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Climate Data & Metrics
MSCI offers over 700 climate change metrics including Climate VaR, Low Carbon Transition Score, forward looking indicators, emission data, fossil fuel exposure, clean tech solutions to facilitate integration across the investment process.
Climate data & metrics intro
For more than 20 years, MSCI ESG Research has worked with institutional investors to incorporate climate change considerations in their investment process by providing an extensive view of climate change risks and opportunities across multiple dimensions:
Dimensinos
Deep and broad company data
| Carbon emissions and fossil fuel exposure | | Clean technologies exposure |
| Risk exposure business and geographic | | Carbon managementpractices and programs |
State of the art climate models
| Carbon emissions and fossil fuel exposure | | Clean technologies exposure |
| Risk exposure business and geographic | | Carbon managementpractices and programs |
Insightful tools
| Scalable climate portfolio analysis | | Innovative climate change indexes* |
| Market-leading risk analytics* |
Coverage: more than 9,600 companies including large, mid and small cap developed and emerging market equities, as well as Investment Grade, high yield and emerging market fixed income issuers*; 198 countries for select / relevant metrics.
Climate Value-at-Risk
Climate Value-at-Risk
Climate Value-at-Risk (Climate VaR) is an innovative and pioneering climate risk metric, designed to provide a forward-looking and return-based valuation assessment to measure climate related risks and opportunities in an investment portfolio. The fully quantitative model offers deep insights into how the physical and transition risks and opportunities of climate change could affect company valuations.

Assess portfolio vulnerability to scenarios
Climate Value-at-Risk provides a truly forward-looking dimension for assessing both transition risks and transition opportunities of publicly listed companies and their issued securities. The framework provides a large number of scenarios which incorporate different temperature as well as socio-economic pathways to help assess the climate impact of investment portfolios.
Warming potential
Warming potential
MSCI ESG Research’s “warming potential” methodology computes the contribution of a company’s activities towards climate change. It delivers an exact temperature value that signifies which warming scenario (e.g., BAU, 3°C, 2°C, 1.5°C etc.) the company’s activities are currently aligned with. Thereafter, a “portfolio warming potential” can be computed as a weighted aggregate of the company-level warming potential. The warming potential methodology can be applied to companies as well as real estate assets.
How aligned is your portfolio with the Paris Climate Target?
The thermometer shows the warming trajectory of a portfolio, and relates it to important target temperatures in global climate change regulations. How aligned is your portfolio with the Paris Climate Target?
Contact our ESG Client Service team to learn more.
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All climate metrics overview
All climate metrics overview
Climate Value-at-Risk
This risk measurement helps investors to assess future costs related to climate change and understand what those future costs could mean towards the current valuation of securities. The premise of Climate VaR is to aggregate costs related to specific climate risks over the next 15 years and calculate what these costs might signify about financial performance into the foreseeable future.
Low Carbon Transition Score
A company level score designed to identify potential leaders and laggards by holistically measuring companies’ exposure to and management of risks and opportunities related to the low carbon transition. Companies with higher Low Carbon Transition score are more aligned with the Low Carbon Transition compared to the companies with lower scores. (Score: 0-10)
Emissions
This dataset represents a company's Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions as reported (if available) or estimated by our proprietary estimation model. Scope 1 emissions are those from sources owned or controlled by the company, typically direct combustion of fuel as in a furnace or vehicle. Scope 2 emissions are those caused by the generation of electricity purchased by the company. Scope 3 emissions include an array of indirect emissions resulting from activities such as business travel, distribution of products by third parties, and downstream use of a company's products (i.e. by customers).
Fossil Fuel (incl Power) Screens
This dataset provides quantitative data on reserves by fossil fuel type and revenue screens (thermal coal, conventional and unconventional oil & gas), as well as granular power generation data.
Sovereign
Close to 30 data points for sovereign issuers to highlight a country’s exposure to transition risk and physical and economic vulnerability related to climate change. The data is collected from sources such as the United Nations (UN), World Bank, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), etc. It also includes a number of carbon emissions factors (CO2 and GHG), their corresponding intensities and trend calculation that can be used to calculate the carbon footprint of sovereign investments.
Climate Risk Management
Assessment of corporate issuers’ climate change exposure and management practices to identify leaders and laggards when it comes to preparedness for transition to a low carbon economy. The risk exposure assessment is intended to assess the extent to which a company is exposed to a material issue (or Key Issue). Under risk management assessment, we assess the strength of a company’s strategy and otherforward looking measures to mitigate the risk.
Current Green Revenues
The recent-year percentage of revenue, or maximum estimated percent, a company has derived from products or services related to alternative energy, energy efficiency, green building, pollution prevention, sustainable water or sustainable agriculture.
Low Carbon Patent Analysis
Recently published patent databases allow an evidence-based, behind-the-scenes view into the strategic research and development investment of companies. Climate VaR’s model currently covers 65 million unique patents that have been granted from 40 patent authorities worldwide. In this dataset, patents referring to the Low Carbon technologies have been segregated, assigned a quality scores and mapped to companies.
Warming Potential
This metric computes the contribution of a company’s activities towards climate change. It delivers an exact temperature value that signifies which warming scenario (e.g., BAU, 3°C, 2°C, 1.5°C etc.) the company’s activities are currently aligned with. Thereafter, a “portfolio warming potential” can be computed as a weighted aggregate of the company-level warming potential. The warming potential methodology can be applied to companies as well as real estate assets.
Contact our ESG Client Service team to learn more.
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Footnotes
*All ESG ratings and reports are provided by MSCI ESG Research LLC. MSCI ESG Indexes and Analytics utilize information from, but are not provided by, MSCI ESG Research LLC. MSCI Equity Indexes are products of MSCI Inc. and are administered by MSCI UK Limited. Coverage: reported and estimated data for more than 10,000 companies including large, mid and small cap developed and emerging market equities, as well as Investment Grade, high yield and emerging market fixed income issuers*; 198 countries for select / relevant metrics; *clean tech metrics and low carbon transition assessment available for MSCI ACWI IMI
MSCI ESG Research LLC. is a Registered Investment Adviser under the Investment Adviser Act of 1940. The most recent SEC Form ADV filing, including Form ADV Part 2A, is available on the U.S. SEC’s website at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov.
MIFID2/MIFIR notice: MSCI ESG Research LLC does not distribute or act as an intermediary for financial instruments or structured deposits, nor does it deal on its own account, provide execution services for others or manage client accounts. No MSCI ESG Research product or service supports, promotes or is intended to support or promote any such activity. MSCI ESG Research is an independent provider of ESG data, reports and ratings based on published methodologies and available to clients on a subscription basis. We do not provide custom or one-off ratings or recommendations of securities or other financial instruments upon request.