MSCI to acquire climate risk analytics firm First Street

MSCI, one of the world's preeminent providers of financial indexes and investment analytics, has announced a deal to acquire First Street, a firm that has built an extensive database of climate risk data covering flooding, wildfires, extreme heat, and their projected impact on real estate and financial asset values. The acquisition aligns with a global regulatory push — authorities in the US, EU, and elsewhere are increasingly compelling financial institutions to disclose and quantify the climate risks embedded in their portfolios. MSCI is effectively strengthening its position in the fast-growing ESG data market, where demand for high-quality, granular information is intensifying. For investors, the deal signals that climate analytics have crossed over from a niche concern to an industry-wide standard in asset management. MSCI shares offer exposure to the long-term structural growth of financial data demand.