Insights
2023 Fixed Income Engagement Report
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Sustainable Investing
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November 01, 2023
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2023 Fixed Income Engagement Report
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November 01, 2023
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2023 Fixed Income Engagement Report
2023 Fixed Income Engagement Report |
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At Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM), we believe it is intrinsic to our mandate as long-term, active investors to maintain a constructive dialogue with issuers across their capital structure and support them in aligning with material sustainability objectives that can help generate better financial outcomes. Our Fixed Income organisation has a long history of credit-related engagement. Since 2020 — when we first published our Fixed Income Engagement Strategy — we have been supplementing that with a structured approach to ESG-focused engagement across corporates, agencies and sovereigns.
Over the 12-month period from July 2022 to June 2023, the investment teams within the Fixed Income organisation conducted over 160 engagement meetings with selected bond issuers, continuing to focus on the theme of decarbonisation and adoption of science-based emissions reduction targets. Nevertheless, macroeconomic issues such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict and its implications for energy access and cost, inflationary pressures and the rising costs of living around the world led to a growing focus on social inclusion, labour and human rights, and good governance.
Looking ahead to the rest of 2023, we plan to further evolve socially-related engagement as part of our bilateral meetings with issuers, as well as through selected collaborative initiatives with other investors.
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Executive Director,
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Rachel Smith
Analyst,
Fixed Income Sustainable Investing |