Companies that participate in the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA) may request a detailed explanation of the assessment results for up to three CSA questions. These “Assessment Queries” must be raised directly via the CSA Portal.
Assessment queries can be raised after the company’s S&P Global CSA Score is published in the CSA Portal. The deadline to raise assessment queries is the end of the CSA methodology year, which runs from April to March.
This feature is only visible and accessible to users that are designated as a CSA Portal ‘administrator’. The form is only available once per methodology year, even if less than three queries are raised. The limit of three queries ensures that the Corporate Engagement team can address all company requests in a timely fashion.
Follow these steps to raise your assessment queries:
- Log in to the CSA Portal and navigate to the “Questionnaires” section (under the “Assessments” tab). Click on the button to “Raise assessment query.”
Screenshot 1 – Navigating to Raise assessment query.
- This will open the following window where you may select up to three (3) questions to raise as assessment queries.
Screenshot 2 – Window to select up to 3 queries.
Start by selecting the criterion, which will then allow you to pick the related question. Provide the details in the “Explanation” field as to why you are raising this query. If you think that there are possible oversights in your assessment, please still include these questions as an assessment query with an explanation. The Corporate Engagement team will review the query and advise on the next steps.Tips for using the “Raise assessment query” form:- One query relates to one CSA question, identified in the CSA Portal by a number, e.g., 1.2.1 Board Independence.
- It is not possible to toggle back and forth between the form and the questionnaire. Open two tabs of the CSA Portal or note your criterion/question selection before opening the form.
- The form does not accept attachments or screenshots.
- Content cannot be saved in the form to work on later. Start the process in a separate document and copy from there if needed.
-
Once you have filled out the requested information on the queries you would like to raise, please click “Submit”.
- Upon submission, the below confirmation pop-up will appear. It will also be followed by a notification email listing the assessment queries submitted. The email is sent to the company’s registered main contact with all CSA Portal administrators in copy (provided they are subscribed to receive CSA notifications). The email is also stored in your company’s Inbox in the CSA Portal.
Screenshot 3 – Confirmation pop-up
Commitment to data accuracy
S&P Global is committed to correcting all potential oversights in an assessment. If any Assessment Query results in the detection of a potential oversight, the Corporate Engagement Team will open a question-level Re-assessment Request process for the company in the CSA Portal. There is no question limit for raising justified re-assessment requests. Re-assessment requests must be submitted via a dedicated online form directly in the CSA Portal. See the Company Concerns document for details.
