in the U.S. has put racial injustice in the global spotlight. But the lack of standardization in reported data on race and ethnicity has greatly hindered comparability.

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Why Is Climate-Transition Risk High in High Yield? 

ESG Research , Fixed Income , Risk Management

Investors increasingly focus on building greener portfolios. Some might expect bonds to be less exposed to climate-transition risk compared to equities, due to the seniority of bonds in the capital structure. But does that logic hold at the portfolio level?

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Modern Slavery: The Unseen Risks 

ESG Research , Global Investing

Modern slavery occurs all over the world and can impact virtually all industries. Meanwhile, regulations requiring more detailed reporting on potential supply-chain exposure is increasing. How can investors identify portfolio holdings most at risk?

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Some ESG Funds Are Not Like the Others 

ESG Research , Global Investing

ESG funds’ holdings can vary significantly, depending on their objectives, methodologies and geographic exposures. We examined the 20 largest equity funds in our coverage universe.

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CEO Compensation: Paying Up for Mediocrity 

ESG Research

Are companies aligning CEO pay with long-term performance? Or, put another way, are directors incentivizing executives to drive the long-term success of the companies they run? We found evidence that pay and performance are misaligned for many U.S. CEOs.

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Women on Boards: The Hidden Environmental Connection? 

ESG Research

With social inequality gaining prominence ahead of the 2021 proxy season, investors and other stakeholders are increasingly vocal about the need for greater diversity in corporate boardrooms. How successful have boards been globally?

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How Have Stocks Responded to Changes in Climate Policy? 

ESG Research , Global Investing

To what extent has climate risk been priced into equity markets? Is there a “brown” discount and a “green” premium? Has this shifted over time? How can we model such risks as the world moves toward net-zero targets? We examine the financial impact of climate transition risk on global equity markets.

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Factoring in ESG 

ESG Research , Factor Investing , Factors

How much does ESG contribute to portfolio risk and return? We looked at whether ESG performance was influenced by other factors or helped explain returns as a factor in its own right, using the MSCI Global Equity Factor Model + ESG.

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Climate Transition and Bonds: Risk or Opportunity? 

ESG Research , Fixed Income , Risk Management

The transition to a low-carbon economy could significantly redirect the flow of investments toward greener companies and technologies that limit carbon emissions. We consider the potential risk — and opportunity — for bond investors.

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How Are High-ESG-Rated Bond Portfolios Distinct? 

Fixed Income , Risk Management , ESG Research

ESG investing makes up an increasingly large footprint in equity portfolios, but ESG integration in bond portfolios is still in its early days. We examine the characteristics that make high-ESG-rated corporate-bond portfolios distinct.

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Stress Testing Climate-Change Scenarios 

Global Investing , ESG Research

Regulators around the world are upping the ante on climate-related financial disclosures. How can investors stress test potential exposures to these changes in policy? We take a look within Europe.

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An ‘ESG-First’ Approach to Portfolio Construction 

ESG Research

A new administration in the U.S. and ESG-related regulations in Europe may further increase investors’ sustainability focus. We examine an “ESG-first” approach to integrating measurable ESG and climate considerations into portfolios.

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What Biden’s Climate Plan Means for US Utilities 

ESG Research

Joe Biden is targeting net-zero carbon emissions in the United States by 2050, but the target date for electricity generation would come 15 years sooner. Are the U.S. utilities sector and investors prepared for net-zero emissions by 2035?

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The Doctor Is Making House Calls: Capturing Exposure to Telehealth 

Factor Investing , ESG Research

Telehealth has the potential to reduce inequalities in access to care as well as relieve strain on health systems. We tested an approach that combines natural-language processing and MSCI ESG Ratings screens.

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Is ESG Investing a Price Bubble? Probably Not. 

ESG Research

Inflows into ESG funds have soared in recent years and months, in part motivated by outperformance since the COVID-19 pandemic erupted. But have these inflows become a self-fulfilling prophecy, creating an ESG bubble?

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2021 ESG Trends to Watch 

ESG Research

Climate. ESG bubbles. Disclosure. Social inequality. Biodiversity. The topics don’t get much bigger — or more systemic. Here’s our analysis of the five ESG trends that will matter most to companies and their investors in 2021.

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2021年ESG 趋势展望 

ESG Research

ESG投资已日趋成熟，炒作和怀疑已经消退，但寻求实现《巴黎协定》目标的投资者开始发现，符合《巴黎协定》要求的投资机会越来越少。

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Investor Reaction to US Elections and COVID-Vaccine Progress 

Factor Investing , Risk Management , ESG Research

To gauge investor expectations after Joe Biden was declared winner of the U.S. election and good news broke about COVID vaccines, we surveyed 151 U.S.-based financial advisers. We examine the advisers’ views on the next 12 months and markets’ reaction since Election Day.

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What ESG Ratings Tell Us About Corporate Bonds 

ESG Research , Risk Management

How did incorporating ESG factors affect the performance of corporate-bond portfolios? Did ESG add insights beyond credit ratings? How did ESG impact risk and performance of investment-grade and high-yield bonds? Short-dated versus long-dated bonds?

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ESG 评级告诉我们有关公司债券的哪些信息? 

ESG Research , Risk Management

我们探讨了将环境、社会和治理相关（ESG）因素纳入考量，对公司债券投资组合风险和表现的影响。

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Zombies on Board: Investors Face the Walking Dead 

ESG Research

Investors may think that zombies live only in people’s imaginations, but these brain-munching monsters can haunt corporate boardrooms for years, eating away at a fundamental shareholder right: the right to duly elected representation.

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Aligning with the Paris Agreement: An Index Approach 

ESG Research , Global Investing

Institutional investors are under pressure to align their strategies with a maximum global temperature increase of 1.5oC as targeted by the Paris Agreement. We examine how they can approach this while respecting other investment constraints.

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Banks, ESG and Nonperforming Loans During Covid-19 

ESG Research

Have banks with stronger ESG risk management practices been more financially resilient during the COVID-19 pandemic? We look at the asset quality, profitability and capitalization of banks around the world.

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Corporate ESG Disclosure: A Health & Safety Case Study 

ESG Research

How good a job are corporations doing in disclosing ESG policies and data to investors and other stakeholders? We took an in-depth look at reporting of health & safety disclosures. Our findings confirmed some common assumptions and upended others.

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Scope 3 Carbon Emissions: Seeing the Full Picture 

ESG Research

How can investors identify emissions throughout the value chain of companies in their portfolios? We explain what these “Scope 3” emissions are, why they are so important and what actions investors can take as they seek to manage resulting risks.

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Assessing Company Alignment with UN SDGs 

ESG Research , Global Investing

Five years ago, the United Nations adopted 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in an effort to end extreme poverty, reduce inequity and protect the planet by 2030. Using a new tool, we examine whether companies are walking the walk.

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Identifying Emerging “Hot Spots” for Physical Risk in the US 

ESG Research

Climate change is expected to increase the frequency and severity of physical climate risks such as extreme temperatures, tropical cyclones, torrential rainfall and flooding. Our map identifies emerging climate risk hotspots in the U.S. 

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ESG in Mexico: At a Fork in the Road? 

ESG Research , Emerging Markets , Global Investing

Mexican companies’ ESG risk-mitigation practices have come a long way over the past decade, but there has been some slippage over the past two years. We examine the current status and why investors may want to pay attention.

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绿色能跑赢化石燃料吗？ 

ESG Research

从 2013 年 12 月到 2020 年 5 月，“绿色”公司的表现大致与 MSCI全球市场可投资市场指数（IMI）持平，而化石燃料公司的表现则逊于该指数。

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Is There a Green-to-Fossil-Fuel Premium? 

ESG Research

As investors evaluate the possible reallocation of capital around the transition toward a low-carbon future, we analyzed the characteristics and performance of companies engaged in green versus carbon-intensive activities. Was there evidence of a “green-to-fossil-fuel premium”?

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Corporate Bonds Through a Factor and ESG Lens 

ESG Research , Factor Indexes , Factor Investing , Factors , Fixed Income , Risk Management

COVID-19 has had a profound impact on how companies manage cash flows and liquidity. Bond investors face the possibility of increased leverage, rating downgrades and defaults. Can factors and ESG metrics shed light on these risks?

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Managing Climate Risk in Equity Portfolios: A Case Study 

ESG Research , Global Investing

Institutional investors are increasingly focused on mitigating their climate-related risks. How could a “typical” active global equity manager have managed these exposures without disturbing the portfolio’s risk and return characteristics?

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Up in Smoke? Brazil’s Wildfires May Affect Bond Spreads 

ESG Research , Fixed Income , Risk Management

Clearing Brazilian forests to make way for agriculture may spur a backlash to soy and beef producers if purchasers impose deforestation-free rules. What are the potential implications for debt of affected companies and for Brazilian sovereign debt?

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Measuring Climate Risk in Real Estate Portfolios 

ESG Research , Real Estate Investing

By evaluating real estate portfolios in terms of different physical risks as well as under different transition-risk scenarios, investors may be able to build a more complete picture of their exposure.

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Would Integrating ESG in Chinese Equities Have Worked? 

ESG Research , Emerging Markets , Global Investing

ESG ratings have reflected financial risk and returns in developed-market and emerging-market equities. But was this true in China, where ESG considerations are still in their infancy?

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将 ESG 融入到中国股票的成效如何? 

ESG Research , Emerging Markets , Global Investing

过去两年，中国企业的 ESG 评级大幅提升。通过回测，剔除一些 ESG 评级低的股票，能够有助于一批聚焦中国的主动型基金在过去五年半时间内降低风险和提高投资回报。

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ESG Ratings: How the Weighting Scheme Affected Performance 

Global Investing , ESG Research

Our recent research suggests that environmental and social issues were more industry specific and tended to show up in financial measures over a longer time frame compared to governance issues. How can E, S and G issues be combined?

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Which ESG Issues Mattered Most? Defining Event and Erosion Risks 

Global Investing , ESG Research

Very different ESG issues can be material for different industries. Our research suggests that risks can be divided into two main types: “event” risks and “erosion” risks to companies’ long-term competitiveness. Which ones mattered most for E, S and G?

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Is ESG All About the ‘G’? That Depends on Your Time Horizon. 

Global Investing , ESG Research

The conventional wisdom has it that governance is the most dominant of the three E, S and G pillars. But our analysis finds different results when looking at contribution to performance over different time horizons.

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中国A股市场ESG研究与实践 

ESG Research

ESG作为一项非常重要且日益受关注的内容，已经整合到投资过程中，与指数和分析工具相结合，参与投资组合构建。通常投资组合管理会考虑风险和收益等维度，而如今ESG正成为一个新的维度对最优化组合进行重新定义，并帮助投资人加强对投资组合ESG视角的审视和管理。

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Building Better ESG Indexes: 30 Years On 

Global Investing , ESG Research

How ESG indexes have evolved over the past 30 years: A Q&A with Stuart Doole, head of new index development at MSCI, about his conversations with investors since the COVID19 crisis started, the growth of ESG investing and how MSCI Research uses AI and machine learning in developing its ESG indexes.

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Five lessons for investors from the COVID-19 crisis 

ESG Research , Factors , Global Investing

COVID-19 unleashed a torrent of sharp movements across global financial markets. We highlight five key lessons for investors regarding global investing, managing factors, active management, indexed investing and ESG investing.

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MSCI ESG Indexes during the coronavirus crisis 

ESG Research , Emerging Markets , Global Investing

The COVID-19 outbreak is the first real-world test since the 2008 global financial crisis of the resilience of companies with high MSCI ESG Ratings. We analyze the performance of four standard MSCI ESG Indexes over Q1 2020 and longer periods.

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新冠疫情期间的 MSCI ESG 指数 

ESG Research , Emerging Markets , Global Investing

在新冠疫情的恐慌抛售期间以及更长时期内，我们将四个全球 MSCI ESG 指数与其母指数进行了比较。

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Green bonds: Growing bigger and broader 

ESG Research , Fixed Income , Global Investing

As the green-bond market matures, it is developing offshoots. The types of projects financed, as well as the emergence of innovative types of bonds and loans linked to the ESG targets, is growing. These initiatives may broaden the market for green investment options.

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Corporate-bond performance by factors and ESG 

ESG Research , Factor Indexes , Fixed Income , Risk Management

The volatility seen in equity markets was also present among investment-grade corporate bonds,. We use factors and ESG ratings to dissect these bonds’ performance over Q1 2020.

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For target-date funds, hindsight was 40/60 

ESG Research , Factor Indexes , Fixed Income , Risk Management

Recent market volatility has been especially unkind to those closest to and early in retirement, as the sequence of returns matters for retirement income. Would low-volatility and ESG investments have benefited target date funds during volatile periods?

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Quantifying ESG fund performance 

ESG Research , Factors

One challenge facing investors is how to quantify the impact ESG has had on their investment process. We analyzed top ESG funds to better understand the contribution of the ESG factor to their performance.

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Will coronavirus reduce emissions long term? 

ESG Research , Global Investing

Has COVID-19 affected carbon emissions? Using satellite imagery from NASA and the European Space Agency, we examined the empirical data so far to understand the potential impact, and if there may be a decline in global greenhouse-gas emissions in 2020.

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将ESG融入新兴市场和亚洲市场 

ESG Research , Emerging Markets , Global Investing

在我们研究的时间区间内，ESG 评级较高的股票在新兴市场和亚洲（日本除外）地区表现较好，整合ESG 提高了这些地区的回报。

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Integrating ESG in emerging markets and Asia 

ESG Research , Emerging Markets , Global Investing

Previously, we have examined the relationship between ESG characteristics and financial performance in developed markets. In this blog post, we explore whether ESG characteristics  have had financially significant effects in emerging markets and Asia.

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Have corporate green bonds offered lower yields? 

ESG Research , Risk Management , Fixed Income

Green bonds tended to offer lower yields than comparable non-green corporate bonds. What could explain green bonds’ lower yields? And is there any relationship between green-bond issuers’ environmental scores and bond yields?

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SEC’s proxy proposal: Who would benefit? 

ESG Research

The SEC has proposed reforms to the proxy process that would curb the number of proposals submitted by small shareholders. But such a change may disadvantage all shareholders, who have provided significant levels of support for these initiatives.

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ESG and the cost of capital 

ESG Research , Global Investing , Emerging Markets

We know a lot about the relationship between companies’ ESG characteristics and financial performance. But was there a correlation between ESG scores and cost of capital?

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How climate change may ‘flood’ global equities 

ESG Research , Emerging Markets

Of all the threats to the environment from climate change, sea-level rise may be one of the most devastating and permanent. The question for global equity investors is how coastal-flooding risks may affect their portfolios.

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塑造下个十年的关键ESG议题（下篇） 

ESG Research

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塑造下个十年的关键ESG议题（上篇） 

ESG Research

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2020 ESG trends to watch 

ESG Research

ESG themes are long-term, but some can emerge with sudden force. We are watching five trends we believe will unfold in 2020 to catapult ESG investing into the new decade.

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CEO Pay: Trick or Treat? 

ESG Research

Some large asset owners are increasingly coming to believe that many executive pay schemes don’t align the interests of CEOs and investors. There appears to be an increasing focus on pay plan simplicity and transparency.

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Retire in Monte Carlo? Simulating retirement outcomes 

ESG Research , Factor Investing , Models/Client Cases , Risk Management

Despite global equity performance, U.S. DC plan participants may be ill prepared to meet retirement-spending needs. We assessed four equity-allocation scenarios — including an equity multifactor allocation  and integration of ESG views —  to see which performed best.

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Is the US tech sector ignoring minority talent? 

ESG Research

Looking in one’s backyard for human capital.

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Is climate-change risk all about fossil fuels? Think again. 

ESG Research , Global Investing

When it comes to reducing greenhouse gases, investors tend to focus on fossil fuels and power generation. But other companies also need to adapt to a lower-carbon world. We look at the implications for five types of companies.

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Underwater assets? Real estate exposure to flood risk 

ESG Research , Real Estate Investing

Real estate investors are buying and leasing assets that might be jeopardized by a climate-changed world. A new analysis can help investors identify high-risk U.K. locations.

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Looking inside ESG indexes 

ESG Research

Many investors want to stick to their values or beliefs, as well as meet certain financial objectives. How can ESG indexes  help them address these goals?

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The last straw: Will plastic become the next stranded asset? 

ESG Research

Oil and gas companies are accelerating investment in plastics, in response to the shift away from fossil fuels. But is this pivot sustainable? Could plastic become the next stranded asset?

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Under the hood: Rating ESG funds 

ESG Research , Global Investing

Nearly $31 trillion in assets under management were invested in funds that consider ESG issues in their investing process as of January 2018, a 34% increase from two years previously. Transparency is key to understanding what this expansion means.

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Resilient carbon-transition portfolios: a road map 

ESG Research

Is your portfolio ready for the transition to a low-carbon economy? Which companies, industries and sectors are positioned to benefit? Which ones entail greater risks? The answers are a lot more complicated than alternative energy is in and coal is out. 

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Uber vs. Lyft: Who’s at the wheel? 

ESG Research

Two companies, one highly disruptive business model, multiple big challenges looming. Few IPOs in recent memory have attracted more attention – or disappointed more decisively, initially – than the IPOs of ride-sharing groups Uber and Lyft. At the end of June 7, 2019, two months following its IPO, Lyft’s share price traded at 17.7% below its IPO price, while Uber’s ended that same day 1.9% lower. Could ESG considerations have played into investors’ thinking?

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Need a Lyft? Why the IPO blew a tire 

Equity Themes , ESG Research , Risk Management

A week into the highly publicized IPO for Lyft Inc., the ride-sharing company, it’s hard to say it went exactly as planned.

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Factors and ESG: the truth behind three myths 

Models/Client Cases , ESG Research , Factor Investing

There are misconceptions of the relationship between factors and ESG issues. We debunked three common myths about ESG, momentum, quality and smaller-cap stocks.

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What innovative companies and women on boards have in common 

ESG Research , Global Investing

We examined constituents of the MSCI ACWI Index that had been recognized as innovators on one or more annual lists produced by Forbes, Fast Company, MIT Sloan and the Boston Consulting Group between 2015 and 2018.

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ESG investing is here to stay 

ESG Research

Historically, environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing was about excluding stocks of undesirable companies from portfolios — often because they violated one’s sense of ethics or values. ESG investing has since expanded to include consideration of ESG criteria alongside financial ones. ESG is growing in importance among institutional, wealth and retail investors. In recent years, institutional and high-net-worth investors’ adoption of ESG, along with the subsequent growth in ESG assets under management, has accelerated.

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2019 emerging real estate trends 

ESG Research , Real Estate Investing , Global Investing

For real estate investors, 2019 may be a year of adjusting to rapid changes arising from a variety of sources, including environmental, social and governance-related (ESG) risks; geopolitical uncertainty; and disruptive technology.

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2019 ESG趋势展望 

ESG Research

ESG投资者的漫漫长途已经开始，有很多人也开始支持这个长征1。我们2019年要关注的五个ESG趋势中的每一个，都包含可能被忽视的成本和机遇。

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2019年に注目すべきESGトレンド 

ESG Research

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ESG trends to watch in 2019 

ESG Research

The long haul many are bracing for has already started for ESG investors. Each of our five ESG trends to watch in 2019 contain potentially overlooked costs – and opportunities.

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Silicon Valley’s women (on boards) problem 

ESG Research

California companies with no women on their boards are going to have to quickly up their diversity game.

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Aligning portfolios with UN Sustainable Development Goals 

ESG Research

Is my money helping solve the world’s problems or making them worse? An increasing number of the beneficiaries of public funds, globally, are asking such searching questions about where and how their retirement funds are invested. Understanding how investments have an impact on societal issues can be much more complex and difficult to identify for institutional investors.

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Investment risks in carbon-dependent industries 

ESG Research

Carbon-intensive industries have been the primary focus of attention for investors looking to reduce carbon-related risks in their portfolios. But these particular industries are only part of the picture. Institutional investors may want to look beyond the usual suspect carbon-intensive industries to better understand the end-to-end risks.

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Quitting tobacco stocks without going through withdrawal 

Models/Client Cases , ESG Research

Despite strong headwinds, including renewed divestment pressure,1 the tobacco industry has proved quite resilient financially and outperformed the stock market over the past 18-1/2 years. So much so, that some institutional investors are now thinking of lifting tobacco bans in their investment policies. We found that most of the gains associated with holding tobacco stocks over this period were not specific to the tobacco industry, and could have been obtained in other ways. We also show it would have been possible to divest from tobacco without taking a hit to portfolio performance during our sample period.

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Corporate disclosure in a TCFD world 

ESG Research , Global Investing

In June of 2017, the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) released climate-related disclosure recommendations to companies and investors that included a framework for better company disclosure and a request for climate scenarios as part of that disclosure. But for investors looking to incorporate environmental risk into their process, there might be a pretty big catch: We mapped over 140 MSCI ESG Research climate-related data points to the TCFD framework and found a significant gap between what investors need to know under these recommendations and what companies are telling them.

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Can the right benchmark improve your vision? 

ESG Research

As interest in ESG investing continues to grow, so does the number of actively managed strategies that integrate environmental, social and governance considerations into their investment processes. However, institutional investors and managers have been benchmarking many of these ESG-tilted strategies against standard market-cap-weighted indexes. While these indexes provide a broad basis for evaluating performance, they lack the ability to provide the insights that might be gained from ESG-focused benchmarks.

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“G” is just one part of the ESG story 

ESG Research

When it comes to ESG (environmental, social and governance) investing, conventional wisdom holds that G is the only part that really matters, as a window into overall management quality and providing insights and value for investors. Our analysis suggests this has not been true; that the E and S aspects of ESG did help sort the truly outstanding firms from a group that already shares an array of robust financial traits.

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Can China A share issuers adapt to ESG realities? 

ESG Research

Now that China A shares have partially entered some mainstream MSCI indexes, institutional investors and other stakeholders are raising questions about Chinese constituents’ ESG track records and potential risks from these new exposures in their portfolios.

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How can active managers put ESG to work? 

ESG Research

Our research shows how favorable ESG characteristics have historically had a positive impact on equity valuation, risk and performance. But many active managers may have concerns that using ESG data could disrupt their investment process and introduce unintended biases to the portfolio.

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Women on boards: One piece of a bigger puzzle 

ESG Research

Previously, we have asked whether the number of women on boards has a relationship to corporate financial performance. Research suggests that it has. But is that the whole story?

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2018 ESG Trends to Watch 

ESG Research

Bigger, faster, more. Whether due to policy, technological or climatic changes, companies face an onslaught of challenges that are happening sooner and more dramatically than many could have anticipated.