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Climate Impact ESG

The rising prominence of ESG issues is reshaping requirements for disclosure and analytics. Stakeholders are demanding to learn more about a company’s ESG track record, while companies are looking to dig deeper on their strengths and weaknesses to take meaningful action.

Looking across a broader set of ESG issues, the world’s largest companies tend to perform better on environmental factors than they do on social and governance factors with an overall average ESG score of 46 out of 100.

S&P Global ESG Scores

Companies participating in the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA) have long understood the importance of considering ESG criteria in their business strategies. By directly reporting key sustainability metrics and benchmarking their relative performance on a wide range of industry-specific issues, they have been able to demonstrate dedication to the highest standards of ESG insight and action planning.

Discover more
ESG Scores by sector
ESG
E
S
G
Utilities
53
56
48
54
Financials
50
55
45
52
Materials
47
53
42
47
Consumer Staples
46
52
41
47
Energy
44
43
40
49
Real Estate
43
48
37
46
Health Care
42
49
37
45
Industrials
42
48
35
43
Information Technology
41
45
35
42
Consumer Discretionary
40
46
34
41
Communication Services
39
50
36
38

Sector level scores are calculated according to the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) as the weighted-average dimension-level scores of the constituent companies, based on equal weighting across constituents. Find out more about the S&P Global ESG Scores dataset on S&P Global Marketplace.

Source: S&P Global CSA. Data as at February 2021. For illustrative purposes. Data showcase is based on companies listed on the S&P Global 1200 index, selected to represent a global supply chain, equity portfolio or loan book. The index covers 31 countries and approximately 70 percent of global stock market capitalization.

Accelerating the transition to a sustainable future

Whether you are a financial institution, government or company, there are a number of steps that you can take to help accelerate the transition to a sustainable future.

01

Set Your
Baseline

Understand your performance on material sustainability factors across your entire value chain including business operations and product lifecycles. Financial institutions should focus on their investment or loan portfolios.

02

Use Scenario
Analysis

Use forward-looking scenarios that consider the impact of sustainability risks and opportunities on your business planning and investment strategies. Assessing climate transition and physical risks is a good place to start.

03

Identify
Opportunities

Assess how well your business, investment or loan portfolios are aligned with global societal goals such as the SDGs that are focussed on creating a positive impact.

04

Set
Targets

Consider setting robust and science-based targets that demonstrate your commitment to managing sustainability risks and opportunities.

05

Report and
Engage

Report your ESG performance to relevant stakeholders ideally alongside the financial results in your annual reports. Use your baseline results to engage with important stakeholders such as suppliers, customers and employees.

Make sustainable decisions with conviction

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