The ESG Ratings Working Group held the fourth session of our 2026 series on Wednesday, June 24th, featuring MSCI’s Julia Wilson, Executive Director and Corporate Solutions R&D Lead, Lauren Wisbeski, Senior Associate, Issuer Relations, and Balazs Bogdan, VP, Sustainability & Climate Product, Corporates.
The session focused on MSCI’s 2026 ESG Ratings methodology update and related process changes, covering the motivation, how investors and issuers responded, and the most significant methodology shifts in areas such as financial materiality, controversies, and supply chain risk measurement. MSCI also discussed evolving investor demand under different regulatory regimes, how they are adapting their ratings and broader product suite to support more granular, traceable data needs, and why engagement with ratings and disclosure can matter for index inclusion and access to sustainability- and climate-aligned capital. The conversation closed with insight into MSCI’s expanding research focus on physical risk, AI disruption and human rights, and what developments issuers should watch most closely.
In the member only discussion, we debriefed the MSCI conversation, including how members are experiencing changes in access to peer scores and benchmarking tools, and shared a practical tip about using Bloomberg Terminal to view MSCI peer scores. Members also reflected on the assets- under-management perspective as a useful way to justify ratings engagement for under-resourced sustainability teams. The session closed with a brief current events update and a look ahead to upcoming sessions.