Climate and pandemic risks among MSCI's top ESG trends to watch in 2022

Next healthcare crisis 'just round the corner'

As ESG investing has become “truly mainstream”, new risks are emerging for companies and investors that will test how well “we have learned the lessons of the past”, according to data and index provider MSCI.

Speaking in a webinar on 7 December, MSCI's head of ESG research Linda-Eling Lee said: "We are very far from net zero." A recent study by the New York-headquartered firm shows that around only 10% of the world's companies are on track to achieving net zero by 2050. For this reason, climate commitments laid down during COP26 from private capital are "very ambitious", said Lee. In the short-term, fund managers might be tempted to make portfolios look more aligned to net zero goals than they actually are, she argued. Climate Action 100+: Nine out of 10 corporates exclude indirect emis...