Norway was the third-highest ranking country worldwide by overall Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) score. Finland ranked second overall with a score of 97. Denmark was the highest-ranking country worldwide, scoring an ESG rating of 98.8.

Belarus received an overall Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) score of 20. This was almost 30 points below the second-lowest ranking country, Ukraine. Both Ukraine and Albania received a general "C" grade. Moldova began the "B" grades with an overall ESG score of 57.5. Those scoring 70 and above were awarded an "A" grade, with Denmark having scored the highest overall score, reaching 98.8.

ISS ESG’s Country Rating solution provides a highly relevant and material assessment of a country’s ESG performance, allowing investors to draw well-informed conclusions about the long-term solvency of government bond issuers. The rating comprises more than 100 quantitative and qualitative criteria and follows a profound methodology, reflecting global best practices as well as normative considerations.

The sustainability performance of countries is analyzed via two dimensions and six categories:

Social & Governance Rating 1. Political System/Governance 2. Human Rights/Fundamental Freedoms 3. Social Conditions

Environmental Rating 4. Natural Resources 5. Climate Change/Energy 6. Production/Consumption

A wide range of ESG topics are assessed in the ISS ESG Country Rating including both qualitative and quantitative criteria. For instance, the safeguarding of fundamental freedoms by a country’s government is mostly assessed in qualitative terms, while a country’s consumption of resources is quantified. The rating also includes a comprehensive analysis of relevant controversies, allowing investors to consider countries' performance and actions in areas especially critical to them.

The rating dimensions environment, social and governance are comprised of specifically defined topics, which in turn are further split into several criteria and sub-criteria. This allows for an individual assessment of each country’s performance in a very detailed way and to take into account the various individual interdependencies and multidimensional nature of the criteria.

The overall evaluation is based on a twelve–point grading system from A+ (excellent performance) to D- (poor performance). Countries are categorized as ISS ESG “Prime” if they achieve or exceed the minimum sustainability performance requirements (Prime threshold: B-) defined for the ESG Country Rating.

Coverage includes approximately 100% coverage of global sovereign debt issued and more than 120 countries.

ISS ESG’s Country Ratings are based on a variety of trustworthy sources, including:

• Supranational organizations such as the UN Development Programme, World Health Organization, and International Labor Organization • Public authorities such as the US State Department and German Foreign Affairs Department • Non-governmental organizations such as Amnesty International, International Trade Union Confederation, Transparency International, and Stockholm International Peace Research Institute

Direct contact via telephone or e-mail is conducted only occasionally if data is ambiguous or if more background information is necessary.

Data is used by a broad range of institutional investors, asset managers, asset owners, fund managers, banks, government institutions, universities and research firms.

Nicaragua received an overall Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) score of 16.5. This was more than 25 points below the second-lowest ranking country, Mexico, which received a "D" grading having achieved an ESG score of under 43 points. Canada was the best performing country across the Americas, having achieved a score of 89.5.

A large portion of countries within the Asia-Pacific region received an Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) score below 25, leaving nine of the region's countries with an "E" grade. There were four nations that achieved an "A" grade, having scored 80 ESG points or over. Australia was the second-highest ranking country overall with a score of 86. New Zealand was the top ranking country in the Asia-Pacific, having achieved 93.5.

South Africa received an overall Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) score of 63.8. This was 0.01 point above Botswana, which ranked in third place overall. Namibia was the country with the highest overall ESG score across Africa and the Middle East. Qatar was the best performing country in the Middle East, having an overall ESG score of 53.2 earning the nation a "C" grade.

Country Risk offers historic and forecast data including detailed overview on Country Risks Ratings, ESG, Banking Sector Risk and News events related to political violence and political risk incidents.

Unlike traditional ESG data sets that are focused on annual ratings and periodic corporate disclosure, Event Registry monitors company ESG behavior at the speed of current events detected in global news. We utilize AI to analyze over 150,000 sources and uncover ESG risks and opportunities hidden in unstructured news and PR articles. We identify company events leveraging the 26 ESG categories defined by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The data feed covers 200.000+ companies with up to 5 years of history.

In 2023, a significant share of European investors trusted Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) ratings to provide a true and accurate understanding into company practices. The proportion of respondents who trusted ESG ratings was highest in Italy, at 61 percent, followed by Spain, where 58 percent of investors expressed trust in ESG ratings to provide insights.

Data subsets: the following subsets are provided for every territory featured in the dataset, with their trends: — Countries general information: ISO code and name, GNI, GDP, population — ESG Impact rating, 7 scores — 5P rating: Planet, People, Prosperity, Peace, Partnership, 6 scores — ESG Impact Smart Areas rating, 11 scores: Smart Infrastructure, Smart Safety & Security... — Transition rating, 5 scores — 17 UN SDG contribution ratings, 18 scores — Ranking in Income group and geographical region, 2 scores, and associated trends — Pre-filtered Income group and geographical region data subsets and geographical maps are provided in Excel sheets

As of 2024, the top three U.S. publicly listed companies ranked by overall climate management varied by industry. Colgate-Palmolive, operating within the consumer industry, received an overall climate management score of 69.7. Southern Co. ranked second with a climate management score of 69.9, operating in the utilities' industry. Moody's financial service provider ranked in the top spot, being the only publicly listed firm to receive a score of 70.

In 2023, a significant share of European investors agreed that Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) ratings provide clarity and information into company practices. The proportion of respondents who agreed was highest in Italy, at 60 percent, followed by Germany, where 58 percent of investors expressed trust in ESG ratings to provide clarity.

Inrate conducts multi-dimensional screening for over 10,000+ companies, providing ESG data through controversies research, adverse product involvement, UNGC screening, and customized screening.

Our proprietary controversy screening tool utilizes over 200k multi-lingual global news sources to collect and analyze a company's negative impact through material ESG controversies. Our collection of ESG controversies is real-time, ensuring we capture all potential risks to your portfolio. Our adverse product screening includes evaluating involvement in common controversial products and sub-products (such as controversial weapons, tobacco production, nuclear energy etc.). To exclude companies from your portfolio, we provide customizable exclusion thresholds integrated into our ESG data product delivery.

Our UNGC Screening module enables evaluating a company's performance against the UNGC themes of anti-corruption, environment, labour and human rights. This research utilizes insights from a Inrate's ESG data products ratings including controversies research, product involvement and the comprehensiveness of a company's sustainability policies and management.

Additionally, to cater to varied client ESG priorities, we provide customized screening against criteria such as whaling, human embryonic stem cell research, Production of POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants) as listed in the Stockholm Convention and more.

Data collected through semi-structured interviews regarding the use, rating and relevance of ESG finance in social housing provision. The interviewees are drawn from various types of companies such as social housing organisations, national and local federations from social housing organisations, rating agencies, public banks etc. The interviews were mostly conducted in English except for those carried out in France which were conducted in French. The data was collected and coded in 2022.

Costa Rica Residential & Commercial: Carbon Pricing Score: Excluding Emissions from the Combustion of Biomass: EUR 60 per Tonne of CO2 data was reported at 73.802 % in 2021. Costa Rica Residential & Commercial: Carbon Pricing Score: Excluding Emissions from the Combustion of Biomass: EUR 60 per Tonne of CO2 data is updated yearly, averaging 73.802 % from Dec 2021 (Median) to 2021, with 1 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 73.802 % in 2021 and a record low of 73.802 % in 2021. Costa Rica Residential & Commercial: Carbon Pricing Score: Excluding Emissions from the Combustion of Biomass: EUR 60 per Tonne of CO2 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Costa Rica – Table CR.OECD.ESG: Environmental: Effective Carbon Rates: by Sector: OECD Member: Annual. The carbon pricing score answers the question how close countries are to price carbon in line with carbon costs. EUR 60 is a midpoint estimate for carbon costs in 2020, and a low-end estimate for 2030. Pricing all emissions at least at EUR 60 in 2020 shows that a country is on a good track to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement to decarbonise by mid-century economically. EUR 30 is a historic low-end estimate for carbon costs, and EUR 120 is a midrange estimate for carbon costs in 2030.; The carbon pricing score answers the question how close countries price carbon emissions in line with carbon costs. EUR 60 per tonne CO2 is a midpoint estimate for carbon costs in 2020, and a low-end estimate for 2030. Pricing all emissions, i.e. 100%, at EUR 60 or more in 2020 shows that a country is on good track to reach the goal of the Paris Agreement to decarbonise by mid-century economically.More generally, a carbon pricing score of 100% shows that a country prices all carbon emissions at the carbon cost estimate or more, and a carbon pricing score of 0% shows that a country does not price any carbon emissions. The carbon pricing score by country, by sector answers the question how close countries price carbon emissions in line with carbon costs within a given sector.For additional information, see Effective Carbon Rates 2021

Access only for peer review. The dataset will be opened when the paper is accepted in a journal.

This is the dataset used in the research conducted as part of the study titled "BRIDGING ESG RATINGS AND MEDIA ANALYSIS: A DUAL AI APPROACH TO CORPORATE ETHICS", which collects 44,315 news items related to business ethics behaviours of 1,474 European companies that have information on the ESG Controversies (ESGC) index of Thomson Reuters Eikon for at least 4 years of the time horizon from 2017 to 2023.

The following table shows the variables contained in the dataset for each of the news items extracted from Google News.

Data

Type

Source

Date

Date posting

Google News API

Title

Headline text

Google News API

Snippet

Caption text

Google News API

Source

Newspaper, website, blog

Google News API

Link

URL of the news item

Google News API

Company Name

Name of the company

Thomson Reuters Eikon

ESGC score

From 0 to 100 points

Thomson Reuters Eikon

ESGC rank

A, B, C or D ranks

Thomson Reuters Eikon

Country

Name of European countries

Thomson Reuters Eikon

Employees

Number of employees

Thomson Reuters Eikon

Turnover

Total revenue in the last year

Thomson Reuters Eikon

Industry sector

Name of the industrial sector in which the company operates

Thomson Reuters Eikon

Germany Residential & Commercial: Carbon Pricing Score: Including Emissions from the Combustion of Biomass: EUR 60 per Tonne of CO2 data was reported at 60.078 % in 2021. This records an increase from the previous number of 33.285 % for 2018. Germany Residential & Commercial: Carbon Pricing Score: Including Emissions from the Combustion of Biomass: EUR 60 per Tonne of CO2 data is updated yearly, averaging 33.866 % from Dec 2012 (Median) to 2021, with 4 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 60.078 % in 2021 and a record low of 33.285 % in 2018. Germany Residential & Commercial: Carbon Pricing Score: Including Emissions from the Combustion of Biomass: EUR 60 per Tonne of CO2 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Germany – Table DE.OECD.ESG: Environmental: Effective Carbon Rates: by Sector: OECD Member: Annual. The carbon pricing score answers the question how close countries are to price carbon in line with carbon costs. EUR 60 is a midpoint estimate for carbon costs in 2020, and a low-end estimate for 2030. Pricing all emissions at least at EUR 60 in 2020 shows that a country is on a good track to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement to decarbonise by mid-century economically. EUR 30 is a historic low-end estimate for carbon costs, and EUR 120 is a midrange estimate for carbon costs in 2030.; The carbon pricing score answers the question how close countries price carbon emissions in line with carbon costs. EUR 60 per tonne CO2 is a midpoint estimate for carbon costs in 2020, and a low-end estimate for 2030. Pricing all emissions, i.e. 100%, at EUR 60 or more in 2020 shows that a country is on good track to reach the goal of the Paris Agreement to decarbonise by mid-century economically.More generally, a carbon pricing score of 100% shows that a country prices all carbon emissions at the carbon cost estimate or more, and a carbon pricing score of 0% shows that a country does not price any carbon emissions. The carbon pricing score by country, by sector answers the question how close countries price carbon emissions in line with carbon costs within a given sector.For additional information, see Effective Carbon Rates 2021

Portugal All Sectors: Carbon Pricing Score: Excluding Emissions from the Combustion of Biomass: EUR 60 per Tonne of CO2 data was reported at 85.778 % in 2021. This records an increase from the previous number of 55.613 % for 2018. Portugal All Sectors: Carbon Pricing Score: Excluding Emissions from the Combustion of Biomass: EUR 60 per Tonne of CO2 data is updated yearly, averaging 48.899 % from Dec 2012 (Median) to 2021, with 4 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 85.778 % in 2021 and a record low of 42.006 % in 2012. Portugal All Sectors: Carbon Pricing Score: Excluding Emissions from the Combustion of Biomass: EUR 60 per Tonne of CO2 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Portugal – Table PT.OECD.ESG: Environmental: Effective Carbon Rates: by Sector: OECD Member: Annual. The carbon pricing score answers the question how close countries are to price carbon in line with carbon costs. EUR 60 is a midpoint estimate for carbon costs in 2020, and a low-end estimate for 2030. Pricing all emissions at least at EUR 60 in 2020 shows that a country is on a good track to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement to decarbonise by mid-century economically. EUR 30 is a historic low-end estimate for carbon costs, and EUR 120 is a midrange estimate for carbon costs in 2030.; The carbon pricing score answers the question how close countries price carbon emissions in line with carbon costs. EUR 60 per tonne CO2 is a midpoint estimate for carbon costs in 2020, and a low-end estimate for 2030. Pricing all emissions, i.e. 100%, at EUR 60 or more in 2020 shows that a country is on good track to reach the goal of the Paris Agreement to decarbonise by mid-century economically.More generally, a carbon pricing score of 100% shows that a country prices all carbon emissions at the carbon cost estimate or more, and a carbon pricing score of 0% shows that a country does not price any carbon emissions. The carbon pricing score by country, by sector answers the question how close countries price carbon emissions in line with carbon costs within a given sector.For additional information, see Effective Carbon Rates 2021

Germany Industry: Carbon Pricing Score: Excluding Emissions from the Combustion of Biomass: EUR 60 per Tonne of CO2 data was reported at 73.120 % in 2021. This records an increase from the previous number of 26.071 % for 2018. Germany Industry: Carbon Pricing Score: Excluding Emissions from the Combustion of Biomass: EUR 60 per Tonne of CO2 data is updated yearly, averaging 22.220 % from Dec 2012 (Median) to 2021, with 4 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 73.120 % in 2021 and a record low of 17.719 % in 2015. Germany Industry: Carbon Pricing Score: Excluding Emissions from the Combustion of Biomass: EUR 60 per Tonne of CO2 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Germany – Table DE.OECD.ESG: Environmental: Effective Carbon Rates: by Sector: OECD Member: Annual. The carbon pricing score answers the question how close countries are to price carbon in line with carbon costs. EUR 60 is a midpoint estimate for carbon costs in 2020, and a low-end estimate for 2030. Pricing all emissions at least at EUR 60 in 2020 shows that a country is on a good track to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement to decarbonise by mid-century economically. EUR 30 is a historic low-end estimate for carbon costs, and EUR 120 is a midrange estimate for carbon costs in 2030.; The carbon pricing score answers the question how close countries price carbon emissions in line with carbon costs. EUR 60 per tonne CO2 is a midpoint estimate for carbon costs in 2020, and a low-end estimate for 2030. Pricing all emissions, i.e. 100%, at EUR 60 or more in 2020 shows that a country is on good track to reach the goal of the Paris Agreement to decarbonise by mid-century economically.More generally, a carbon pricing score of 100% shows that a country prices all carbon emissions at the carbon cost estimate or more, and a carbon pricing score of 0% shows that a country does not price any carbon emissions. The carbon pricing score by country, by sector answers the question how close countries price carbon emissions in line with carbon costs within a given sector.For additional information, see Effective Carbon Rates 2021

Mexico Industry: Carbon Pricing Score: Excluding Emissions from the Combustion of Biomass: EUR 60 per Tonne of CO2 data was reported at 0.389 % in 2018. This records a decrease from the previous number of 5.055 % for 2015. Mexico Industry: Carbon Pricing Score: Excluding Emissions from the Combustion of Biomass: EUR 60 per Tonne of CO2 data is updated yearly, averaging 0.440 % from Dec 2012 (Median) to 2018, with 3 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 5.055 % in 2015 and a record low of 0.389 % in 2018. Mexico Industry: Carbon Pricing Score: Excluding Emissions from the Combustion of Biomass: EUR 60 per Tonne of CO2 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Mexico – Table MX.OECD.ESG: Environmental: Effective Carbon Rates: by Sector: OECD Member: Annual. The carbon pricing score answers the question how close countries are to price carbon in line with carbon costs. EUR 60 is a midpoint estimate for carbon costs in 2020, and a low-end estimate for 2030. Pricing all emissions at least at EUR 60 in 2020 shows that a country is on a good track to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement to decarbonise by mid-century economically. EUR 30 is a historic low-end estimate for carbon costs, and EUR 120 is a midrange estimate for carbon costs in 2030.; The carbon pricing score answers the question how close countries price carbon emissions in line with carbon costs. EUR 60 per tonne CO2 is a midpoint estimate for carbon costs in 2020, and a low-end estimate for 2030. Pricing all emissions, i.e. 100%, at EUR 60 or more in 2020 shows that a country is on good track to reach the goal of the Paris Agreement to decarbonise by mid-century economically.More generally, a carbon pricing score of 100% shows that a country prices all carbon emissions at the carbon cost estimate or more, and a carbon pricing score of 0% shows that a country does not price any carbon emissions. The carbon pricing score by country, by sector answers the question how close countries price carbon emissions in line with carbon costs within a given sector.For additional information, see Effective Carbon Rates 2021