With almost perfect timing, when the media is awash with stories about horsemeat being where it shouldn’t be, MSCI ESG Research and the Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare have teamed up to launch a benchmark focused on animal welfare.

According to the press release: "Regulation (in particular within the European Union), consumer concern, pressure from animal welfare NGOs, and media concerns about poor corporate practices have seen investors start to pay much greater attention to the issue of farm animal welfare, both as a business risk and/or opportunity, and as a measure of companies' quality of management of environmental and social issues more generally."