ES - Intro text

We are committed to limiting our impact on the environment and transitioning to a net-zero economy. We encourage our clients, shareholders, employees, suppliers and local communities, to do the same and we aim to lead by example. Our approach is designed to align with the sustainability and climate change insights and solutions we produce to help our clients across the capital markets ecosystem.

To view our progress to date, please see our latest sustainability and environmental disclosures on our 'Sustainability Reporting and Policies Hub'. Examples of our reports include our latest CDP submission and Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) report.

 

MSCI is committed to net-zero by 2040

 

MSCI is committed to net-zero by 2040

 

 


Getting to Net Zero

Getting to net-zero

To help meet our ambitious goals, MSCI will prioritize reducing emissions using the levers below.

Source Main levers
Scope 1 and 2
  • Reduce electricity consumption in existing offices
  • Manage new office growth towards locations with renewable electricity access
  • Purchase Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs)¹
Scope 3
  • Engage and influence our suppliers to set similar climate goals as ours
  • Manage business travel and encourage virtual meetings
  • Reduce the need for employees to commute to offices by supporting hybrid and remote work

We anticipate that MSCI’s trajectory of carbon reductions will not be fully linear, and our plan will evolve over time to align with the latest science and the emergence of new data and greener technologies. As we revise our plans and receive additional stakeholder input, we intend to make our approach transparent by regularly reporting our progress.

Climate Transition Plan

In 2022, MSCI published a Climate Transition Plan to provide visibility into how we are working to reduce our carbon footprint. We believe we can accelerate progress toward a more sustainable future through our climate solutions and our actions as a firm.

Climate Transition Plan 2022 (PDF, 1.3 MB)

 

Environmental policy

MSCI’s environmental policy outlines the environmental principles that help guide our strategic and operational business decisions and support our journey to net-zero emissions. This policy underscores our commitment to limit our environmental impact over time and encourages our stakeholders to do the same. MSCI monitors progress against the Policy through an environmental management system.

Environmental policy

 

ES - Charts

Environmental sustainability metrics

  • Greenhouse gas emissions

    We strive to increase disclosures of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with our business operations. In 2024, due to acquisitions and a change in methodology, we restated and re-baselined our historical emissions from 2019 - 2023. We have received external verification of these numbers as well as for 2023 emissions.

    MSCI has established a restatement policy of adjusting historical emissions data (including base-year emissions) to account for significant changes, including structural changes, calculation methodology changes or changes relating to the discovery of a significant error or a number of cumulative errors that are collectively significant, in all cases in accordance with the GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard. We may also choose to recalculate historical emissions data for changes that we deem to significantly improve accuracy, in particular when structural changes occur.

    Emissions Metrics Report 2019-2023 (PDF, 161 KB) (opens in a new tab)  |  Assurance Statement Rebaseline 2019-2022 (PDF, 164 KB) (opens in a new tab) | Emissions Metrics Report 2019-2023 (XLS, 68 KB) (opens in a new tab)  |  Assurance Statement 2023 (PDF, 246 KB) (opens in a new tab)  |  Rebaseline Assurance Statement 2019-2022 (PDF, 164 KB) (opens in a new tab)

  • Energy efficiency

    We continue to implement ways to use energy more efficiently through climate control setbacks, energy-efficient lighting, motion sensors and other technologies. We prioritize energy efficient selection of buildings with green certifications, including Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology (BREEAM). Since 2021, we purchased Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs) to increase our use of renewable electricity. We intend to annually review the potential purchase of EACs to lower our Scope 2 emissions that we otherwise cannot avoid.

      2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
    Energy consumption      
    Percentage of renewable electricity 17% 53% 94% 99.9% 100%
    Decarbonization plan indicators      
    Reduction of Scope 1 and 2 (market) from 2019 base year       -86%
    Reduction of Scope 1 and 2 (location) from 2019 base year       -10%

  • Water usage

    MSCI is committed to responsible water management to conserve usage and prevent pollution. Our estimated water usage report representing 80% of our 2021 headcount, illustrates that our water consumption is not material, due to our business as a financial data services provider.

    Water Usage (PDF, 125 KB) (opens in a new tab)  |  Water Usage (XLS, 53 KB) (opens in a new tab)

 

Supplier engagement

  •  

    We are intensifying efforts to drive down emissions across our supply chain — the source of 60% of our greenhouse gas emissions in 2019, our base year. To help achieve that goal, we have developed a supplier sustainability program that fully integrates climate considerations into our supplier selection and prioritizes our spend based on the strength of supplier climate commitments.

    We require suppliers to take steps to:

    • limit their environmental impact
    • implement policies and targets to reduce emissions
    • reach net-zero emissions by 2040
    • disclose energy consumption and emissions
    • report annually on progress towards targets

    MSCI created a dedicated Supplier Sustainability team in 2021 to deepen our engagement with suppliers and to understand their decarbonization commitments, climate trajectories and environmental practices. We meet with suppliers regularly to emphasize the importance of targets and our expectations to ensure we reach our net-zero goal.

    See our Supplier Code of Conduct for the values and expectations, including labor, human rights, environmental, legal, and regulatory compliance principles, that we expect our suppliers to uphold.

    55%

    Share of MSCI suppliers by 2023 spend that have set science-based CO2e reduction targets.

    MSCI Supplier Code of Conduct  (opens in a new tab)


ES - Time line

Key milestones on our journey to net-zero

 

2019

  • Baseline year for MSCI's CO2e targets

2020

  • Set initial science-based carbon-reduction targets  to reduce absolute Scope 1 and 2 CO2e emissions by 50% and Scope 3 by 20%, from a 2019 base year, in each case by 2035.

2021

  • Committed to net-zero before 2040
  • Became a founding member of the Net Zero Financial Service Providers Alliance

2022

  • April 2022
    • Filed for SBTi validation of our near-term and long-term emissions targets. Our targets align with a 1.5°C trajectory.
  • November 2022
    • To demonstrate progress toward our 2030 near-term targets, we set 2025 milestones to achieve 100% renewable electricity, reduce our absolute Scope 1 and 2 CO2e emissions by 60%, and increase to 60% by spend our suppliers with science-based targets, in each case from a 2019 base year.
    • Received SBTi validation of our science-based near-term, long-term and net-zero targets:
      • Near-term: Commit to reduce absolute Scope 1 and 2 CO2e emissions by 80% and to reduce absolute Scope 3 CO2e emissions by 50%, in each case by 2030 and from a 2019 base year.
      • Long-term: Commit to reduce absolute Scope 1, 2 and 3 CO2e emissions by 90% by 2040 from a 2019 base year.
      • Net-zero: Commit to reach net-zero CO2e emissions across the value chain by 2040 from a 2019 base year.
    • Published our climate transition plan to provide visibility into how we are working to reduce our own carbon footprint and meet our targets and milestones.

2023

  • August 2023
    • Adopted an internal carbon pricing policy with the price set at $100 per ton of CO2e on all business travel.

2024

  • January 2024
    • Became an inaugural adopter for the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures.

Our Environment - related content

ES - Footnotes

¹An Energy Attribute Certificate (EAC) is official documentation to prove renewable energy consumption. Each EAC offers proof that a specific unit of renewable energy (usually 1 MWh) has been produced from a renewable source and added to the grid. It essentially reflects the "greenness" of electricity.