Perspectives

Shareholder proposals for strong action on climate change and diversity have taken center stage at this year’s annual meetings. Hear a report from the front lines and insight into how we arrived at this moment in investment-stewardship history.

As restrictions lift and economies re-emerge from their long slumber, inflation may have reawakened as well. We discuss the implications for investors, including many who have never worked through a time of sustained inflation.

The announcement of a company’s net-zero commitment is the result of much analysis and multiple decisions. But the key is that it represents the start of the process, not its conclusion.

The creation of a universe that blends our lives online and off will change the way we live, work and play. It also has real-world implications for investors and the planet.

Despite a decade or so of disappointing performance, value’s recent uptick merits examination into what drove its performance historically, and if conditions have changed or if the factor needs to be redefined.

Interest in private assets is on the rise, with new participants and new approaches by existing investors expanding and shifting the role private assets play in multi-asset class portfolios. We shine some light on these historically opaque investments.

We host a frank discussion on the state of diversity, inclusion and equality within the investment industry with CalPERS' Simiso Nzima, Michael Barrington-Hibbert, founder of Barrington Hibbert Associates and co-founder of #10000BlackInterns, MSCI’s Head of Index and Chief Responsibility Officer, Diana Tidd and Head of Analytics and Chair of MSCI’s Executive Diversity Council, Jorge Mina.

Pension funds, endowments and other asset owners hold tremendous sway over the entire investment ecosystem. Baer Pettit and Roger Urwin break down the issues holding the attention of these large, global investors.

The investment risks around climate change can be quantified and standardized. We get on the road to COP 26, discussing real solutions with Robert Eccles of the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford and MSCI’s Head of ESG Research, Linda-Eling Lee, at the wheel.

China is known as the world’s factory: Good at assembly, great for improving scale. But high-tech breakthroughs? Our guests, including Nina Xiang of the Chinese Money Network, work to sort truth from fiction.