Media Contacts:
Nadine Youssef
Morningstar
312.696.6601
Nadine.youssef@morningstar.com

Cheryl Gustitus
SustainalyticsO) 212.500.6469 M) 410.200.6529
Cheryl.gustitus@sustainalytics.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Morningstar to Launch First Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Scores for Funds Globally

Sustainalytics to provide company-level ESG research; Julius Baer to license scores for fund research
team
CHICAGO, Aug. 13, 2015—Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN), a leading provider of independent
investment research, today announced plans to launch the industry’s first environmental, social, andgovernance (ESG) scores for global mutual and exchange-traded funds later this year. Morningstar willbase the scores on ESG company ratings from Sustainalytics, a leading provider of ESG and corporate
governance ratings and research. Swiss private banking group Julius Baer will be the first Morningstar
client to license the ESG scores for its fund research team.
“One of Morningstar’s core values is ‘investors first.’ As part of our mission of helping investors reach theirfinancial goals, we have a long tradition of innovative research centered on good stewardship, lower costs,and more transparency for investors,” Jon Hale, Morningstar’s director of manager research, North
America, said. “Providing fund scores on environmental, social, and governance factors is a naturalextension of our work. We want to bring even greater transparency and accountability to the investment
industry with ESG research, data, and tools, while helping investors to put their money to work in waysthat are meaningful to them.”
Investors and the financial services industry are placing increasing importance on ESG policies andpractices. In a study released in February, the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing found that
71 percent of individual investors are interested in sustainable investing. In addition, just in the past year,
there was a 29 percent increase in the number of financial institutions that signed the United Nations-

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supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) Initiative. Today, more than 1,300 firms, managing inexcess of $59 trillion, have joined this global network of investors working to promote responsibleinvestment.
Sustainalytics has provided ESG research and analysis for more than 20 years. The company has a global
reach with 230 employees, including 120 analysts who have geographic and sector expertise. The analysts
focus on the relevant ESG issues within industries and across markets, assigning each company undercoverage approximately 70 indicator-level scores related to environmental impact, social practices, andgovernance policies and procedures.
Morningstar tracks the holdings of more than 200,000 global managed products, and Sustainalytics
provides ESG ratings on more than 4,500 companies. Using its comprehensive portfolio holdings data,
Morningstar will create asset-weighted composite ESG fund scores based on company-level Sustainalytics
ESG ratings. For the first time, investors will be able to compare funds across categories, relative tobenchmarks, and over time using ESG factors. They will also be able to drill down to see scores for each of
the three—Environmental, Social, and Governance—pillars. Morningstar expects to launch the fund-level
ESG scores in the fourth quarter of 2015 and through Morningstar Data feeds and its major software
platforms in 2016.
“ESG considerations, once viewed from the sidelines, are increasingly front and center for fund investors,”
Michael Jantzi, chief executive officer of Sustainalytics, said. “We applaud Morningstar for its innovationand look forward to working together to create a new standard for fund benchmarking.”
About Morningstar, Inc.
Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe,
Australia, and Asia. The company offers an extensive line of products and services for individual investors,financial advisors, asset managers, and retirement plan providers and sponsors. Morningstar provides dataon more than 500,000 investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles, alongwith real-time global market data on more than 16 million equities, indexes, futures, options, commodities,
and precious metals, in addition to foreign exchange and Treasury markets. Morningstar also offers
investment management services through its investment advisory subsidiaries, with more than $180 billion
in assets under advisement and management as of June 30, 2015. The company has operations in 27
countries.
About Sustainalytics
Headquartered in Amsterdam, Sustainalytics is an independent ESG and corporate governance research,ratings, and analysis firm supporting investors around the world with the development and implementation

2 of 3of responsible investment strategies. With 13 offices globally, Sustainalytics partners with institutional
investors who integrate environmental, social, and governance information and assessments into theirinvestment processes. Today, the firm has 230 staff members, including more than 120 analysts withvaried multidisciplinary expertise across more than 40 sectors. For the past three years, Sustainalytics has
been named the best independent responsible investment research firm in Extel’s IRRI survey ofinstitutional investors. For more information, visit www.sustainalytics.com.
###©2015 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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