S&P Global Ratings has launched ESG Evaluation, the latest development in the rating agency’s sustainable finance offering, which seeks to improve transparency, disclosure and private-sector engagement with rising environmental, social, and governance concerns.
Separate from credit ratings, the new benchmark provides a cross-sector, relative analysis of an entity’s capacity to operate successfully in the future and is grounded in how ESG factors could affect its stakeholders and potentially lead to a material financial impact.
“The ESG Evaluation aims to deliver a forward-looking view that sets a new holistic benchmark in sustainability,” says Michael Wilkins (pictured), managing director and head of Sustainable Finance, S&P Global Ratings. “Leveraging our global analysts’ knowledge of companies and sectors, the S&P Global Ratings ESG Evaluation takes a broad view of the impact of a company’s ESG exposures on its future sustainability.”
The launch coincides with the release of Global Ratings’ new ESG Risk Atlas, an online infographic charting environmental and social risk exposure of more than 30 sectors and incorporates exposure to natural disasters, corporate governance standards, and ESG-related regulations to provide country scores. Findings from the ESG Risk Atlas will provide a sectorial and regional foundation for the ESG Evaluation.
