Sustainability Jargon Buster II (Danske)

Disclosure reporting initiatives serve the purpose of promoting transparency and accountability in ESG management. These initiatives require companies to disclose information about their ESG performance and report on their progress towards sustainability goals. The aim is to provide stakeholders, including investors and the public, with reliable and standardised data to assess companies' environmental and social impact, as well as their governance practices.

Some key reporting initiatives in the field of sustainability and ESG include:

ESG data providers evaluate companies' ESG performance by collecting and analysing relevant data across environmental, social, and governance factors. They use standardised metrics and methodologies to assess various aspects of a company's sustainability practices. For example,

These providers combine data from different sources, such as regulatory filings, company reports, and proprietary databases, to generate ESG ratings and scores.

Some examples of ESG ratings agencies include Bloomberg, Refinitiv, MSCI, Sustainalytics, ISS ESG, and S&P Global. These agencies evaluate companies based on their environmental, social, and governance performance. They consider factors such as carbon emissions, water use, labour practices, diversity and inclusion, climate change strategies, supply chain management, and corporate governance. Each agency has its own proprietary methodology for assessing these factors and assigning ESG ratings or scores to companies. Users should be aware that ratings may vary between agencies due to differences in data collection methods and the weighting of various factors.