Sustainability Now
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 sustainability 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.
Episodes
319 episodes
The Sustainability & Climate Trends to Watch for 2026
When policy and markets move in different directions, the results can be surprising. In this episode, we explore five sustainability and climate trends we'll be watching in 2026. From AI-boosted clean tech and central banks enforcing climate ri...
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22:31
Did the EU Fix SFDR
The EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) is a corner stone of the EU’s plan to cut carbon emissions and achieve its climate goals. But it has undergone numerous changes, with the most recently announced on Nov. 20. Our question w...
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21:43
When Scandals Are Market Signals
Oil spills, labor violations, data breaches. When controversy strikes, should investors pull out, or hold their nerve? We unpack fresh analysis on what happens when portfolios steer clear of scandal-prone firms and the surprising impact on retu...
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17:42
Your Guidebook to a Bumpy Energy Transition
The energy transition is underway, but it’s not a smooth ride. In this episode, we unpack why progress has been so uneven, from surging EV sales to rising coal demand. We explore how tech, cost, and policy are shaping risks and opportunities fo...
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13:16
The Choice Between Data Centers and Carbon Emissions
We are in the era of data centers. They are being built with the speed and intensity of factories during the industrial revolution, and with the same sort of capital attraction. But their high emissions, which are under-reported by companies (w...
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20:25
The Next Frontier of Sustainability: Measuring Biodiversity Risk
Carbon, selfishly, has dominated the sustainability conversation for some time. But what about the often-overlooked foundation of our everything in our economy: biodiversity. How can you measure that if its basically everything? We show you how...
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17:43
Before the Storm Hits
Do hurricanes affect the market? Join us as we cover new research that tracks the financial fallout of storms on company equity. Through asset exposure and climate models, we’ll discuss how storm paths connect to stock prices and why investors ...
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16:29
Paying the Price: Climate Costs Outpace Corporate Preparedness
As the planet continues to warm, physical climate risk is no longer an abstract future concern. It is financially material today. The question now is where those risks will materialize and how are companies prepared for those risks. We can help...
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12:31
When Climate Hazards Collide
Climate change doesn’t just arrive one disaster at a time. It stacks crises on top of each other: drought followed by flood, heat followed by fire; shocks that turn small problems into big financial hits. In this episode, we talked about how co...
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14:36
How Company Ownership Shapes Performance
Controlled companies now outnumber widely held ones. New MSCI research shows that this market shift has significant implications for shareholder returns. Guest: Jonathan Ponder, MSCI ESG ResearchHost: Bentley Kapla...
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14:41
Sustainability Matters in the Bond Market
We already know there is a clear link between ESG ratings and the cost of capital. But the question remains: do ESG ratings matter for bonds and their credit spreads? Should fixed income investors care? Listen to this week’s episode to find out...
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13:46
What Sustainability Reporting Really Looks Like in 2025
As a new policy landscape emerges in North America, are companies scaling back on sustainability reporting? And will investors go with the flow? Join us as we look at live trends in company disclosures and where the 2025 proxy season is headed....
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24:08
What Flood Maps Miss
As the physical risks from climate change grow, so does our reliance on accurate maps to assess them. In this episode, we dig into the limitations of publicly available flood maps and explore how data and modeling in the marketplace have evolve...
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20:04
Sustainability and Fundamentals: 12 Years On
Let’s venture beyond the portfolio and into the engine room of company performance. In this episode, we explore how ESG Ratings relate to core business fundamentals like profitability, sales variability, and asset turnover. It’s a new piece of ...
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17:32
Energy in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act
On July 4, the United States enacted the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a sweeping tax-and-spending package containing some 35 provisions affecting the energy sector. Here, we highlight the most significant measures and examine how the legislation...
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22:51
Making Food Healthier
Junk food is at the center of the political conversation in America and globally, with discussions about ultra-processed and artificial foods, and the changes we need to make to food, and how hungry we are but none of the food is "good." It is ...
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15:47
From Targets to Tactics: How We’re Scoring the Energy Transition
The energy transition isn’t a straight line. Investors are increasingly look to understand where and how emissions create portfolio risk. In this episode, we explore MSCI’s new energy transition framework and take a closer look at materiality-w...
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20:22
An Update on the Carbon Credit Markets
How is it going with the carbon credit markets? Are they pricing credits accurately? Is the vitally important Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation also known as CORSIA that relies on functioning carbon credit market...
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16:37
A Breakthrough in the Fight Against Superbugs
Could Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche’s late-stage antibiotic trials signal new hope against antibiotic‐resistant pathogens? On this special REPLAY episode (originally aired August 2024), we take a deep dive into the state of antimicrobial r...
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16:25
Adapting to a Hotter Future in Asia
In this episode, we dive deep into the critical role of adaptation finance in helping Asia face the escalating impacts of climate change. As the region experiences rising temperatures and extreme weather events, the demand for resilience-buildi...
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11:40
Aerospace, Defense and Tariff Turbulence
Tariffs and tangled supply chains: This week, we explore how commercial aerospace and defense companies are navigating a new wave of trade restrictions. From Boeing to Lockheed Martin, what do transparency and oversight mean when the stakes — a...
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15:57
The Physical Risks of Reshoring
From car factories to aluminum smelters to textiles, the purported goal of the Trump administration is to 'reshore' American manufacturing. Its a goal, in part, supported by his predecessor, Joe Biden, who enacted the CHIPS act to bring semicon...
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16:04
Borderline Traceable: Tariffs Meet the Transparency Test
Newly imposed U.S. tariffs have triggered market volatility and strategic recalibrations across industries. In this episode, we explore the role of supply chain traceability in managing risk — from regulatory exposure to sustainability trade-of...
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14:53