ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance)
Introduction
According to Gartner Research, "Environmental, social and governance (ESG) refers to a collection of corporate performance evaluation criteria that assess the robustness of a company’s governance mechanisms and its ability to effectively manage its environmental and social impacts." ESG criteria are observed in different formats, the four most common are:
Letter & Percentage Grades
Some vendors attribute letter grade or percentage ESG scores to companies based on weighted calculations of individual data points that make up the environmental, social, and governance pillars. Since individual metrics and pillars will be weighted differently depending on the vendor, it is important to review the data documentation to fully understand grade calculations.
Boolean Values
Boolean metrics are formatted as binary TRUE or FALSE value answers to ESG-related questions, such as "Has the company set targets or objectives to be achieved on water efficiency?" or "Does the company have a policy regarding the size of its board?"
Numerical Values
Numerical values express quantifiable measures about a company, such as the total number of employees or number of women on a board of directors.
Ratios & Percentages
Some vendors will take two or more ESG metrics and apply a proprietary formula to calculate new ESG metrics, such as Total Energy Use / Total Revenue or Non-audit to Audit Fee Ratio.
ESG Scores & Metrics
The following list of resources contain data on all three ESG pillars.
- Refinitiv Workspace This link opens in a new windowFinancial terminal from Refinitiv (formerly Thomson Reuters). Provides access to global pricing data (stocks and bonds), company fundamentals, I/B/E/S estimates, ESG data, deals and league tables, analyst reports, and more. Replaces Thomson ONE and Eikon.
For: Current Stanford faculty, staff, and students.
Help: Refinitiv Workspace access information | Video Tutorials | Analyst/Equity Reports - S&P ESG Scores (in WRDS) This link opens in a new windowESG scores and metrics for public companies worldwide. The oldest data goes back to 2013 and coverage increases over time. From S&P Global.
For: Current Stanford faculty, staff, and students for Stanford-related academic research purposes.
Access: Under Subscriptions > Compustat - Capital IQ > Trucost and S&P Global ESG Scores
Help: WRDS access and search help - Bloomberg TerminalCurrent and historical market data (individual equities, stock market indices, bonds, and futures) for international and U.S. markets. Includes some analyst reports and Bloomberg news.
Our subscription does not include most Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) content.
For: Current Stanford faculty, staff, and students for Stanford-related academic research purposes.
Help: Bloomberg Terminal access | Bloomberg search help | Bloomberg.com accounts - DatastreamHistorical U.S. and global data on stocks, bonds, commodities, futures, currencies, options, company financials, and economic indicators. Includes Worldscope key variables. From Refinitiv.
For: Current Stanford faculty, staff, and students.
Help: Datastream access | Datastream search help - FactSet This link opens in a new windowGlobal financial markets data, company information, equity, fixed income data, etc.
For: Current Stanford faculty, staff, and students.
Help: FactSet accounts | FactSet search help
Below are a list of FAQ links containing step-by-step directions for finding environmental-related information within GSB Library databases.
While social scores and metrics are available in Refinitiv Workspace, Bloomberg, and S&P ESG (in WRDS), the following list of public resources collect data related to the social pillar. These sources are used by some ESG vendors for their social pillar metrics.
- Federal Elections Commission Contributions DatabaseThe Commission maintains a database of individuals who have made contributions to federally registered political committees. Users can search an individual contributor by their employer or occupation.
- Human Rights Campaign FoundationThe HRC Foundation conducts research on issues that impact the LGBTQ+ community and shares those findings through in-depth reports, including the Corporate Equality Index and the Employer Search tool.
Below are a list of FAQ links containing step-by-step directions for finding governance-related information within GSB Library databases.
- Board of Directors Make Up or CompositionWhere to find information and data on public companies' executive boards (e.g. who the board members are, how many there are, number of women, etc.).
Resource Overview
The Bloomberg Terminal contains both proprietary ESG data and ESG metrics from third-party vendors such as MSCI, Sustainalytics, and ISS. Note: historical ESG data from third-party vendors is not always available. In general, Bloomberg has many download restrictions that limits its usefulness for large-scale academic research. If you're trying to get a lot of data, feel free to Ask Us so we can discuss your project and help determine the best sources.
Bloomberg ESG Materiality Frameworks tool overviews material ESG issues and data points for public companies and coverage begins in 2015. This tracker helps identify the most relevant ESG issues and are leveraged in the Bloomberg ESG Score.
To access comprehensive documentation about Bloomberg ESG data:
- Bloomberg Terminal – see Bloomberg Terminal access help > BESG <GO>.
Refinitiv ESG Scores are an enhancement and replacement of legacy ASSET4 ratings. In the past, academic access to this data was available through Datastream. Now Refinitiv ESG Scores are available in Datastream, the Refinitiv Workspace platform, and the Refinitiv Excel add-in.
While Refinitiv ESG Scores are available for many companies from 2002 onward, the number of companies included in this universe increase with each successive year.
As the image below illustrates, the relationship between Refinitiv ESG data points and ESG Scores is pyramidal in structure: the observation of individual data points comprise discrete E, S, and G scores, which are then rolled up into an overall ESG Score. The ESG Combined Score comprises a company's overall ESG Score coupled with the company's ESG Controversies Score.
To access comprehensive documentation about Refinitiv ESG data:
- Connect to Refinitiv Workspace – see Refinitiv Workspace access help > type in ESG into the search bar to launch the ESG app > Documents > Refinitiv ESG Documents.
S&P Global ESG Scores
S&P Global ESG are based on the SAM Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA) from RobecoSAM's ESG Ratings Business. S&P acquired the ESG Ratings Business in 2019. S&P ESG Scores are available in the Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS) platform.
While the CSA was launched in 1999, the historical coverage of the S&P Global ESG Scores dataset begins in 2013 and includes both public and private companies. Output variables include CIQ Company IDs and GV Keys, which can be linked to other S&P data.
As the image below illustrates, granular data points are weighted and rolled up into increasingly broader scope scores: the observation of individual data points comprise discrete E, S, and G scores, which are then rolled up into an overall ESG Score.
Trucost Environmental
Trucost data contains information on the environmental impacts of companies' different business activities. The data consists of raw and calculated values at the company-level (Environmental Data and Fossil Fuels & Energy Data) and sector-level (Sector Fossil Fuels & Energy Data and Sector Revenue Data). Trucost data is available in the Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS) platform.
Historical coverage for small- and mid-cap companies starts from 2016; historical coverage for large-cap companies goes back to 2005 (although there is some historical coverage going back to 2002). Output variables include CIQ Company IDs and GV Keys, which can be linked to other S&P data.
Climate Analytics
Climate Analytics data is available in the Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS) platform and includes:
- Physical Risk, which assesses company-level exposure to seven climate-change physical risk indicators: water stress, heatwave, coldwave, hurricane, river flood, coastal flood, and wildfire.
- Carbon Earning at Risk, which predicts potential risk on earnings if a company was required to pay for carbon emissions modeled in different policy-implementation scenarios through 2050.
- Paris Alignment measures a company's progress toward keeping global temperature rise well below 2°C from pre-industrial levels by 2100.
Output variables include CIQ Company IDs and GV Keys, which can be linked to other S&P data.
To access comprehensive documentation about S&P Global ESG Scores and Trucost data:
- Connect to WRDS – see WRDS access and search help > Under Subscriptions > Compustat - Capital IQ > Trucost and S&P Global ESG Scores > Manuals and Overviews.