Ratings

Why should any organisation invest in voluntary Sustainability ratings or ESG ratings, if it is not mandatory?

There may be various reasons, however we think the most relevant one is transparency. Transparency improves confidence, which boosts brand image and company trustworthiness. So it helps to build business.

So this is an investment rather than a cost. So the next step is to achieve this at a sensible investment.

“In the future, climate and ESG considerations will likely be at the heart of mainstream investing. Investors will tailor their investments and fulfil their fiduciary duties through: better quality and more widely available data on sustainability and performance, and more informed judgements of strategic resilience.” – Mark Carney, Ex-Governor Bank of England

Following are benefits according to other external website links provided after the list of benefits:

  1. It plays an important role in benchmarking
  2. It helps in driving improvement on broad range of issues like carbon emission reduction, energy efficiency, safety, human rights, ethical parameters, labour issues, etc.
  3. It provides a snapshot of goodness as well as improvement opportunities.
  4. It provides an idea about risk management as well as corporate governance
  5. Better ratings helps with lower cost capital, which is a competitive advantage to companies that often float bonds to finance large projects or capital investments.
  6. It plays an increasingly important role in assessments around mergers, acquisitions and divestitures.
  7. Many researches shows a positive relations between ESG performance and financial performance i.e. value creation.
  8. It is like a license to operate for your stakeholders namely regulators, governments, regulators, policy makers, NGOs, society, etc.
  9. Consumers are expecting higher standards from businesses.
  10. Policy makers & regulators expects corporate sector to help solve social as well as environmental challenges.

External links for reference:

  1. MIT Sloan – https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/why-sustainability-ratings-matter/ – :~:text=For%20companies%2C%20rigorous%20ESG%20ratings,and%20quality%20of%20sustainability%20strategy.
  2. McKinsey & Company – https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/why-esg-is-here-to-stay

What factors define the investment cost of Sustainability ratings or ESG ratings?

The cost depends on:

  1. For large corporates, it is almost free as the ratings agencies use publicly available information to provide ESG ratings or sustainability ratings.
  2. What you wish to cover? How choosey are you with the depth and quantity of sustainability aspects?
  3. Which orgnisation will rate?
  4. Will this be a virtual verification, or physical verification?
  5. Will this be a remote desk document evaluation, or it will also include a virtual/physical meetings?
  6. Do you wish to be rated by the second party or the third party? Second party are generally consultants, coaches and trainers, who have provided service to your company. The third party is an outsider, who has not provided service for what the company is being rated.
  7. Do you wish to be rated based on any specific sustainability/ESG standard?
  8. Which sustainability reporting standard/framework do you wish to follow?
  9. How many sustainability reporting standards/frameworks do you wish to follow?
  10. How much time and resources can you dedicate?

The investment of sustainability/ESG ratings should be compared with other investment choices like buying IT hardware, IT maintenance, marketing, branding, physical asset, etc. These investments are done with a faith to improve brand image, company visibility, company reputation, enhance business, fascinate new customers, become supplier of a large organisation, become a government sector vendor, etc.

Can iso20400plus provide ESG ratings or Sustainability ratings service?

We do provide 3rd party ESG ratings or Sustainable ratings service. This is either based on our céleste sustainability framework, or your chosen sustainability standard/aspects. céleste sustainability framework have five options:

  1. Bronze – Desktop Verification
  2. Silver – Desktop + Virtual Verification
  3. Gold – Extended Desktop + Extended Virtual Verification
  4. Platinum – Extended Desktop + Extended Virtual + Physical Verification
  5. Diamond – Extended Desktop + Extended Virtual + Physical + Surprise Virtual Verification + Surprise Physical Verification

What additional support can iso20400plus provide with respect to ESG ratings or sustainability ratings?

Anyone can provide following services related to ESG and/or sustainability:

  1. Publication of ESG and/or Sustainability Snapshot through 1 Planet Only platform – https://1planetonly.com/
  2. Easy visibility of ESG Snapshot on mobile phone through QR code without any login formality. There may be very few platforms, which can support this. We use 1 Planet Only platform – https://1planetonly.com/
  3. Website Verifiability of ESG and/or Sustainability Snapshot through 1 Planet Only platform’s ESG Verify link without any login formality – https://1planetonly.com/verify/
  4. Promote/list ESG and/or Sustainability assessed organization in 1 Sustainable Directory Website – https://1sustainable.com/

Promote ESG and/or Sustainability assessed organization in LinkedIn & Facebook groups

Can iso20400plus provide ESG ratings or Sustainability ratings consultancy, advisory or report service?

We assess ESG & Sustainability information and data for certification &/or rating, so we do not provide consultancy, advisory &/or report service. However, we do collaborate with ESG & Sustainability consultants, who can provide you consultancy, advisory as well as reporting service.

Can we provide fixed cost ESG ratings or Sustainability ratings?

Yes, we do provide a fixed cost 3rd party ESG ratings or Sustainability ratings. The fixed cost depends on:

  1. Size of the organization (Micro, Small, Medium or Large)
  2. Type of assessment (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum or Diamond)