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3,000+ companies are generating business value from participating in the CSA

Key information for companies interested in the CSA

Are you looking to establish a sustainability baseline and gain independent insight into how your company's sustainability performance compares with your peers and members of the prestigious Dow Jones Sustainability Indices? Learn all about the process and benefits of assessing your company’s sustainability performance in the CSA.

GETTING AN ASSESSMENT

Which companies are invited to complete the CSA?

This year S&P Global will invite over 13,000 companies worldwide to participate in the Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA).

The assessment is conducted via our dedicated CSA Portal, which provides all invited companies free access to scorecards, statistics, and assessment feedback.

Any company interested in the CSA may participate free of charge, with the agreement that the resulting ESG Score is public on S&P Global platforms. Contact the CSA Corporate Engagement team at csa@spglobal.com for more information.

Learn more about the invitation criteria and access the list of invited companies.



Increasing Company Participation 2022


Which companies can commission a private sustainability assessment?

Any company can participate in the CSA and receive a public S&P Global ESG Score free of charge. Private equity companies, small and medium sized enterprises, as well as other companies which are currently not covered by our S&P Global ESG Scores universe, can also obtain a Private Benchmarking service. We apply the same rigorous assessment approach for the Private Benchmarking service as we do for our CSA, but the resulting scores and reports are kept confidential by the company for their internal benchmarking needs. Contact our ESG Benchmarking team to learn more.


How does the assessment work?

From data to score

The CSA uses a consistent, rules-based methodology with specific approaches for 61 different industries. There are approximately 100 questions for each industry, with each question falling under one of approximately 23 different themes or criteria. The criteria, in turn, fall under one of the three dimensions: Environmental (“E”), Social (“S”), and Governance & Economic (“G”). Some criteria are common across industries, while others are industry-specific. The CSA generates a total ESG score for every company covered as well as individual scores for the three dimensions, with 100 being the best score in each case.

This graph visualizes the CSA. The size of the segments reflects the financial materiality assigned at each level as well as the weight applied in the score aggregation process. The CSA uses 61 industry-specific sets of questions and weights.



ESG Total Score

Learn more about the CSA's approach to measuring sustainability performance
Your CSA portal - secure, online, easy-to-use

The CSA is completed via our secure online questionnaire platform: the CSA Portal. The Portal substantially facilitates reporting and, after the first year of participation, it can be prefilled with previous answers in subsequent years.

The CSA Portal provides useful tools to efficiently manage the process to complete the questionnaire:

  • access a question-specific help function including background information on the rationale for each question/criterion as well as key definitions
  • easily attach supporting evidence including hyperlinks, documents and comments to support and illustrate your answers
  • quickly view questionnaire completion progress with clear color-coding scheme
  • share access to the tool within your organization to enable different users to enter data
  • control final questionnaire sign-off

Screenshot of the questionnaire in the CSA Portal:

CSA Portal

Access the CSA Portal
A comprehensive benchmarking solution

The CSA enables you to establish a baseline for your sustainability performance and to conduct competitive benchmarking. Companies receive access to results in the online benchmarking database and can download a CSA scorecard in Excel format (download a sample scorecard). We facilitate your learning and empower you to conduct multi-year trend analysis and gain detailed insight on the performance within your industry. The database covers all criteria and questions assessed showing the sustainability performance of your company and your industry peers, both in absolute and relative terms.

Screenshot of the CSA Benchmarking Database:

CSA Portal


What is the assessment timeline?

The CSA questionnaire opens for all companies on April 4th. Starting in March, companies can reserve a 2-month assessment window that best meets their own reporting cycle and project planning needs.

Access the detailed timeline for the CSA

Webcasts

Discover the Value and Impact of the CSA 2023

June 14 - Sign up

Learn about the CSA and how the results are used by stakeholders; understand the 2023 CSA participation process; and gain insight into how your active participation can drive positive, measurable change within your organization.

May 11 – Watch Replay | February 23 – Watch Replay

Understanding the Media & Stakeholder Analysis Process - 2023 CSA

April 13th

The S&P Global Media and Stakeholder Analysis (MSA) is an integral part of the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA). Understand the concept and steps of the MSA process, and learn about the main methodology updates for 2023.

Watch Replay
Methodology updates CSA 2023

March 16th

In this webcast, the ESG Research team will share insights on key changes to the 2023 CSA, including new or updated questions and criteria.

Watch Replay
Navigating the new 2023 CSA participation process

March 9th

The 2023 Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA) opens for all companies on April 4, 2023. Join this webinar to understand the new participation process, and to register your company to complete the CSA during an assessment window that best meets your reporting cycle and project planning needs.

Watch Replay
Discover the Value and Impact of the CSA 2023

February 23

Join us in this webcast to: learn about the CSA and how the results are used by stakeholders; understand the 2023 CSA participation process; and gain insight into how your active participation can drive positive, measurable change within your organization.

Watch Replay

Benefits of participating in the CSA as explained by your peers


  • Riva Krut, VP and Chief Sustainability Officer at Linde Plc., USA,
    participating in the CSA since 2003
    “We consider the CSA to be the premier external sustainability assessment. To keep our sustainability strategy relevant into the future, Linde can’t simply look into the mirror. We need a way to be able to look into the future. The CSA is one of our key tools to do that”