ISS ESG Statement on ESG Corporate Rating Enhancements 

NEW YORK (November 10, 2023) – ISS ESG, the sustainable investment arm of ISS STOXX, today announced planned enhancements to its ESG Corporate Rating offering. Additional metrics and greater granularity for more than 60 cross-sector indicators, broken down into more than 500 discrete ESG Raw Data factors, further increase transparency of assessments of specific business practices. Furthermore, stricter requirements for quantitative data and more stringent public disclosure rules allow for consistent comparability and increase the conviction of performance analysis. These improvements, which stem from ISS ESG’s investments in both talent and technology to separate data collection from data analysis, reinforce our data-driven, analyst-led approach to evaluating the ESG performance of corporate issuers. 

Collectively, these enhancements represent a critical change in line with emerging and evolving disclosure and ESG performance expectations and will be implemented across all ratings starting next month as annual rating updates occur.