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Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) news and investment research brought to you weekly covering major market trends and new research insights. With topics ranging from climate impact on investment portfolios, corporate actions, trending investment topics, and emerging ESG issues, hosts Mike Disabato and Bentley Kaplan of MSCI ESG Research walk through the latest news and research that is top of mind for the week.
268 Episodes
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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. Host: Mike Disabato, MSCI ESG ResearchGuest: Meggin Thwing Eastman, MSCI ES...
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 t...
They may not be new, but climate funds have recently hit their stride. From managing transition risk, to targeting technology opportunities, to aligning with the Paris agreement – these funds come in all shapes and sizes and with pretty diverse objectives. On this episode we catch you up on where climate funds stand today, and how differently they’re evolving in public and private markets.Host: Margarita Grabert, MSCI ESG ResearchGuest: Rumi Mahmood, MSCI Sustainability Institute
Maybe a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but that’s not going to fly for sustainability funds in the EU. On this episode we break down ESMA’s latest fund guidelines and discuss their place in a regulatory landscape with all kinds of moving pieces. Host: Bentley Kaplan, MSCI ESG ResearchGuests: Meggin Eastman & Simone Ruiz-Vergote, MSCI ESG Research
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.Host: Gabriela de la Serna, MSCI ESG ResearchGuest: Michael Disabato, MSCI ESG Research
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.Host: Michael Disabato, MSCI ESG ResearchGuest: Cole Martin, MSCI ESG Research
Everyone is talking about AI, but on today’s episode we focus on the technology’s potential to disrupt health care. Then, we switch things up to look at how wildfires are exacerbating physical, legal and financial risks for electric utilities in the U.S. Host: Gabriela de la Serna, MSCI ESG ResearchGuests: Namita Nair & Mathew Lee, MSCI ESG Research
Coal still makes up a big cut of China’s energy mix. But the country’s growth in renewables is undeniable. As climate targets are laid down and climate change accelerates, figuring out China’s emissions trajectory is tricky. And that’s OK – we love a tricky discussion. Host: SK Kim, MSCI ESG ResearchGuests: Cody Dong & Siyao He, MSCI ESG Research
For some investors, having a climate-savvy director on a company’s board may seem like a non-negotiable. But data from some of the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters shows that successful climate governance is complex and may require more than pinning all your hopes on a climate superstar. Host: Bentley Kaplan, MSCI ESG ResearchGuest: Florian Sommer, MSCI ESG Research
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. Host: Michael Disabato, MSCI ESG ResearchGuest: Cole Martin, MSCI ESG Research
Plastic is an inescapable reality of the modern world. But trading off its convenience and versatility for environmental and health impacts is getting harder. Companies that make or rely on plastic are being pushed to improve recyclability and reuse. And as tempting as it is to believe everything you read on a label, it looks like the road to a genuine circular economy is still going to be a little bumpy.Host: Margarita Grabert, MSCI ESG ResearchGuest: Sam Block, MSCI ESG Research
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. Host: Michael Disabato, MSCI ESG ResearchGuest: Zohir Uddin, MSCI Government and Regulatory Affairs; Mathew Lee, MSCI ESG Research
We have been reporting on board’s gender diversity since 2009, and while progress has undoubtedly been made, the road ahead is still long. Linda-Eling Lee from MSCI’s Sustainability Institute tells us why we started compiling this report in the first place, and how it has managed to remain relevant in 2024. Then, our colleague Christina Milhomem tells us what the numbers say- what has or hasn’t changed, which regulations are coming our way- and why investors should think of diversity as an in...
ExxonMobil filed a legal complaint against two of its own shareholders, who were hoping to put a climate-related proposal to a vote at the company’s upcoming AGM. We discuss why it’s a decision that could have consequences for the wider shareholder community and the companies they invest in. Host: Bentley Kaplan, MSCI ESG ResearchGuest: Harlan Tufford, MSCI ESG Research
Valentines 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.Host: Mike Disabato, MSCI ESG ResearchGuest: Liz Houston, MS...
The stakes on data protection and privacy are only getting higher. Hacks, breaches and data leaks are becoming bugbears of the modern corporate world. Insurers offer products for cyber-related incidents, but in a complex, evolving risk landscape, there are a lot of asterisks. We take a look at the current cyber insurance market, and how insurers are de-risking their positions through cyber catastrophe bonds. Host: Margarita Grabert, MSCI ESG ResearchGuest: Federico Darakdjian, MSCI ESG R...
Audit firms have been under scrutiny lately after scandal and concern have led some to worry the vital industry is in trouble. But 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?Host: Mike Disabato, MSCI ESG ResearchGuest: Jon Ponder, MSCI Carbon Markets
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. Host: Bentley Kaplan, MSCI ESG ResearchGuests: Mike Disabato & Harlan Tufford, MSCI ESG Research
Biodiversity is everywhere from food production to pharmaceutical drugs, so the biodiversity crisis puts both society and the global economy at risk. And while it is like the climate crisis in its cause, there are complexities and measurement difficulties that make the biodiversity crisis a distinct problem for investors to address compared to the climate crisis. On this episode we sat down with our colleague Arne Klug to understand where this complexity comes from and how can investors go ab...
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 under...
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I enjoyed this episode for many reasons, one being the GWP of the built environment is 40% of the globes emissions. I would love to see some coverage of the embodied carbon of buildings, particularly concrete, and what can be done. I would urge you to seek perspecbeyond what the bug cement organizations are saying. Thanks for a interesting and informative series.