CSR Ratings & Rankings

Your CSR reporting matters to investors

Corporate Social Responsibility means that companies identify and optimize their environmental and social impacts on stakeholders (i.e., all affected interest groups). Stakeholders also include shareholders and investors. Their success depends, among other things, on how companies act in both the economic and social spheres. A non-existent or insufficient CSR management leads to risks that can influence the decisions of your investors. A good CSR management of your company for the so-called Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) becomes more and more important.

Socially Responsible Investment (SRI): Importance of ratings and indices

Investors need to know the sustainability performance of companies for their investment decisions. To gain insight into this, they use the services of rating agencies. These agencies rate the CSR performance of listed companies based on information that these companies publish and based on methodologies that follow international standards. Investors use several decision-making strategies, including what is known as “best-in-class.” This decision strategy is reflected by indices such as DJSI, FTSE4Good, MSCI ESG and others.

To be included in these indices, companies need a good rating from the rating agencies. Otherwise, the indices function just like any other stock market index; only the composition of the index depends on the sustainability performance of the companies.

Such ratings are increasingly being reused in other questionnaires and ratings. Gartner, for example, has revised its supply chain methodology. Now 10% from CSR criteria based on published third-party information are incorporated.

  • Companies are rated by rating agencies, which are funded by investors
  • The rating determines access to certain indices

What can you do to influence the ratings?

In some cases, companies can answer the questionnaire directly. This is the case, for example, with CDP and also with the DJSI index. DFGE can assist you in answering these questionnaires.

In other cases, companies’ sustainability performance is assessed on the basis of publicly available information. Here, it is therefore important that companies make information public. DFGE recommends that the company’s own commitment be set out in strategy papers (policies) and that each measure taken and corresponding indicators be published in the form of a sustainability report.

We can support you in preparing such a report according to UNGC or GRI standards; we can also review your policies or help you to formulate them. In any case, we recommend that you report transparently on your CSR strategy and its implementation and success.

Sometimes you will also be asked by rating agencies for additional information. DFGE is happy to assist in answering these questions. The goal of our Sustainability Intelligence approach is to use already existing information as much as possible (i.e. for multiple standards and requests); this way we can support you in your CSR reporting so that you can fully focus on the implementation of your strategy.

You need:

  • a transparent CSR report
  • a public policy
  • a sound CSR reporting system

Your Advantages

Why you should turn to DFGE for CSR ratings and rankings of your company

Integrated Management: we use and reuse what is existing. For instance, carbon footprint results can disclose under CDP questionnaire or a CSR report following GRI Guidelines or a Communication On Progress (COP) related to the UNGC.

Expertise. Since 1999, DFGE has been focused on sustainability management and reporting, and partners with the internationally recognized standards like CDP or EcoVadis.

Scalability: We work “iteratively and recursively“, i.e. you receive the current answer for the current question, in subsequent years these are reviewed and supplemented or expanded where necessary. In this way, you demonstrate a continuous improvement process. You do not receive a multi-year consulting contract in which you have to commit yourself for years to come.

List of indices

You find further indices here.

SRI Strategies

To know more about SRI strategies, we invite you to consult the EUROSIF and USSIF resources. They are forums for SRI. They publish surveys on the state of SRI on a regular basis: 2018 SRI Study

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