Congratulations on having successfully participated in the 2023 S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA).  We encourage companies to share their CSA results with stakeholders. This tutorial will address your questions about how and when to do so.

Score Availability

Scores for the 2023 S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA) are published monthly, starting in August (see CSA timeline).  

Your company’s anticipated score release month (noted in the CSA Portal) depends on the selected participation window, and if applicable, any deadline extension.

S&P Global will email companies approximately two weeks in advance to confirm the score release date.  Depending on a company’s actual submission date, and our capacity, some companies may be able to receive their scores earlier.  In rare cases a score release may be delayed due to our internal audit process, or if a company’s submission needs further clarification

Scores are available in the “Benchmarking” tab in the CSA Portal. This is our proprietary Benchmarking Database, which allows companies to view and understand their sustainability performance in relation to their industry and/or a customized peer group.  

See also this tutorial on How to access and interpret your CSA results.

Score Release in Waves

This year, over 13,000 companies were invited to participate in the CSA by choosing a window between April and December 2023. CSA Scores are therefore released in waves, starting in August, and only a subset of invited companies will have their 2023 CSA Scores available in the Benchmarking Database in the early months of score publication. In the meantime, for companies that do not yet have an updated 2023 CSA Score the Benchmarking Database will display their 2022 CSA Score.  

For the purposes of external benchmarking (i.e., against industry peers) and communication of rank or scores, companies may use the following anchor dates:   

• November 24, 2023: Score release at which all DJSI invited companies and most companies invited for other S&P ESG Indices will be assessed.

• December 8, 2023: The annual rebalancing of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI), (if your company is eligible for inclusion)

• Early February 2024: Release of the S&P Global Sustainability Yearbook, providing distinctions to top performing companies that received a 2023 CSA Score by the December 2023 score release, or earlier.  

General Guidance for External Communication

To ensure compliance with S&P Global’s communication standards, please follow these guidelines. Be advised that we do not review or approve press releases or comment on communication plans.

• Special guidance for the first wave of scores based on the CSA 2023. First CSA 2023 results will be published to companies on the CSA portal on Aug 25 and on S&P Global’s platforms and public website on Sept 16. Companies that are included in the first wave will receive a Score Emblem to communicate their S&P Global CSA Score 2023 on Sept 16. S&P Global recommends to hold public communication of CSA 2023 results until that date.
• Include the score release date in all communication. This is required as your CSA Score might change, for example because of a corporate controversy.
• Statements related to your company’s position should only be communicated when all relevant companies in your selected peer group have their 2023 CSA Scores. See sample statements below.
• Use of the Score Graphic means that you agree to the S&P Global Logo Guidelines with CSA Score Inclusion.
• Do not use comparative rankings or refer to other companies, e.g.: “our company score is X points better than company Y.”
• Do not infer membership in any Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) based on your score or relative position. DJSI Membership is decided by S&P Dow Jones Indices and communicated separately to all eligible companies if applicable.

Communicating Industry Rankings

A company’s industry specific percentile rank is calculated against a Base Year universe. This universe consists of 13,000 invited companies across all industries.^[1]

For companies that do not yet have an updated 2023 CSA Score the Benchmarking Database will display their 2022 CSA Score (if available). We use a company’s 2022 CSA Score as the best available estimate^[2] for their 2023 CSA Score if it is not yet available. As additional companies receive a 2023 CSA Score over the course of the year, a company’s percentile rank may change if newly scored companies perform better than the company itself.

As companies have the flexibility to pick a participation window, S&P Global has no influence over when companies submit their 2023 CSA, and as a result in which month results become available.

The benchmarking database provides transparent insight into which companies in each industry are already scored against the 2023 CSA and for which a 2022 score is still used.

It is at the company’s discretion to determine if their benchmarking universe is sufficiently complete to issue a public statement about their relative industry position.  

Companies are also free to refer to the anchor dates mentioned above for external benchmarking and communication purposes.

S&P Global CSA Score Graphic

Every year, we provide an updated graphic for companies to showcase their CSA achievements in their annual reports and social media.  Download your CSA Score graphic to be used in line with the S&P Global Logo Guidelines with CSA Score Inclusion.

Social Media

Follow S&P Global on Twitter and the S&P Global CSA LinkedIn page for all the latest posts and to amplify our campaign across your company’s own social media channels.

Tag S&P Global and the CSA using our respective handles:
LinkedIn: @SPGlobal and @Corporate Sustainability Assessment
Twitter: @spglobal
Facebook: @sandpglobal
Instagram: @SP_Global
YouTube: SPGlobal
WeChat: S&P Global (标普全球)
Relevant hashtags:
#CSA2023 #sustainability

Sample Statements

S&P Global CSA Score

“Our company scored XX (out of 100) in the 2023 S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA Score as of DD/MM/YYY)”

S&P Global CSA Score (with Reference to Prior Years)

“Our company scored XX in the 2023 S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment reflecting an improvement of X points over the last Y years. (CSA Score as of DD/MM/YYY)”

Criteria-level Scores

(Criteria level scores must be referenced in the context of the total CSA Score)

“Our company scored XX (out of 100) in the 2023 S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment, with a score of XX (out of 100) in the criteria X, Y, Z. (CSA Scores as of DD/MM/YYY).”

“Our company scored XX (out of 100) in the 2023 S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment, with full scores in the following criteria: X, Y, Z. (CSA Scores as of DD/MM/YYY).”

Industry Ranking

“As of DD/MM/YYYY, our company ranked in the XX percentile in the XYZ industry in the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment.”

“As of DATE, our company achieved the highest (second/third highest) CSA score out of XX companies assessed in the XYZ Industry in the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment (add if applicable: in PEER GROUP DETAIL*).”

“As of DATE, our company performed in the top third/quartile/quintile/decile (as applicable) in the XYZ Industry in the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment (add if applicable: in PEER GROUP DETAIL*).”

Top Third percentile >=66

Top Quartile percentile >=75

Top Quintile percentile >=80

Top Decile percentile >=90

*Note: Peer group detail may include: Region, country, or index eligibility (filter will be available in the Benchmarking database in December after index rebalance).

Important Legal Information

All information, text, data, reports, images, graphics, graphs, charts, or material, including ratings or scores (all such information, “Content”), contained in this website is the exclusive property of S&P Global Inc. or its relevant subsidiary (S&P Global), or their third-party licensors and may not be copied or reproduced in any form except with the prior written permission of S&P Global. The Content, including the ESG Scores and related materials have been published here solely for informational purposes based upon information generally available to the public and from sources believed to be reliable. S&P Global reserves the right to change a company’s ESG score from time to time, in accordance with its methodologies, policies and procedures.

Unless acting in accordance with the parameters of usage outlined in this document, the Content or any portion thereof may not be (i) modified, reverse engineered, reproduced, or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, (ii) used to create any derivative works; (iii) used as the input value or the constituent for the creation, structuring, development, calculation, maintenance, publication, distribution or any other means to derive or establish a financial index or investment strategy; or (iv) used as a component of or as the basis for corporate financing (including, without limitation, ESG-linked loans, credit facilities) or used for any investment product or financial instrument to be developed, issued, traded, sold, marketed and/or promoted, including, without limitation, a security whose capital and/or income value is calculated based on changes in value of any index or any indexed fund based on the Content in whole or in part or passively managed funds.

S&P Global is committed to providing transparency to the market through high-quality independent opinions on sustainability. Safeguarding the quality, independence and integrity of S&P Global’s ESG Scores, including by identifying and managing potential conflicts of interest, is embedded in its culture and at the core of everything S&P Global does. S&P Global keeps certain activities of its business units separate from each other in order to preserve the independence and objectivity of their respective activities. As a result, certain business units of S&P Global may have information that is not available to other S&P Global units. S&P Global has established policies and procedures to maintain the confidentiality of certain non-public information received in connection with each analytical process.

Need Help?

If you have any further questions, contact the CSA Helpline at csa@spglobal.com.  

Additional Links

CSA Methodology