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Laura Nishikawa
Managing Director, ESG Research
About the Contributor
Laura Nishikawa is Managing Director of ESG Research. She leads a global team responsible for developing new models and frameworks that help institutional investors manage ESG investment risks and opportunities. Laura joined MSCI in 2010 through the acquisition of RiskMetrics, where she led ESG ratings development and fixed income analysis. Laura holds a Masters in International Affairs from Columbia University and a BA from McGill University. She is a CFA charterholder.
Blog posts by Laura Nishikawa
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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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Many of the world’s largest institutional investors are integrating ESG standards into their investment strategies. But they face a challenge: Excluding every objectionable firm or selecting only ESG (environmental, social and governance) leaders can slash the number of acceptable stocks by half while foreclosing on opportunities for dialogue and engagement. How can institutions implement ESG principles without sacrificing diversification or abandoning efforts to improve corporate conduct?
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As institutional equity investors increasingly think about the long term, they may adjust their portfolios to accommodate environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns in their investment decision-making processes. That can be particularly challenging for the largest investors, such as pension funds and endowments, whose portfolios span the entire equity market.
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Companies that paid top executives far more than they paid their rank-and-file workers tended to be less profitable over time than those that had narrow gaps between worker and executive pay, research by MSCI ESG Research suggests.
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Institutional investors increasingly are looking for ways to steer capital toward companies that help to address major social and environmental challenges.
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Global listed companies’ current carbon reduction targets fall well short of the proposed aggregate emissions target announced in the Paris climate deal, suggesting that countries may impose tougher regulations.
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We head into the new year with the backdrop of swooning oil prices and (re)newed geopolitical fault‐lines, juxtaposed against a return to growth in the US and emergence of the next generation of tech darlings.