NEW YORK, Feb. 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI) announced today the release of The Sustainability Yearbook 2021, one of the world's most comprehensive publications providing in-depth analysis on corporate sustainability.

The 2021 selection was based on a record 7,032 companies assessed in the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessments (CSA), which is the basis for the S&P Global ESG Score. S&P Global ESG Scores also form the key factor for selecting companies for the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) and the CSA is used as one of the analytical tools for a growing series of S&P ESG indices including the S&P 500 ESG Index. The CSA, widely recognized as one of the most advanced ESG scoring methodologies, draws upon over 20 years of experience analyzing the impact of sustainability practices on a company's long-term value creation.

This year's CSA participants were ranked with "Gold-Class," Silver-Class" and "Bronze-Class" distinctions representing companies that achieve an S&P Global ESG Score within one percent, five percent, or ten percent of their industry's top-performer.

"The S&P Global Sustainability Yearbook distinctions recognize the value in rewarding groups of top-performing companies, while continuing to provide stakeholders with independent insights and valuable ESG intelligence," said Evan Greenfield, ESG Chief Operating Officer at S&P Global. "We are encouraged by the record number of companies that completed the Corporate Sustainability Assessment this past year, which is a testament to the need for transparency and comparability for all market participants to better address ESG risks and opportunities."

The geographic breakdown found that Emerging Market* companies represent the second strongest group in each distinction category, an upward trend over the last 5 years. Yearbook members from Emerging Markets also outnumbered their peers from Asia Pacific for the first time two years ago. Further details on class distinctions include the following:

• Gold-Class: 70 companies ranked Gold with the top regions being Europe (27) and Emerging Markets (20).
• Silver-Class: 74 companies ranked Silver with the top regions being Europe (34) and Emerging Markets (24).
• Bronze-Class: 98 companies ranked Bronze with the top regions being Europe (44), Asia Pacific (22) and Emerging Markets (22).

The Sustainability Yearbook has been published annually since 2004 with the number of companies who completed the CSA growing each year. This year's Yearbook also features articles on: "Gender equality in the workplace," "Driving the energy transition," and "Packaging and plastics in a global context." 

The Sustainability Yearbook and S&P Global ESG scores are available to the public through S&P Global's new ESG webpage. S&P Global ESG offerings including ESG Scores are also available via Xpressfeed, S&P Global Marketplace and the Market Intelligence Platform. This year, CSA participants have access to their S&P Global ESG Scores at the question level, which are derived from the responses to approximately 100 questions and sub-questions on the CSA.

*To be classified as an Emerging market, a country must have a domestic market capitalization greater than $15B, a sufficiently liquid equity market, an equity market that is large enough to represent the domestic economy, and satisfy at least three additional criteria such as having a minimum Sovereign Debt rating of BB+, freely traded foreign currency, no hyperinflation, among other criteria. To access the full methodology, please visit:  https://www.spglobal.com/spdji/en/documents/index-policies/methodology-country-classification.pdf

About S&P Global

S&P Global is the world's foremost provider of credit ratings, benchmarks and analytics in the global capital and commodity markets, offering deep data and insights on critical business factors including ESG. The Company's divisions include S&P Global Ratings, S&P Global Market Intelligence, S&P Dow Jones Indices and S&P Global Platts. S&P Global has approximately 21,000 employees in 35 countries. For more information visit www.spglobal.com.

Media Contact
Farhan Husain
Head of ESG Communications
Farhan.husain@spglobal.com

SOURCE S&P Global