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The corporate sustainability assessment
The Sustainability Yearbook aims to distinguish those companies within their industries that have each demonstrated strengths in corporate sustainability.
To this end, The Sustainability Yearbook 2023 contains several key improvements, most importantly:
• Updated emblems to factually distinguish top performing companies; and
• A revised methodology with an exclusion screening process, to align the Yearbook’s methodology further with the approach taken to select companies into S&P Global ESG Indices
As of December 16, 2022, over 7,800 companies assessed for the 2022 Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA) were also considered for inclusion in The Sustainability Yearbook 2023.
Distinctions were calculated against the top performing company in each Industry, and exclusions applied thereafter. This year, only 708 top performing companies made it into the Yearbook.
More information on methodology and exclusions are provided below.
Top 1% S&P Global ESG Score
Within each industry, companies with a minimum ESG Score of 60 and whose score is within 1% of the industry’s top-performing company.
Top 5% S&P Global ESG Score
Within each industry, companies with a ESG Score of at least 57 and whose score is within a range of 1% to 5% of the industry’s top-performing company.
Top 10% S&P Global ESG Score
Within each industry, companies whose ESG Score is at least 54 and is within a range of 5% to 10% of the industry’s top-performing company.
Sustainability Yearbook Industry Mover
Companies within the top 15% of each industry that participated in the CSA last year and this year, achieved an improvement in their S&P Global ESG Score of at least five percent, and achieved the strongest improvement in their industry.
Sustainability Yearbook Member
Within each industry, companies within the top 15% of their industry by number and that achieved a score within 30% of their industry’s top performing company.
Disclaimer
The S&P Global Sustainability Yearbook Emblems are trademarks of S&P Global and may only be used in line with the S&P Global Sustainability Yearbook Emblem Guidelines in connection with corporate communication or marketing activities of the eligible companies (e.g. the eligible companies may refer to the S&P Global Sustainability emblem in their annual report/sustainability report, in the corporate profile on their homepage, etc.). However, these emblems may not be used in conjunction with any other products or services neither from the eligible companies nor from other companies.
S&P Global has no control over the information on websites linked to company sites, and thus cannot guarantee the accuracy, reliability nor the veracity of this information. All brand names or company names mentioned or shown on these websites are properties of the respective companies.
Universe
The selection of companies in The Sustainability Yearbook 2023 is based on the 2022 Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA).
The underlying universe of companies was determined on December 16, 2022, covering all companies assessed in the 2022 CSA until that date.
Exclusion Screening
Companies with the following specific business activities are excluded from the eligible universe
|
Screen group |
Screen Name |
Involvement Type |
Level of involvement threshold (Revenue) |
Significant Ownership Threshold |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Consumer Products & Services
|
Tobacco |
Production |
>0% |
>=25% |
|
Related Products and Services |
>=5% |
N/A |
||
|
Retail and Distribution |
>=5% |
N/A |
||
|
Defense & Weapons
|
Anti-Personnel Mines
|
Customized Weapons |
>0% |
>=25% |
|
Related Products and Services
|
>0% |
>=25% |
||
|
Biological and Chemical Weapons
|
Customized Weapons |
>0% |
>=25% |
|
|
Related Products and Services |
>0% |
>=25% |
||
|
Blinding Laser Weapons |
Customized Weapons |
>0% |
>=25% |
|
|
Related Products and Services |
>0% |
>=25% |
||
|
Cluster Munitions |
Customized Weapons |
>0% |
>=25% |
|
|
Related Products and Services |
>0% |
>=25% |
||
|
Depleted Uranium |
Customized Weapons |
>0% |
>=25% |
|
|
Related Products and Services |
>0% |
>=25% |
||
|
Incendiary Weapons |
Customized Weapons |
>0% |
>=25% |
|
|
Related Products and Services |
>0% |
>=25% |
||
|
Nuclear Weapons |
Customized Weapons |
>0% |
>=25% |
|
|
Related Products and Services |
>0% |
>=25% |
||
|
Small Arms
|
Production of Key Components |
>0% |
>=25% |
|
|
Production of Small Arms Weapons for Non-Civilian Use |
>0% |
>=25% |
||
|
Production of Small Arms Weapons for Civilian Use |
>0% |
>=25% |
||
|
Retail and Distribution of Small Arms Weapons |
>=5% |
N/A |
||
|
Military Contracting
|
Integral Military Weapons |
>10% |
N/A |
|
|
Weapon Related |
>10% |
N/A |
||
|
Energy & Fossil Fuels |
Coal |
Thermal Coal Mining |
>=5% |
N/A |
|
Thermal Coal |
Generation |
>=5% |
N/A |
|
|
Oil Sands or Tar Sands |
Extraction and/or Production |
>=5% |
N/A |
Controversy Screening
As a prerequisite, a qualitative screen based on the MSA is applied to determine eligibility for inclusion in The Sustainability Yearbook regardless of the score derived from the CSA. The MSA is based on an examination of media coverage and publicly available stakeholder information provided by RepRisk ESG Business Intelligence and evaluates a company’s response to critical sustainability issues that may arise during the year. This process aligns the Yearbook’s methodology with any decision by the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices Committee to exclude a company from the DJSI, which is also based on the MSA.
After initial release of the Yearbook, a company’s designation level in the Yearbook may be adjusted or revoked at the sole discretion of S&P Global if a company’s ESG Score changes based on corporate controversies as a result of the S&P Global Media and Stakeholder Analysis process.
S&P Global ESG Scores
ESG Scores are based on the assessment of corporate sustainability performance in the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA). Scores are from 0 – 100 (best).
The CSA uses 61 industry-specific questionnaires. The scores should not be used to rank companies across industries and should be reviewed within the context of each CSA industry.
All scores used for the initial Yearbook selection reflect the results of S&P Global’s Media & Stakeholder Analysis (MSA) as of January, 2023 as well as the most recent decisions regarding company exclusions from the DJSI that have been taken by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index Committee.
Corporate Actions
S&P Global monitors corporate actions throughout the year. For merged companies, the surviving entity will be considered for the Yearbook based on the ESG Score of the company assessed which S&P Global deems to be the surviving entity. If a company is delisted because of a corporate action prior to the end of November, it will no longer be eligible for inclusion in the Sustainability Yearbook, given that the entity no longer exists. Company names and countries are reviewed periodically and updated to the best of S&P Global’s knowledge at the time of publication. Changes occurring after this date may not be reflected in the printed version of the Yearbook but may be updated on the S&P Global Sustainability Yearbook website.