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Laura Nishikawa

Laura Nishikawa

Managing Director, ESG Research

Laura Nishikawa leads a global research team responsible for producing ESG-related research content and developing models to help institutional investors identify, measure and manage investment risks and opportunities arising from significantESG issues. Laura joined MSCI in 2010 through the acquisition of RiskMetrics. Laura received her Masters degree in International Economic Policy from Columbia University (SIPA), and her Bachelors degree from McGill University, and is a CFAĀ® charterholder.

Research and Insights

Articles by Laura Nishikawa

    What Could Shape Sustainability and Climate Investing in 2024?

    8 mins read Blog | Jan 11, 2024 | Meggin Thwing Eastman, Laura Nishikawa

    MSCIā€™s Sustainability and Climate Trends to Watch 2024 explores key themes that could shape the world of ESG investing. Here we touch on three of them: extreme weather, the regulatory aspects of AI and investing in nature via the voluntary carbon market. 

    An Homage to Claudia Goldin (Gender Pay Gap)

    Podcast | Oct 13, 2023 | Linda-Eling Lee, Michael Disabato, Gillian Mollod, Laura Nishikawa, Yukie Shibano, Siyu Liu

    The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded on Monday to Claudia Goldin, a Harvard professor, for her work to advance the worldā€™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.

    Antibiotic Resistance and What is ESG?

    Podcast | Dec 17, 2021 | Laura Nishikawa

    Antibiotic resistance is more worrisome than ever. It is possible that by 2050, three times as many people could die a year as died during the worst parts of the COVID-19 pandemic. But there may be hope in the development of novel antibiotics. We discuss how this is related to the development of the COVID-19 vaccine. Then we finally put ESG ratings in their rightful place and tell you what they are REALLY used for.

    Corporate Disclosure in a TCFD World

    Blog | Sep 24, 2018 | Laura Nishikawa

    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...

    Foundations of ESG Investing ā€“ Part 4: Integrating ESG into Factor Strategies and Active Portfolios

    Research Report | Jun 7, 2018 | Dimitris Melas, Linda-Eling Lee, Laura Nishikawa, ZoltƔn Nagy, Guido Giese

    How can ESG characteristics be integrated consistently across factor-based and active equity allocations? In Part 4 of the Foundations of ESG Investing paper, we discuss two approaches to applying ESG ratings to factor-based allocations ā€“ a one-step and a two-step approach ā€“ asking which has done a better job at combining the underlying strategy with ESG while maintaining exposure to target factors. We then investigate overlaying ESG ratings and ESG momentum on the historical holdings of...

    Foundations of ESG Investing ā€“ Part 3: Integrating ESG into Indexed Institutional Portfolios

    Research Report | May 16, 2018 | Dimitris Melas, Linda-Eling Lee, Laura Nishikawa, ZoltƔn Nagy, Guido Giese

    According to recent surveys, asset ownersā€™ have shifted their main focus to ESGā€™s financial benefits, as opposed to social benefits. In the third part of this paper, we discuss how ESG can be integrated into indexed allocations using MSCI ESG Ratings, which provided better risk-adjusted returns from August 2010 to December 2017 than the MSCI ACWI Index. We used existing best-in-class selection-based index methodologies (the MSCI ESG Leaders Index) for the creation of hypothetical global and...

    Foundations of ESG Investing ā€“ Part 1: How ESG Affects Equity Valuation, Risk and Performance

    Research Report | Nov 29, 2017 | Dimitris Melas, Linda-Eling Lee, Laura Nishikawa, ZoltƔn Nagy, Guido Giese

    Many studies have focused on the relationship between companies with strong ESG characteristics and corporate financial performance.  However, these have often struggled to show that positive correlations ā€” when produced ā€” can in fact explain the behavior. This paper provides a  link between ESG information and the valuation and performance of companies, both through their systematic risk profile (lower costs of capital and higher valuations) and their idiosyncratic risk profile...

    Pursuing ESG Standards and Diversification

    Blog | Jul 27, 2017 | Laura Nishikawa

    Many of the worldā€™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?

    Keep it Broad: An Approach to ESG Strategic Tilting

    Research Report | Feb 8, 2017 | Kumar Neeraj, VĆ©ronique Menou, Laura Nishikawa, Stuart Doole

    HOW CAN UNIVERSAL OWNERS INTEGRATE ESG PRINCIPLES WHILE MAINTAINING A BROAD AND DIVERSIFIED INVESTMENT UNIVERSE? Institutional investors are increasingly looking for ways to integrate ESG considerations into their investment decisions. By doing so, they may aim to mitigate long-term risks, generate higher risk-adjusted performance and/or align investments with broader societal objectives. As ESG investment guidelines become more commonplace among asset owners, and as many continue to build...

    How to Integrate ESG Without Sacrificing Diversification

    Blog | Feb 8, 2017 | Laura Nishikawa

    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.

    Incorporating Sustainable Impact in your Investment Process

    Blog | Apr 12, 2016 | Laura Nishikawa

    Institutional investors increasingly are looking for ways to steer capital toward companies that help to address major social and environmental challenges.

    Toward Sustainable Impact Through Public Markets

    Research Report | Apr 12, 2016 | VĆ©ronique Menou, Laura Nishikawa

    Institutional investors are increasingly looking for ways to steer capital toward companies and projects that provide solutions to major social and environmental challenges, but achieving impact at scale can be a challenging proposition. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a useful foundation for scalable impact, representing a broad consensus of global stakeholders around 17 ambitious development goals. The new Sustainable Impact framework and accompanying data...

    Fund Transparency: Exploring the ESG Quality of Fund Holdings

    Research Report | Mar 8, 2016 | Matt Moscardi, Laura Nishikawa, Ken Frankel

    To solve for the next generation of investorsā€™ demands for greater transparency around the ESG characteristics of their investments, MSCI ESG Research is introducing the concept of ESG Quality with the calculation of a Fund ESG Quality Score across over 21,000 mutual funds and ETFs. Funds with higher scores are comprised of companies managing their ESG risks relative to industry peers.

    Fund Transparency: Exploring the ESG Quality of Fund Holdings - Excerpt

    Research Report | Mar 8, 2016 | Matt Moscardi, Laura Nishikawa, Ken Frankel

    To solve for the next generation of investorsā€™ demands for greater transparency around the ESG characteristics of their investments, MSCI ESG Research is introducing the concept of ESG Quality with the calculation of a Fund ESG Quality Score across over 21,000 mutual funds and ETFs. Funds with higher scores are comprised of companies managing their ESG risks relative to industry peers.

    2016 ESG Trends to Watch

    Research Report | Jan 11, 2016 | Matt Moscardi, Ric Marshall, Laura Nishikawa

    In our annual trends report, we highlight the key environmental, social and governance (ESG) trends that are top of mind for investors going into the New Year. In 2016, these trends reflect a softening economy, a long-term shift to a low carbon economy, a generational changeover and institutional forces.   Download the Research Spotlight "2016 ESG Trends to Watch." To read data from other years, please see our ESG Trends page.

    Implications of COP21: How do Corporate Carbon Reduction Targets Stack up?

    Research Report | Dec 15, 2015 | Laura Nishikawa, Manish Shakdwipee

    The climate deal struck in Paris set an ambitious goal of limiting the temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius, with a stretch goal of 1.5 degrees. While the key elements of legally binding country emission reduction targets appeared to be missing, countries agreed to submit five-year updates to their emissions reduction pledges and to establish a framework for monitoring, measuring and verifying emissions reductions.

    Carbon Footprinting 101 - A Practical Guide to Understanding and Applying Carbon Metrics

    Research Report | Sep 25, 2015 | Laura Nishikawa, Ken Frankel

    Assessing the carbon footprint of a portfolio is the first step in addressing the investment implications of climate change. Carbon footprinting sets a baseline to inform future actions, which can range from reporting and engagement to decarbonization and integrated risk management.

    ESG Trends to Watch for 2015

    Blog | Mar 23, 2015 | Laura Nishikawa

    We head into the new year with the backdrop of swooning oil prices and (re)newed geopolitical faultā€lines, juxtaposed against a return to growth in the US and emergence of the next generation of tech darlings.