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Standout efforts in sustainable finance were one of the reasons for Morgan Stanley’s Achievement in CSR award this year.
Audrey Choi, chief executive officer of the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing says: “We have been really excited to see increased traction on the work we and others are doing. Sustainable investing had not yet gone mainstream when we first launched the institute. Now, nearly two years later, the business lines across Morgan Stanley are bringing the firm’s core capabilities into the sustainable finance space. And, increasingly, we have also seen other large organizations begin to focus on sustainable investment.”
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Business lines across Morgan Stanley are bringing the firm’s core capabilities into the sustainable finance space Audrey Choi
Morgan Stanley
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The institute has worked solidly in its quest to accelerate the adoption of sustainable investing by developing industry-leading insights and scalable finance solutions to address global challenges. The investing with impact platform was designed for Morgan Stanley wealth management clients and their financial advisers to provide a range of strategies to align financial objectives with personal values.
Over the last 12 months the platform has expanded to over 125 products and portfolio solutions. All have been evaluated for their competitive return potential as well as positive societal impact. The platform has over $5 billion in assets under management, with a goal to reach $10 billion by 2018.
The firm remains a pioneer in green bonds, acting on issues worth around $8 billion and underwriting transactions globally for multilateral development banks, corporates, agencies and municipalities. More broadly Morgan Stanley has mobilised over $61 billion of capital for clean tech and renewable energy businesses, with $6.4 billion of that in 2014 alone.
Beyond sustainable finance Morgan Stanley has a commitment to philanthropy. Its links to children’s health span 40 years. In 2014 Morgan Stanley launched Healthy Cities, a programme that integrates the fundamentals children need to thrive. Working with national and local partners, the initiative helps supply food, wellness screenings, nutrition education and safe play and exercise facilities for underprivileged children.
Morgan Stanley has made impressive commitments to lessening the impact of the bank’s operations on the environment. In 2014 the replacement of every light bulb with LED lights in several of the bank’s buildings was completed.
