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Xinxin Wang
Executive Director, MSCI Research
Xinxin Wang leads MSCI’s research on ESG and climate solutions for the Americas, focusing on applied research and thought leadership on ESG and climate investing. She has served on the MSCI Executive Diversity Council, cofounded the firm’s Asian Support Network and headed the Boston office. Xinxin’s prior experiences include Credit Suisse, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago and Fannie Mae. Xinxin holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and graduated from Harvard Business School’s General Management Program. She is a CFA® charterholder and GARP-certified FRM®.
Research and Insights
Articles by Xinxin Wang
What’s Been Driving the Carbon Footprint of MSCI’s ESG Indexes?
5 mins read Blog | Sep 22, 2023 | Xinxin Wang, Manish Shakdwipee, Guido GieseWe analyze the index-level carbon emissions of the MSCI ACWI, ACWI ESG and Socially Responsible Investing Indexes, in terms of both financed emissions and emissions intensities, to see what the trends are and what’s driving them.
Tracking Multi-Asset-Class Portfolios’ Emissions
8 mins read Blog | Aug 8, 2023 | Xinxin Wang, Zoltán Nagy, Guido GieseOur previous research discussed a framework for investors to attribute changes in equity portfolios’ emissions to their primary drivers. We now adapt it to identify and analyze two approaches to tracking a multi-asset-class portfolio’s carbon footprint.
Climate and ESG Indexes in Focus: Let’s Get Specific
6 mins read Blog | Jul 31, 2023 | Manish Shakdwipee, Guillermo Cano, Xinxin WangHow did our flagship climate and ESG indexes fare versus the broader market in the second quarter? And how much did constituent companies decarbonize since the quarter before? We delve into the specifics.
Tracking a Corporate-Bond Portfolio’s Emissions Over Time
7 mins read Blog | May 30, 2023 | Xinxin Wang, Zoltán Nagy, Guido GieseSeveral factors can drive the changes in a corporate-bond portfolio’s emissions. Our framework helps disentangle these variables and provides investors with greater clarity into their climate-aware strategies.
Connecting Emissions Attribution with Climate Action
6 mins read Blog | May 16, 2023 | Xinxin Wang, Zoltán Nagy, Guido GieseTracking a portfolio’s carbon footprint can be challenging given the multiple drivers of changes in emissions. Our framework attributes these changes to their primary drivers, including changes in issuers’ emissions, ownership and financing structure.
A Framework for Attributing Changes in Portfolio Carbon Footprint
Research Report | May 3, 2023 | Zoltán Nagy, Guido Giese, Xinxin WangWe present a framework that allows investors to understand to what extent changes in a portfolio’s carbon footprint are due to companies’ real-world decarbonization efforts, a portfolio manager’s investment decisions or changes in companies’ financing.
ESG Factor Returns: 2022 in Review
5 mins read Blog | Mar 7, 2023 | Xinxin Wang, Guido Giese, Zoltán NagyOur analysis of ESG factor performance in 2022 suggests that time horizons, as well as specific sectors and regions, may be significant in assessing the return characteristics of ESG portfolios.
Did Low-Carbon-Transition Strategies Differentiate Energy Companies?
2 mins read Quick Take | Feb 2, 2023 | Xinxin Wang, Antonios PanagiotopoulosWhile the energy crisis has boosted the energy sector overall, individual company performance has varied markedly. Our analysis shows that businesses with above-average strategies to manage a low-carbon transition outperformed.
Keeping Energy Exposure While Lowering Emissions
4 mins read Blog | Oct 25, 2022 | Xinxin WangCould equity managers have maintained their energy exposure during the sector’s recent outperformance while also reducing carbon emissions? We find that they could have lowered emissions but with some trade-offs during our study period.
Despite Energy Outperformance, Climate Indexes Were Resilient
6 mins read Blog | Oct 6, 2022 | Saurabh Katiyar, Manish Shakdwipee, Xinxin WangThere have been several dynamics that have influenced climate-index performance in the third quarter and first nine months of 2022. We examine the impact of macroeconomic and financial conditions on risk, return and sectors.
An Artificial Intelligence-Based Industry Peer Grouping System
Research Report | Jul 15, 2022 | Howard Zhang, George Bonne, Peter Zangari, Xinxin WangIn this article published in the Journal of Financial Data Science, coauthors from MSCI and MIT develop and describe a data-driven system using AI tools to capture market perception and, in turn, group companies into peer clusters.