Amid surging defense investments and looming tariffs, investors face complex challenges. Navigating the intricate and global supply chain of the aerospace and defense industry becomes crucial to assessing company preparedness for disruptions.

As I type this, we are in the midst of a market sell off. So, it’s a perfect time to look at what happened to our ESG indexes during the last market sell offs. Fun times!

Does the defense industry have an ESG problem? Is there such a thing as an ethical bomb? These are questions emerging as the European Union ramps up investment in its defense sector as part of a broader rearmament effort. In this episode, we examine whether these concerns are well-founded or simply a dubious proposition.

In February 2025, the EU Commission proposed the first Omnibus Package of sustainability rules, with the aim of simplifying and reducing EU sustainability reporting requirements. But did it work? Has the outcome been "good" or "bad"? And what are these new rules set to do to the future of sustainable finance in the EU? Listen to this episode of ESG now to find out! 

NOTE: The first 12:10 of this episode provides a background of what the Omnibus proposal actually proposes. If you just want our takes on the good, the bad, and the future of this proposal, skip that section! 

Banks face growing pressure from regulators to assess the risks climate change poses to their loan portfolios. Some regions, like Europe, are tightening standards, while others, like the U.S., remain hesitant. Our latest research reveals that banks with high exposure to industrials — especially in APAC — could see default risks rise by 50% over the next decade. Will global banks adapt, or are we heading toward a financial blind spot? Find out on this episode of ESG now! 

We put out the world’s first public price forecast for CORSIA!* In it we analyzed the potential demand, supply and prices for credits under CORSIA, and how much the scheme could cost the airline industry in terms of higher ticket prices or lower profits. In this episode we explore the reports findings from one of its main authors. Enjoy!

*Based on review of publicly available carbon credit research and ratings providers, as of Nov. 1, 2024.

What do market participants actually think is going to happen to their assets due to climate change? And when do they expect it? And do they think we will ever abandon fossil fuels? Well to answer those questions (and any others!), you need a survey. Luckily, we've got one! We've linked it below and created a podcast episode about it. Enjoy!

Link to the survey

VW announced it would shut at least three of its German plants, axe tens of thousands of jobs and slash pay by 10%. This is notable because VW is the powerhouse of Germany which typically has been the EU’s industrial engine – meaning jobs, meaning unions, meaning political might. But this is more than a VW story. It is a story of how the energy transition – the transition from pollutive to non-pollutive forms of economic operations – is upending the global order of established industries. It is the story of the hard tradeoffs we have to make in our effort to cut carbon emissions.

In this episode we explore that new world and what it means for the auto industry; an industry many countries and states rely on for their economic driver.

Well, not yet. But on October 11, a UN expert group reached a compromise on key elements of a global carbon trading system. If it passes (we go into this, don’t worry), it will resolve nearly a decade of talks on a what is seen as a fundamental tool for the Paris Agreement to be achieved. Im this episode we discuss why this agreement is so important, and what it will do to the already up and running carbon markets.

Today is the last part of a three-part series we've done for ESG now: we examine whether investors should care about incorporating environmental data into equity analysis. In previous episodes we discussed the social pillar and the governance pillar, now it’s on to the environmental pillar of our ESG ratings model. We look at the environmental pillar as a whole and the themes that build it and tell you whether companies that scored well on each theme performed better than their lower scoring peers.

The 2024 proxy season has come and gone. In recent years, environmental and social proposals were abundant and saw record high support among shareholders. But what about this year? In this episode we take you through our findings from the 2024 proxy season, what they mean for sustainable investing, and where the future is liking headed.

We periodically put out this report called the net-zero tracker, and it examines the progress by the world’s listed companies toward curbing climate risk. This episode is a dive into the most important bits of that report.

The social pillar has often been maligned as the ignored step sibling of the ESG acronym. In its essence, the social pillar is a measurement of how a company, its employees, its products, and the community it operates in are supported and often challenged. For this episode, we show you why that all matters for measuring a company’s market performance.

Good governance is foundational to effective capital markets, promoting accountability, transparency and sound decision-making aligned with investor interests. But how do those potential benefits translate into market performance? Well today, we answer that question for you! We answer the question: does governance even matter.

Our demand for electricity is growing for the first time in decades. Nuclear energy is being proffered as the answer to our voracious energy-appetites. But are investors capable of propping up an industry with so much complexity and risk? This episode provides an answer.

What is impact materiality, you ask? And how is it different from financial materiality? A fine and important question, listener! In this episode we take you through all the details you need to parse through the most important sustainability-jargon out there. Including, an explanation of the EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, or the CSRD, which has its first required reporting cycle due next year.  

When it comes to climate altering carbon emissions, investors, like asset managers and banks, used to only measure their direct carbon emissions from their buildings and purchased electricity. But now, they are being asked by regulators, stakeholders, and clients to report on the emissions associated with their investment portfolios – a much more complicated and vital task. In this episode, guest Carrie Wang explains to host Mike Disabato why portfolio carbon footprinting is so important to the future of investing and so complicated.

Airlines are part of a hard to abate industry for a reason, as there is not one straightforward path to decarbonization. In this episode, we discuss the options that airlines have to reduce their direct emissions in the coming decades – and we tell you which ones are more likely to be more viable.

Alcoholic beverage companies are trying to navigate through a changing world, one where tastes are evolving, and resources are getting scarcer. In this episode, delve into the significant challenges and innovative strategies the alcoholic beverage industry is employing to combat this shift in drinking trends.

This week we provide an update to our March 2022 episode titled Children in the Cocoa field that explored the growing problem of child labor in cocoa harvesting. And the attempt by Nestlé to use money and enhanced mapping technology to combat its prevalence. It sounds bleak, but it was a great story about how technology is allowing for better transparency in our world's supply chain.

The SEC’s climate disclosure rule is finally here. It’s been a journey, one akin to a film drama full of plot twists, cliff hangers and edge of the seat moments. So in honor of the drama, this week we do a film review of sorts on this wide reaching regulation - going into the plot, the actors involved, and how the industry is likely to be affected by it.

Valentine’s Day is replete with marketing by luxury brands attempting to capture the eyes of anxious lovers wanting to do right by their partners during the holiday. But what can you know about the product you’re buying from a luxury company? Can you know where its raw materials are sourced? Or where that material is produced? And who’re running these luxurious companies? We discuss all this and more on this week’s episode of ESG now.

Audit firms have been under scrutiny lately after scandal and concern has led some to worry the vital industry is in trouble. To understand whether fears around an auditor are credible, one must understand how to assess auditor quality. In this episode, we teach you how to assess an audit firm, and answer the question that some are posing: is there a crisis in the audit industry?

One door plug blowout, one emergency landing and zero injuries. For Boeing, quality checks and tailored governance structures aren’t adding up to a great safety record. But looking at the underlying ESG data might shed light on where things might be going wrong.

The carbon markets have been a provider of hope and despair in the fight against carbon emissions. In 2023, there were concerns around whether the carbon credits being sold actually abated the amount of carbon they claimed to. Yet the market still has promise and changes are being made to the methodologies of carbon credit assessment organizations to address the problems uncovered in 2023. For the first ESG now episode, we sat down with our head of Carbon Markets at MSCI, Guy Turner, to understand how carbon markets actually faired in 2023, what they might look like in 2024, and why carbon credits and offsets will remain an important part of our world’s attempts to decarbonize. 

We are on the ground at COP 28!! Right now, in the UAE, most of the world’s power brokers are gathered to talk about the climate emergency, the world’s plans for lowering emissions, and everything in between. For this episode, we interviewed our Global Head of Climate Research, Oliver Marchand, who is at COP 28: meeting folks and having talks. He told us what he has been seeing and how he thinks the talks are proceeding.

Some say oil demand is soon to peak. Well, if that is true, why are some oil and gas producers growing their reserves? If there is uncertainty on how oil will perform in the future, how are oil and gas companies positioning themselves amid an ambiguous low-carbon transition? We try to answer these questions on this episode of ESG now.

This week, we are returning to five stories we have already covered to see what progress has been made (if any!): The Adani Group and its attempt to address a short seller report that questioned the group’s governance that led to a massive loss in market share; the United Auto Workers strikes and the continued struggle in the auto industry; the Inflation Reduction Act and the trillions of dollars of capital is supports; what the EPA’s methane rule has done for the gas industry in the US; and how Exxon has changed after having three seats of its 12 member board taken by over by Engine No. 1, an activist investor worried about carbon emissions.

The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded on Monday to Claudia Goldin, a Harvard professor, for her work to advance the world’s understanding of women in the work force. She made history by being the first woman to win the award solo rather than sharing in the prize. To honor her achievement, we discussed our own gender pay gap research that is in part informed by academics like Dr. Goldin, focusing on a new regulation in Japan that mandated companies disclose their pay gap data. And then, after we go through the numbers, we have a special part of this episode where colleagues come on to share their experiences of work before and after motherhood.

The demands made by the United Auto Workers (UAW) to the big three auto companies in the US are varied and touch on every part of ESG. But what may loom largest is the ongoing transition to electric vehicles that will change how a massive industry operates and employs its millions of workers. We discussed what the strikes mean for the future of the auto industry, and why the UAW is fighting an uphill battle as its industry changes.

The EU has set up a number of regulations to define what is and is not sustainable. Part of those regulations touch investment funds as most assets under management in Europe (~EUR 7 trillion out of EUR 12 trillion) are invested in ESG funds or strategies with some sustainability-related focus. Is this episode we look at what the effect of these defining regulations has been on the fund investment landscape in Europe, and whether the EU has been successful in its intent. 

Airlines have been offering customers with the option to purchase carbon credits or to support sustainable aviation fuel as they are buying a plane ticket. The airlines claim in doing so, the customer can lower the emissions of their trip and thereby lessen its impact on climate change. Sounds great! But, is that true? Are your emissions really lowered by those carbon credits? And can airlines use the promise of abated emissions, or better yet, sustainable fuels, to claim they are already carbon neutral? On this episode, we discuss aviation’s ambitious climate plans, why some of the advertising around these plans has gotten the industry in to legal trouble, and what the future holds for airlines and passengers that are worried about their carbon emissions.

Despite agreement on the value of gender diversity for companies, progress on that front has not been as rapid as it should be. We review the real-world impact of MSCI’s latest Women on Boards report findings, and what it may take to accelerate the pace.

How do funds stack up against the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR)? We looked at the ESG characteristics of 207 funds of the top 15 equity and mixed-asset fund managers to see which had disclosed information about their funds.

Regulations to increase transparency and new methods for quantifying climate change risks and opportunities have pushed the issue to the fore for many investors. We get on the road to COP 26 with Professor Robert Eccles of The University of Oxford, Linda-Eling Lee, Head of ESG Research, and other MSCI experts.

Fickle weather patterns due to climate change and a global demand that outstrips supply have put one-fourth of the Earth’s population in areas of “extremely high” water stress. We found 122 equity funds that invest in companies providing a solution to the water crisis but far fewer are “pure” water plays.

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.

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.