OUR MISSION: MEASURING TRANSPARENCY AND QUALITY IN SUSTAINABILITY/NON-FINANCIAL REPORTING WORLDWIDE
Through rigorous research we establish benchmarks and highlight global best practices in non-financial reporting. With our data we assist companies in enhancing their sustainability reporting, offering guidance and share reporting knowledge with companies worldwide, across all sectors.
Our mission? To initiate meaningful conversations about the quality of non-financial reporting and ensure these reports are beneficial for all. This empowers stakeholders to make informed decisions based on transparent, high-quality data.
HOW WE DEFINE QUALITY IN SUSTAINABILTY REPORTING
Legislators and standard setters identify quality in non-financial reporting as transparency. But what exactly is transparency? How can it be measured within reporting? And how does greenwashing stand in contrast to transparency? The Global ESG Monitor has delved into these questions and has broken down transparency into six measurable and verifiable dimensions:
⬤ Balance
⬤ Comparability
⬤ Accuracy
⬤ Timeliness
⬤ Reliability
⬤ Relevance
⬤ Accessibility
Please download our methodology report to learn more about our definition of transparency. Available soon here.
DELVING DEEPER INTO STANDARDS AND FRAMEWORKS
After operationalizing the concept of transparency, we turned our attention to the guidelines and recommendations set by standard setters and frameworks. Among the frameworks that we represent with our methodology, there are several focal points, including:
⬤ ESRS/CSRD by EFRAG
⬤ TCFD (Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures
⬤ UNGC (United Nations Global Compact)
⬤ IFRS 1 & 2 (International Financial Reporting Standards
⬤ Stakeholders of companies such as ESG rating agencies (e.g. ISS, Sustainalytics, MSCI, S&P, Ecovadis), active investors, pension funds, the general public, and many others
⬤ Our continuous dialogue with our main stakeholders in companies obligated to report
Please download our methodology report to learn more about our definition of transparency. Available soon here.
HOW WE DO IT
In the realm of research, three foundational pillars guide the quality and trustworthiness of our findings: Objectivity, Reliability, and Validity:
⬤ Objectivity ensures that findings are unbiased, impartial, and free from personal or subjective influence
⬤ Reliability refers to the consistency and repeatability of findings. If the research were to be conducted again under the same conditions, the results should be the same
⬤ Validity ensures that the research accurately measures what it intended to measure, providing a true representation of reality
With these principles in mind, here’s how we apply them at the Global ESG Monitor:
⬤ Clear Validity: Our methodology is anchored by precisely defined research subjects and objectives
⬤ GEM ASSAYTM: A structured tool that guides analysts throughout the evaluation process
⬤ Reliability Assurance: Rigorous pretesting ensures consistent results
⬤ Guided Research: We offer clear direction at every stage of our research
⬤ Expertise: Our analyst team boasts high ESG expertise, with qualifications of MBA or higher and most having over two years of ESG research experience
⬤ Diverse Analyst Team: We leverage the diverse backgrounds of our analysts as a strength
⬤ Comprehensive Analyst Training: Ensuring our team is equipped with the latest knowledge
⬤ Triple Quality Checks: Implemented to guarantee the validity of our findings
⬤ Inter-Analyst Reliability: We employ research tandems and segmented checks to ensure consistent evaluations across analysts
⬤ Two-Way Feedback: We value continuous feedback, both to and from our analyst team
⬤ Ongoing Precision: We continuously refine the GEM ASSAYTM for utmost accuracy
HOW WE SCORE
Our evaluation process is grounded in a sophisticated scoring model. This model not only considers the essential topics defined by the company but also incorporates context-specific and strategy-related aspects. This ensures that the information provided is both relevant and comprehensible to all stakeholders. In our scoring system, a total of 100 points can be achieved, representing the percentage of the total possible points that have been attained.
STRUCTURE OF THE GEM ASSAYTM 2021
