Morningstar has launched the Morningstar Developed Markets LGBTQ+ Leaders Index.

The index is designed to deliver exposure to 100 large- and mid-cap companies showing strong LGBTQ+ inclusive policies. It is underpinned by data from Morningstar Sustainalytics and ExecuPride, a firm that uses data science to monitor company advancements in LGBTQ+ inclusion. Companies are screened for controversial product involvement, UN Global Compact compliance, and severe ESG controversies. The 100 companies with the highest ExecuPride scores from across regions and sectors are selected for membership.

Ron Bundy, President, Morningstar Indexes & Morningstar Sustainalytics, said, “We are thrilled to add this new capability to our growing suite of indexes to empower investors while expanding our global sustainability index offering. Our new index fulfills a market need by enabling investors to tap into global companies with leading LGBTQ+ policies to pursue their investment objectives, whether for values alignment, or to pursue investment opportunity, or a combination.”

Rob Edwards, Global Director of ESG Product Management, Morningstar Indexes, said, “The index industry has made great strides in recent years to develop products that fall under the ‘S’ in ESG. Yet, while there are a number of broad socially focused indexes available in the market today, few options focus on sexual orientation or gender identity. In developing the Morningstar Developed Markets LGBTQ+ Leaders Index, our objective was to bring greater transparency to LGBTQ+ practices and policies in the workplace and how companies are incorporating these approaches into their strategy. We opted to do this in a way that stresses an objective, data-based approach.”

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