Richard Mattison has been appointed head of ESG and climate at MSCI, effective Oct. 29.
Mattison will lead the firm’s ESG and climate product development and business strategy, and work closely with Chairman and CEO Henry Fernandez and President Baer Pettit, to “drive innovation and scale throughout the ESG and climate product franchise and build integrated solutions that empower investors to remain at the forefront of sustainable investing,” said a news release Oct. 24.
Based in London, Mattison will report to Alvise Munari, chief product officer.
Mattison previously was president of S&P Global’s sustainability unit. According to his LinkedIn account, Mattison left S&P in April.
S&P Global had named Mattison as president of its ESG and sustainability organization, S&P Global Sustainable-1, according to a news release in July 2021. Prior to this appointment, Mattison was CEO of Trucost, which was acquired by S&P Global in 2016.
MSCI could not be immediately reached for further details, while S&P declined to comment.
Separately, a report issued by Cerulli Associates on Oct. 24 found that ESG remains a contentious issue for institutional investors, with some doubling down on incorporating environmental, social and governance considerations and others pivoting away. Political backlash, Cerulli noted, has led some asset managers and institutional investors to distance themselves from using the ESG acronym, even though they are not changing what they are doing, according to The Cerulli Report — U.S. Responsible Investing 2024.
