

Sustainability Now
MSCI ESG Research LLC
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
Mentioned books

Dec 10, 2019 • 24min
Is Hacking Just An Evil Supervillain Trope, Or Something Investors Should Be Prepared For?
From smart watches to smart TVs and connected homes, today's hackers are increasingly spoilt for choice. For the healthcare sector, hacking pacemakers isn't just the stuff of TV fantasy (4:07). Automakers may have traded the upsides of safety and convenience for more hackable cars (9:23). But it's in telecoms that the true shape of hacking risks emerge, not in devices, but in the data they're pumping through bigger, faster data highways (14:19), all on the record.

Dec 6, 2019 • 18min
The ESG Weekly: As the precarious work arrangements grow, investors might need to look at how companies control a workforce they don't claim as their own, and then two hot takes on Google's shakeup and coal's uninsurability for the week of December 2.
Two stories this week with ESG glasses: Temporary, part‐time, contracted out, or contingent work arrangements are creating risks for investors across the entire economy as companies face liabilities for a workforce they don't want to claim (0:53). And then Ric Marshall and Umar Ashfaq joins us to discuss the founders of Google stepping down (12:27) and a report by an insurance industry group on coal's uninsurability (14:15), all through an ESG lens.

Nov 22, 2019 • 14min
The ESG Weekly: Should investors care about antibiotic resistance? And only a handful of companies are preventing a deforestation‐free supply chain for the week of November 18.
Two stories this week with ESG glasses: Antibiotic resistance ‐ the ability of germs to defeat the drugs designed to kill them ‐ is one of the greatest public health challenges of our time; but as the crisis grows what will happen to the companies that produce antibiotics (0:54)? And then Mario Lopez‐Alcala tells us which companies are slowing the transition to a deforestation free supply chain in South America (10:17), all through an ESG lens.

Nov 15, 2019 • 20min
The ESG Weekly: Are wild and crazy founders really such a big deal for investors? And the streaming race is on for the week of November 11.
Two stories this week with ESG glasses: SoftBank decided all the wild and crazy founders its Vision Fund is investing in need some rules of operation (0:37), and then Siyu Liu warns us about all the data streaming‐companies must now protect (16:07), all through an ESG lens.

Nov 8, 2019 • 17min
The ESG Weekly: The SEC is putting a gag order onto shareholders, and two spicy takes on Boeing and Saudi Aramco for the week of November 4.
Two stories this week with ESG glasses: Ken Bertsch, the executive director of Council of Institutional Investors and an all‐knowing proxy god joins Ric Marshall and Mike Disabato to discuss the new rule by the SEC to limit shareholder engagement (0:37), and then we get two hot takes by our analysts on Boeing and Saudi Aramco (12:23), all through an ESG lens.

Nov 5, 2019 • 33min
The Most Important Thing An Investor Should Know About Private Prisons: Who Do They Care About?
Investors have witnessed an exodus from the private prison industry but what is the core function of a private prison ‐ is it to help prisoners? Is it to help the government? Or is it to help investors? In act 1, we look at how the growth of the 80s helped build the prisons of the 2000s (2:55). In act 2, we discuss how private prisons became interwoven into our society. In act 3, we discuss the issue of incentives for private prison operators and what friction is caused by their misalignment (9:42). In act 4, the final act, we discuss the broader implications for investors that invest in private sector companies that provide a public service (28:33), all on record.

Nov 1, 2019 • 19min
The ESG Weekly: The case against Exxon might change how companies disclose about their climate woes, and the seas are rising up to consume us all for the week of October 28.
Two stories this week with ESG glasses: The Attorney General of New York alleges that Exxon first calculated the risks posed by climate change but then freaked out and suppressed the data, an accusation that might change how companies disclosure their data on climate risks far into the future (0:46), and then our cartography expert Gillian Mollod discusses new data on sea level rise and how it might affect the real estate market (11:04), all through an ESG lens.

Oct 21, 2019 • 23min
The ESG Weekly: How should shareholders deal with Zuckerberg ? And Intel plans to release gender and race pay data for the week of October 21.
Two stories this week with ESG glasses: A SPECIAL GUEST joins us to discuss how shareholders should deal with Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg as the founder continues his PR campaign (1:42), and then Meggin Eastman discusses the relevance of Intel's plan to release pay and gender pay data (13:22), all through an ESG lens.

Oct 18, 2019 • 17min
The ESG Weekly: South Africa's largest utility cannot abide, and a quick update on private prisons for the Week of October 14.
Two stories this week with ESG glasses: There are power cuts throughout South Africa after its largest utility Eskom has a number of generating units break down which has threatened the country's economy (0:41), and Andrew Young gives us a quick update on the issue with private prisons as a business model (10:45), all on the record.

Oct 11, 2019 • 18min
The ESG Weekly: Companies are Hard to Trust When They Lie, And Labor Shortages Cause Concern for the Week of October 7.
Two stories this week with ESG glasses: 3M and DuPont failed to disclose their findings on the hazardous impact and proliferation of PFAS (0:40), and Hong Kongers are leaving Hong Kong for everywhere but the U.S.(10:11), all on the record.