Advocacy Talking Points 26 October 2021
ESG Trends in APAC Markets: Laggards vs. Leaders
Webinar presented by CFA Institute ARX and MSCI
Webinar Presentation
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Until recently, the Asia-Pacific region’s ESG performance has suffered from a combination of low adoption, low awareness, limited ESG regulation and poor reporting. As a result, some of the sectors in the region with the highest concentration of ESG key issues have lagged significantly behind the global average on both their environmental and social ESG scorecards. But this is changing rapidly, as even some of the worst-performing sectors, such as energy and materials, start to improve their ESG practices. Moreover, in the past three years, the improvement has been strongest in some of the lowest-scoring markets, mainly the ASEAN region, mainland China and South Korea.
Which ESG themes are driving sector improvements? Who are the laggards and leaders in the various markets and what does this rise in ESG Ratings mean to investors?
In this webinar we look at positive ESG trends in the APAC region, the most improved high risk ESG sectors, and the opportunities to turn an ESG laggard into a leader.
Speakers:
- Miranda Carr, Executive Director, ESG Research, APAC, MSCI
- Sivananth Ramachandran, CFA, Director of Capital Markets Policy, India, CFA Institute
Watch the Webinar
Duration: 1 hr 2 min.
Recorded: 26 October 2021.
Speakers
Miranda Carr, who joined MSCI in January 2021, is Head of Applied ESG & Climate Research, with a focus on the key issues and developments in ESG & Climate in the Asian region. She has developed ESG integration frameworks for key APAC clients.
Prior to joining MSCI, Miranda was Senior ESG Analyst at Haitong International, one of China’s largest securities companies, where she worked from 2015-20 and launched their ‘ESG in Asia’ research product. Before that, she spent 8 years analyzing Chinese government policy and investment strategy as Head of Research for an independent research company, NSBO, in London/Beijing.
In 2003, she obtained an MSc from Bayes Business School (formerly CASS Business School), where she focused on Socially Responsible Investment.
Sivananth "Siva" Ramachandran, CFA, is the Director of Capital Markets Policy, India at CFA Institute. In his role, he is responsible for advocating policy positions on issues that impact Indian capital markets, including corporate governance, ESG, and financial reporting, to name a few. Siva was part of a SEBI working group that reviewed the related party transaction regulations. He is frequently quoted in media. Siva has nearly 13 years of experience in financial services. Prior to joining the CFA Institute, he spent five years at Morningstar, and led their global index product development team. He also served as a spokesperson for sustainability at Morningstar India. Prior to his time at Morningstar, Siva spent nearly five years at MSCI where he co-authored research papers on small cap investing, portfolio construction, and economic exposure. Siva has an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow. He also holds the chartered financial analyst (CFA) and professional risk management (PRM) designations, and the fundamentals of sustainability accounting (FSA) credential provided by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB).