APAC companies have shown substantial improvements in MSCI ESG Ratings in recent years, highlighting enhanced corporate awareness, increasing sustainability disclosures and strong upgrade momentum in markets such as China, Taiwan and South Korea. 

Nature-based solutions have emerged as a potential tool in the battle against climate change. We explore their viability in the APAC region.

The Asia Pacific region is at the heart of the global biodiversity crisis. Using MSCI ESG Ratings, we assess APAC companies on their exposure to biodiversity risks. But these risks may also offer opportunities to address the impacts of biodiversity. 

As the link between biodiversity and climate change becomes increasingly apparent, companies with operations or assets in biodiversity-rich areas may find themselves under growing scrutiny. We assessed companies in APAC to identify where the risks lay.  

In 2015, the UN launched its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to drive large-scale, positive environmental and societal impact. We mapped these SDGs to four broad themes — environment, society, economy and governance — to analyze corporate alignment patterns.

Companies operating in industries assessed on biodiversity-related key issues, may contribute more to biodiversity loss and be more susceptible to biodiversity-loss risk. We looked at the MSCI AC Asia Investable Market Index to see where the risks lay.  

Managing climate-change risks can be crucial to protecting portfolios while reaching sustainability goals. We looked at the impact of physical risks at the sector level for the MSCI AC Asia Pacific Investable Market Index to identify where the risks lay.

Hazard data is a key component of physical-risk modeling. We mapped the physical assets operated by constituents of the MSCI AC Asia Investable Market Index to the most prevalent climate hazards in the region to see where the risks lay.

This week we discuss why air pollution is a topic that investors may want to take greater interest in. It is not only a macro-economic burden, but also affects every company operating in polluted areas.

We studied all ETFs and mutual funds in our coverage that invest in healthcare and allied industries to assess the degree of fund alignment with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 3. Overall, we found relatively little alignment.