This information is subject MSCI Inc’s and MSCI ESG Research LLC’s terms of use that you can find here: https://www.msci.com/terms-of-use and here additional-terms-of-use-msci-esg-research-llc

This information may not be used for corporate financing purposes (including, without limitation, ESG-linked loans, credit facilities, securities or structured products), as a basis for any financial instruments or products (including, without limitation, passively managed funds and index-linked derivative securities) or other products or services, to manage any funds or portfolios, to verify or correct data in any other compilation of data or index, to create any derivative works, nor to create any other data or index (custom or otherwise), without MSCI's prior written permission.

How MSCI ESG Ratings work

We use a rules-based methodology to identify industry leaders and laggards. We rate companies on a ‘AAA to CCC’ scale according to their exposure to ESG risks and how well they manage those risks relative to peers. We also rate countries and mutual funds and ETFs.

MSCI ESG Ratings provide insights into potentially significant ESG Risks so you can make better investment decisions and communicate with your clients. Download the MSCI ESG Ratings brochure.

How has ESG affected equity valuation, risk and performance?

In a recent study, MSCI researchers focused on understanding how ESG characteristics have led to financially significant effects. Our research showed that ESG affected the valuation and performance of many of the companies in the study.

What do we measure?

We rate 8,500 companies (14,000 issuers including subsidiaries) and more than 680,000 equity and fixed income securities globally*

We collect thousands of data points for each company, but there are only a handful of key issues that we’ve determined to be financially relevant.

* - as of June 2020

Explore the 37 ESG Key Issues below:

Artificial intelligence and alternative data

We use technology and AI, combined with our 200+ strong team of ESG analysts, to extract investment-relevant insights from unstructured data. Machine learning and natural language processing help us increase the timeliness and precision of data collection, analysis and validation to deliver dynamic content.

Alternative data helps minimize reliance on voluntary disclosure to deliver key insights. Alternative data sets are information about a company published by sources outside of the company. We use them to:

Our experience

We have over 40 years¹ of experience measuring and modelling ESG performance.

MSCI ESG Research is used by over 1,400 investors worldwide² and forms the basis of our 1,500 Equity and Fixed Income Indexes.

We are recognized as a ‘Gold Standard data provider’³ and voted 'Best Firm for SRI research' and ‘Best Firm for Corporate Governance research' for the last four years.⁴

1 Through our legacy companies KLD, Innovest, IRRC, and GMI Ratings
2 Clients of MSCI ESG Research LLC and its affiliates as of March 2020
3 Deep Data Delivery Standard
4 The Extel & SRI Connect Independent Research in Responsible Investment (IRRI) Survey – 2015, 2016, 2017 & 2018/19

IRRI Awards Survey: MSCI ESG Research voted Best for SRI and Governance research 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018/19

Applications: How clients use MSCI ESG Ratings

MSCI ESG Ratings is available in a variety of formats and platforms

How our clients use MSCI ESG Ratings

We do not just provide data; we find practical ways to make our data and analysis easy to use. We have also launched a new ESG Reporting Service.

MSCI ESG Reporting service

The MSCI ESG Reporting Service is intended to make your regular reporting to clients easier, more comprehensive, and more frequent. MSCI ESG Research can deliver batch portfolio reporting across any number of portfolios in a format and frequency that suits you. For more information contact esgclientservice@msci.com.

Learn More

Watch our ESG Ratings explainer video

How do MSCI ESG Ratings work? What are significant ESG risks? What does a poor rating look like? How can you use them?

For issuers

If you are an issuer and would like to learn more about MSCI ESG Research, how we rate companies on ESG risks and opportunities and what data we collect, please visit our Issuers page. If you would like to reference your MSCI ESG Ratings on your website and marketing material, request your ESG Ratings badge.

Learn More