Resource Center

This episode of ESG in Conversation explores ESG materiality and what a shift in political agendas globally could mean for the state of sustainability-related regulations.

In this article we define ESG materiality and highlight what investors need to know when considering the materiality of ESG issues in their investment portfolios.

Our Stewardship Team shares insights from a recent company engagement trip. Learn about the ESG-related progress being made by companies in Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

Using Low Carbon Transition Ratings data, we look at six major food companies and identify where they need to go beyond targets to meet their stated net-zero goals.

Discover how leading companies are managing their low carbon transition risks. Using data from the Low Carbon Transition Ratings, we identify the industries with a large portion of the companies with strong management of transition issues and examine the factors contributing to their strong management scores.

Amid growing interest in the financial impacts of the UBS-Credit Suisse merger, less attention has been paid to the ESG aspects. How have the two companies been performing on ESG risk?

Climate concerns continued to dominate proxy voting in the 2022 proxy season. With more clarity on sectoral commitments required to achieve the global net zero goal, shareholders’ requests have become noticeably more specific. A larger number of resolutions asked companies to adopt and report on emissions reduction targets and transition plans that reference the latest forward-looking guidance.

Awaiting COP15’s Global Biodiversity Framework negotiation outcomes, financial market participants could face new regulatory pressure sooner than expected to integrate biodiversity assessment into their investment, decision-making processes.

Meeting the aviation's industry's goal of decarbonization by 2050 will require a collective effort and more ambitious measures than those currently in place, including carbon offsetting, route optimization, fuel efficiency and fleet renewals that involve a shift to more eco-friendly aircraft. However, all of these measures still revolve around fossil fuels as a source of energy.

Morningstar Sustainalytics has maintained its status as a signatory of the UK Stewardship Code 2020 (the Code) per the Financial Reporting Council (FRC). Download the report to review how Sustainalytics' commitment to high stewardship standards meets the service provider principles set under the Financial Reporting Council’s revised Code.

While perhaps not a widely considered link between the defense industry and climate change, several Eurosatory conference sessions addressed how climate change can intensify security risks and threats.

The negative physical impacts of climate change are being felt by communities and corporations globally and are likely to get worse in the coming years. The knock-on costs of more frequent “once-in-a-century” climate events on economies are likely to rise. To prepare for this looming threat, investors must forecast the asset-level effects of climate change on companies in a granular and sophisticated way. Here are six things portfolio managers should know to manage and mitigate the physical risks of climate change to their portfolios and meet growing list of climate-focused reporting requirements.

Socially conscious ESG investors are interested in how to implement international business and human rights norms in their portfolios and understand the potential impacts of applying additional screening criteria within their strategy.

The telecom industry is exposed to several Material ESG Issues, including Data Privacy and Security, Business Ethics, Human Capital and Product Governance. Product Governance issues in the telecom industry include service quality, maintaining reliable, high-speed networks, and responding to customer billing concerns.

Data centers play a critical role for many technology and telecom companies and for their supporting servers, digital storage equipment and network infrastructure for data processing and storage. Data centers require high volumes of water directly for cooling purposes and indirectly, through electricity generation. Morningstar Sustainalytics’ recent activation of the Resource Use Material ESG Issue (MEI) within its ESG Risk Ratings recognizes water risks of data centers.

The Clean Power Plan was created using a directive from the Clean Air Act that enabled the EPA to set emission limits for air pollutants based on the best available technology to reduce emissions. The EPA aimed to cap carbon emissions and curb greenhouse (GHG) emissions by changing the composition of the existing operational power generation assets by forcing the closure of coal plants through strict emission caps, resulting in a system-wide transition to renewable energy.

A self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist”, Musk has criticized what he views as excessive moderation on online platforms, indicating his desire to ease Twitter’s content moderation policies and only remove content deemed illegal by governments.

Transport electrification is at the forefront of the international climate transition agenda. Because of this, global demand for cobalt is projected to grow fourfold by 2030, which raises the question, are mineral supply chains robust enough to fuel a sustainable EV revolution?

To protect a company’s reputation and economic position, its employees play an essential part in organisational risk mitigation strategy by demonstrating consideration for systemic business risk, taking accountability, and being willing to escalate concerns. Companies with a strong, ethical corporate culture have much to gain—improved employee performance, morale, and retention, and in the long run, bolstering the bottom line.

Low diversity in clinical trials increases the risk of unforeseen side effects, only discovered after the drug hits the market, exposing patients to harm and companies to litigation.