ESG and Climate Trends to Watch for 2023

Chris Cote leads research on the energy sector for the Americas ESG and climate research team at MSCI. Prior to joining MSCI, he advised clients on global energy-market fundamentals and pricing developments.

Chris has extensive experience conducting energy and climate research. He holds a Master of Public Policy degree from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a bachelor’s degree from Tufts University.

Carine de Boissezon is EDF Chief Impact Officer since July 2019. As such, she deploys the Group’s corporate social responsibility strategy, translated today into the company’s Raison d’être: carbon neutrality, preservation of resources, well-being and development.

Carine de Boissezon started her career at Morgan Stanley in London, first as a research analyst and then as Executive Director, head of specialist sales in the utilities and renewables sector. She joined EDF in 2013 as Investors & Markets Director and spearheaded the launch of EDF's first “Green Bond”* in 2013. These bonds today amount to close to 10 billion euros. She then served as Chief Financial Officer of EDF’s International Division from 2015 to 2019.

In addition to her operational functions, Carine de Boissezon is a member of the Board of Directors of EDF Renewables and Luminus. She is a member of the Supervisory Board and Chairwoman of the Audit Committee of GEODIS (Paris, logistics company) and an expert member of the Climate Committee of BPI France (French public Investment bank). She is co-chair of STOA’s Purpose Committee since September 2022.

She graduated from ESCP Business School (Paris). In 2021 Carine de Boissezon was awarded Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur and in 2017 she received the «Leading Women Award» from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. She is married and the mother of 4.

Michael Disabato serves on the MSCI ESG Editorial Board helping review and set the research priorities for MSCI, is the host of the Weekly Edition of ESG now, and conducts ESG research on a variety of topics.

Previously, he was a freelance journalist covering the environment and worked as a member of the consultant relations team at Impax Asset Management. Mike also worked at a non-profit impact investing fund focused on sustainable agriculture.

Ric Marshall is an independent consultant specializing in corporate governance and sustainable investment practices, and a Senior Research Advisor to the Emerging Markets Investors Alliance.

Ric was Executive Director and Senior Corporate Governance Analyst with MSCI ESG Research from 2014-2022. At MSCI Ric helped organize and was Co-Chairman of MSCI’s ESG Editorial Committee, which coordinated the planning and publication of MSCI’s ESG and corporate governance research. He also led the original development of MSCI’s corporate governance scoring model.

Over the past three decades Ric has provided training and support in the use of corporate governance research by both equity and fixed income investors. He has written extensively on the importance of effective corporate governance for boards and investors, and on behalf of securities class action plaintiff investors helped develop guidance for remedial corporate governance reform at a number of major listed corporations.
Ric has been involved with corporate governance research full-time since 1996. Prior to the founding of first The Corporate Library and then GMI Ratings he was Chief Information Officer of Lens Investment Management, and worked closely with that firm’s British partner, Hermes Focus Fund (formerly Hermes Lens). Before this he was active in the fields of computer consulting and computer-based graphic design.

Ric has been a guest speaker at corporate governance and sustainable investment conferences throughout the United States and Europe.

Ric was previously a trustee of Spring Harbor Hospital, a public non-profit psychiatric hospital serving southern Maine, and NAMI Maine, the Maine affiliate of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, and over the past four decades has served on the boards of various other non-profit organizations.

Nickolas Reinhardt is Co-Founder and Director of Afore Consulting, a premier European public affairs consultancy in Brussels specialized in financial services. Afore Consulting provides services to asset managers, banks, insurers, the payments sector, technology companies and crypto companies.

In February/March every year Afore Consulting hosts the Annual FinTech and Regulation conference in Brussels which brings together senior speakers from across Europe and globally and is attended by more than 1,000 regulators, supervisors and industry representatives. Regular speakers include European Commissioners, ECB Board Members, finance ministers, the Chairs of the ESAs, heads of national competent authorities and representatives from international standard setting bodies.

Having worked in Brussels for more than 30 years, Nickolas has built up an extensive network in Brussels and the key member states. Nickolas is a vastly experienced, highly capable and a leading authority on financial services regulation.

His ability to be a strong advocate with commercially astute and user friendly advice is based on his knowledge of the industry having trained and worked as a merchant banker and securities trader.
He leads a team of 18 from offices in the heart of the European district in Brussels.

He is the Head of Secretariat for the EU-Asia Financial Services Round Table which is an international non-profit organization run by Afore Consulting bringing together financial services companies with an interest in both Europe and Asia.

He is also the Head of Secretariat for the European Payment Institutions Federation (EPIF) which is the trade association representing the non-bank payment companies in Brussels.

He has an MA in Political Science, Economics and History from the Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Germany. He lectured on EU affairs at the University of Limerick and Queen’s University, Belfast. Nick grew up in a bilingual home in Kiel, Germany with a German father and British mother.

Simone Ruiz-Vergote is Executive Director, ESG & Climate Policy for MSCI ESG Research. She leads MSCI’s engagement on ESG and climate-related regulatory initiatives, globally.

Her team is responsible for MSCI’s thought leadership in this space and methodology development enabling MSCI clients to respond to regulations on sustainable finance. Simone is a member of the Consultative Working Group to ESMA’s newly created Sustainability Standing Committee. She has over 15 years of experience working on sustainable finance and climate-related financial risks, both for the public and the private sector.

Simone has recently completed an executive MBA from Frankfurt School of Finance and Management and holds degrees in Economics (Lic.Oec.) from HEC Lausanne and European & International Politics (M.Sc.) from Edinburgh University. She is a certified Financial Risk Manager. 

Florian Sommer leads MSCI’s corporate governance research for Europe. He has extensive international experience analyzing corporate governance questions working as a lawyer, ESG analyst and consultant. He holds law degrees from both Vienna University and Vienna University of Economics and Business and a master’s degree in international economics from Johns Hopkins University.

Meggin Thwing Eastman is Global ESG Editorial Director and ESG Research Director, EMEA for MSCI ESG Research.

She has responsibility for the ESG research agenda and global editorial strategy and oversight for ESG research content. Meggin has authored numerous research insights and guidance for asset owner and asset managers seeking to incorporate ESG considerations into their investment process and is a regular commentator on MSCI’s ESG Now weekly podcast. Recent publications include 2020 ESG Trends to Watch, Human Capital Risks in a Changing World, Institutional Investing for the SDGs (co-authored with the OECD) The Right Stuff: Talent Management and Innovation, and Women on Boards and the Human Capital Connection.

Meggin has worked in the ESG field since joining the former KLD Research & Analytics in 1998. She holds a BA from Williams College and an MA from the University of California, Berkeley.