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Meggin Thwing Eastman

Meggin Thwing Eastman

Research Editorial Director

Meggin Thwing Eastman has responsibility for the ESG and climate research agenda and global editorial strategy and oversees ESG and climate research content. Meggin has authored numerous insights providing guidance for asset owners and asset managers seeking to incorporate ESG and climate considerations into their investment process. Meggin has worked in the ESG field since joining the former KLD Research & Analytics in 1998. She holds a B.A. from Williams College and an M.A. from the University of California, Berkeley.

Research and Insights

Articles by Meggin Thwing Eastman

    What Could Shape Sustainability and Climate Investing in 2024?

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

    MSCI’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. 

    ESG Is Becoming Polarized – It Doesn’t Need To Be

    Podcast | Mar 10, 2023 | Meggin Thwing Eastman

    ESG has always been different things to different people. But some of its newest critics suggest that ESG investing is being used to impose liberal ideologies on companies, their investors and their employees. We take a closer look at this backlash in the US, including proposed legislation.

    Music: “Curious Play” by PhilLarson (License Code: YFUS65RN4A [Envato Elements])

    Six ESG and Climate Trends to Watch for 2023

    7 mins read Blog | Dec 13, 2022 | Meggin Thwing Eastman

    Amid a seismic shift in the ESG and climate landscape, we identify key trends companies and investors need to be cognizant of. Beyond the road to net-zero, issues such as supply chains, labor management and biodiversity could impact portfolios. 

    What COP27 Means for Companies and Investors

    9 mins read Blog | Nov 21, 2022 | Sylvain Vanston, Oliver Marchand, Chris Cote, Simone Ruiz-Vergote, Meggin Thwing Eastman

    COP27 underscored the need for action on corporate climate pledges, the importance of data and a series of initiatives to spur public and private investment for developing countries. We review some of the key developments for companies and investors.

    Can Companies Push Other Companies to Reach Net-Zero by Degrees?

    Podcast | Jan 27, 2022 | Meggin Thwing Eastman, Joseph Wickremasinghe

    The largest source of many companies’ carbon emissions come from their suppliers. We look at how firms across industries approach this challenge as they work toward their net-zero goals, including the efforts of HP and MSCI.

    ESG Trends to Watch for 2022

    6 mins read Blog | Jan 7, 2022 | Linda-Eling Lee, Meggin Thwing Eastman

    As the world’s biggest companies work toward net-zero, corporations ask: What do we do about our suppliers? Meanwhile, ESG investing truly has gone mainstream (with the regulatory attention to prove it). We review these trends and emerging risks.

    2022 ESG Trends to Watch

    Research Report | Dec 7, 2021 | Linda-Eling Lee, Meggin Thwing Eastman

    ESG trends impacting investors in 2022 range from evolving regulation and the receding of greenwashing, to the push for change in energy production and the role of capital. Each presents risks, and opportunities, for investors in the years to come.

    Climate Matters: What’s in an ESG Rating. And What’s Not.

    6 mins read Blog | Nov 23, 2021 | Meggin Thwing Eastman, Guido Giese, Zoltán Nagy

    ESG ratings are widely used in active management and ESG indexes, with a growing focus on climate change. This has increased debate around two questions: Why are ESG ratings so different across providers? And how do ESG ratings reflect climate risk?

    The Glasgow Diaries

    Podcast | Nov 11, 2021 | Linda-Eling Lee, Meggin Thwing Eastman

    What’s it like to attend the UN’s 26th annual climate change conference? How have the commitments and pledges played out on the ground? Linda-Eling Lee, MSCI’s Head of ESG Research fills us in during her week in Glasgow, and ESG Research Editorial Director, Meggin Thwing Eastman joins us to provide additional insights and context.

    How to Achieve Net Zero? Leaders Weigh In

    7 mins read Blog | Oct 18, 2021 | Meggin Thwing Eastman

    How can investors help accelerate the net-zero transition? This was the central question at MSCI’s 2021 Global Investing Conference. We present the core takeaways from the two-day event, which featured senior corporate and investment thought leaders.

    China’s Education Company Crackdown and Harassment at Activision

    Podcast | Jul 30, 2021 | Olga Emelianova, Meggin Thwing Eastman, Xiaoshu Wang, Miranda Carr

    In a sweeping overhaul of its private education sector, China issued new regulations that requires the USD 100 billion industry to register as a non-profit. The move threatened to wipe out billions of dollars of market capital for any publicly listed Chinese education company and ignited a debate around profits, education, and private capital. We discuss what the move means from a local standpoint, a market standpoint, and from an impact investor standpoint. Then we discuss the ongoing sexual harassment controversy at Activision Blizzard that led to thousands of employees walking out of their jobs in protest this week.

    2021 ESG Trends to Watch

    7 mins read Blog | Dec 7, 2020 | Linda-Eling Lee, Arne Philipp Klug, Meggin Thwing Eastman, Meggin Eastman, Philipp Klug

    Climate. ESG bubbles. Disclosure. Social inequality. Biodiversity. The topics don’t get much bigger — or more systemic. Here’s our analysis of the five ESG trends that will matter most to companies and their investors in 2021.

    2020 ESG trends to watch

    7 mins read Blog | Jan 13, 2020 | Linda-Eling Lee, Ric Marshall, Meggin Thwing Eastman, Meggin Eastman

    ESG themes are long-term, but some can emerge with sudden force. We are watching five trends we believe will unfold in 2020 to catapult ESG investing into the new decade.

    Is the US tech sector ignoring minority talent?

    Blog | Oct 1, 2019 | Meggin Thwing Eastman, Meggin Eastman

    Looking in one’s backyard for human capital.

    Looking inside ESG indexes

    Blog | Aug 30, 2019 | Meggin Thwing Eastman, Guido Giese, Meggin Eastman

    Many investors want to stick to their values or beliefs, as well as meet certain financial objectives. How can ESG indexes  help them address these goals?

    What innovative companies and women on boards have in common

    Blog | Mar 8, 2019 | Meggin Thwing Eastman, Meggin Eastman

    We examined constituents of the MSCI ACWI Index that had been recognized as innovators on one or more annual lists produced by Forbes, Fast Company, MIT Sloan and the Boston Consulting Group between 2015 and 2018.

    Silicon Valley’s Women (On Boards) Problem

    Blog | Jan 9, 2019 | Meggin Thwing Eastman, Meggin Eastman

    California companies with no women on their boards are going to have to quickly up their diversity game.

    Aligning Portfolios with UN Sustainable Development Goals

    Blog | Dec 13, 2018 | Meggin Thwing Eastman, Meggin Eastman

    Is my money helping solve the world’s problems or making them worse? An increasing number of the beneficiaries of public funds, globally, are asking such searching questions about where and how their retirement funds are invested. Understanding how investments have an impact on societal issues can be much more complex and difficult to identify for institutional investors.

    “G” is Just One Part of the ESG Story

    Blog | Jun 26, 2018 | Panos Seretis, Meggin Thwing Eastman, Meggin Eastman

    When it comes to ESG (environmental, social and governance) investing, conventional wisdom holds that G is the only part that really matters, as a window into overall management quality and providing insights and value for investors. Our analysis suggests this has not been true; that the E and S aspects of ESG did help sort the truly outstanding firms from a group that already shares an array of robust financial traits.

    Women on Boards: One Piece of a Bigger Puzzle

    Blog | Mar 6, 2018 | Meggin Thwing Eastman

    Previously, we have asked whether the number of women on boards has a relationship to corporate financial performance. Research suggests that it has. But is that the whole story?