{"id":961,"date":"2018-02-08T21:58:48","date_gmt":"2018-02-08T16:28:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ga-institute.com\/to-the-point\/?p=961"},"modified":"2018-02-08T21:58:48","modified_gmt":"2018-02-08T16:28:48","slug":"iss-unveils-new-corporate-e-and-s-qualityscores-for-1500-companies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ga-institute.com\/to-the-point\/iss-unveils-new-corporate-e-and-s-qualityscores-for-1500-companies\/","title":{"rendered":"ISS Unveils New Corporate \u201cE\u201d and \u201cS\u201d QualityScores For 1,500 Companies"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><em><strong>New Corporate \u201cE\u201d and \u201cS\u201d QualityScores For 1,500 Companies Are In Addition to the Core \u201cG\u201d Score for Corporate Governance For Investors \/ Fiduciaries&#8230;<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-285\" src=\"https:\/\/ga-institute.com\/to-the-point\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/article-2.4.1-150x90.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"90\" \/>More \u201cbig news\u201d for both corporate sustainability officers and sustainable investment professionals at the start of 2018: <strong>Institutional Shareholder Services<\/strong> (ISS), which began operations in the mid-1980s with sharp focus on corporate governance issues, provides data, ratings and perspectives to a wide range of influential institutional investors.<\/p>\n<p><em>ISS advice can influence the conversation of fiduciaries when engaging with company managements and influence institutional investors&#8217; proxy voting.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>One of the main products\/services of ISS is providing the \u201c<strong>Core Governance QualityScor<\/strong>e,\u201d which are \u201c\u2026data-driven screening solution with insights for investing institutions to review a company\u2019s quality factors and assess risks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Says ISS: \u201cScores indicate a relative quality and are supported by factor-level data\u2026with historical data and scores providing greater context and trending analysis to understand a company\u2019s approach to governance over time\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The tools used include numeric, decile-based scoring, which gives a company\u2019s governance risk relative to their index or region.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The big news today<\/strong>: In addition to the core \u201cG\u201d scores, ISS has made public the first \u201c<strong>S<\/strong>\u201d and\u00a0 \u201c<strong>E<\/strong>\u201d QualityScores for 1,500 companies in six industries:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Energy<\/li>\n<li>Materials<\/li>\n<li>Capital Goods<\/li>\n<li>Transportation<\/li>\n<li>Automobiles &amp; Components<\/li>\n<li>Consumer Durables &amp; Apparel<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These new &#8220;E&#8221; and &#8220;S&#8221; QualityScores meet the demand of ISS\u2019s institutional investor clients, seeking high-quality data and analytics covering environment and social topics.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Explains COO Stephen Harvey<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h3 style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em><strong><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">\u201cInvestment professionals who increasing rely on extra-financial data and research for investment decision-making and portfolio risk mitigation will benefit when screening for companies where risks in operations, business and supply chains are often latent.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n<p>There are <strong>380<\/strong> unique E and S factors considered in the approach, with <strong>240<\/strong> of these applying to each industry group.<\/p>\n<p>Scoring follows the ISS governance scoring model:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Each company is scored within their industry.<\/li>\n<li>The E and S \u201cgovernance\u201d disclosure risk is measured, overall and in eight categories.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For example, in the \u201cE\u201d category there are these considerations:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Management of Environmental Risks and Opportunities.<\/li>\n<li>Carbon and Climate.<\/li>\n<li>Natural Resources.<\/li>\n<li>Waste &amp; Toxicity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Under the \u201cS\u201d category:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Human Rights.<\/li>\n<li>Labor, Health and Safety.<\/li>\n<li>Stakeholder and Society.<\/li>\n<li>Product Safety, Quality and Brand (all of these these for social-related governance and disclosure).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Note that according to ISS, European companies generally score far better on environmental factors than their peers in the Americas and Australasia.<\/p>\n<p>Starting in February, the E&amp;S scoring will be included in the <strong><em>ISS benchmark proxy policy research reports<\/em><\/strong> \u2013 these can broadly affect the outcomes in corporate proxy voting in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>ISS stresses that the focus is on highest-quality available data, materiality, and providing actionable company scores for investors.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The industry \u201cleaders and laggards\u201d will be identified in the first six industries as the \u201cbest-in-class\u201d companies are identified.<\/li>\n<li>Then moving further into 2018 a total of <strong>5,000<\/strong> companies will be assigned an E and S QualityScore in addition to the traditional core G score.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Important Background<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-858 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/ga-institute.com\/to-the-point\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/ISS_qs_report-212x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"212\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ga-institute.com\/to-the-point\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/ISS_qs_report-212x300.jpg 212w, https:\/\/ga-institute.com\/to-the-point\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/ISS_qs_report-768x1086.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ga-institute.com\/to-the-point\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/ISS_qs_report-724x1024.jpg 724w, https:\/\/ga-institute.com\/to-the-point\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/ISS_qs_report-1200x1697.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/ga-institute.com\/to-the-point\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/ISS_qs_report.jpg 1240w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 212px) 85vw, 212px\" \/>The ISS &#8220;E&#8221; and &#8220;S&#8221; scoring methodology is based on guiding frameworks and standards, including the <strong>Global Reporting Initiative<\/strong> (GRI), <strong>Sustainable Accounting Standards Board<\/strong> (SASB) and the Financial Stability Board\u2019s \u201c<strong>Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures<\/strong>&#8221; (the \u201cTCFD\u201d).<\/p>\n<p>If you are not familiar with the important Task Force recommendations for public company disclosure, there is information in the &#8220;G&amp;A Institute&#8217;s To the Point!&#8221; platform for you; link: <a href=\"https:\/\/ga-institute.com\/to-the-point\/climate-change-related-disclosure-the-financial-stability-boards-task-force-on-climate-related-financial-disclosures-could-affect-your-companys-important-financial-disclosure-filings-and-yo\/\">https:\/\/ga-institute.com\/to-the-point\/climate-change-related-disclosure-the-financial-stability-boards-task-force-on-climate-related-financial-disclosures-could-affect-your-companys-important-financial-disclosure-filings-and-yo\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>ISS is also considering the <strong>Sustainable Development Goals<\/strong> (SDGs) for the E and S scoring, looking for aligned business models, services and products. Examples are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Goal 6 \u2013 Clean Water and Sanitation<\/li>\n<li>Goal 7 \u2013 Affordable and Clean Energy<\/li>\n<li>Goal 12 \u2013 Responsible Consumption and Production<\/li>\n<li>Goal 13 \u2013 Climate Action<\/li>\n<li>Goal 14 \u2013 Life Below Water Protection (the oceans and seas)<\/li>\n<li>Goal 15 \u2013 Life on Land \u2013 Protection<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The summaries on the ISS platform for the E and S scoring include key corporate disclosures, key omissions, and an overview of disclosure and reporting by companies.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong># # #<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Keep in mind that the challenge of achieving and maintaining higher G, E and S QualityScores can be a moving target, as industry and investment peer companies up their game and ISS further evolves its methodology.<\/p>\n<p>For example, in October 2017 ISS changed the methodology for the long-standing corporate governance scoring. With new tools, investors can compare 21 key factors across global markets to explore issues such as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The number of financial experts serving on the board audit committee.<\/li>\n<li>Unequal voting rights (investors really dislike this practice, while Silicon Valley entrepreneurs love it).<\/li>\n<li>Independence of boards is a critical issue.<br \/>\nEvaluation of board candidates is a critical factor to be researched using the tools.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These types of incremental expansion of \u201cwhat\u201d is looked at and \u201chow\u201d it is evaluated can be expected to influence the scoring of E and S for companies. This enables investors to compare all companies covered by QualityScore across a number of key attributes to identify risk and opportunity, the Company points out.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>About ISS<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The company was founded in 1985 and serves institutional investor clients and public corporations. Investor clients include asset owners, asset managers, hedge funds, and asset service providers.<\/p>\n<p>Services include governance research and recommendations; proxy voting and distribution solutions; securities class action claims management; governance data and modeling tools.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong># # #<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>G&amp;A Institute<\/strong> has a <em>comprehensive, fine-tuned proprietary approach<\/em> to assist corporate clients in understanding and responding to third-party inquiries in this new \u201c<strong>mosaic<\/strong>\u201d disclosure and reporting environment.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><em><strong>We help companies develop effective best practices in their sustainability disclosure and reporting.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>There is no \u201cone best way\u201d to disclose and report by cherry-picking one or two information requests or selection of a single framework (for reporting) if a company wants to excel in building a public, world-class sustainability profile that signals &#8220;leadership.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>For information, connect with <strong>EVP Louis Coppola<\/strong> at: <a href=\"mailto:lcoppola@ga-institute.com\">lcoppola@ga-institute.com<\/a><\/p>\n<h2><strong>ESG \/ Sustainability Disclosure and Reporting<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>G&amp;A Institute research over recent years showed the sustainability reporting activities of the companies in the <strong>S&amp;P 500\u00ae Index<\/strong> rising from about 20% in 2011 reporting to more than 80% five years later.<\/p>\n<p>The G&amp;A team is today assembling the results of 2017 reporting and will distribute a <em><strong>Flash Report<\/strong> <\/em>shortly.<\/p>\n<p>G&amp;A is the data partner for the <strong>GRI<\/strong> in the United States, United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. Each year our team analyzes and databases key data from more than 1,500 global reports.<\/p>\n<p>Our client services include specific tools, resources and strategic advice and support for companies preparing sustainability reports, for first-time reporter up to multiple-times corporate reporters.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong># # #<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There is more information for you about ISS and the QualityScores in our <strong>&#8220;G&amp;A Institute&#8217;s To the Point&#8221;<\/strong> brief:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/ga-institute.com\/to-the-point\/the-universe-of-esg-rankers-serving-institutional-investor-clients-expands-to-include-a-significant-player-institutional-shareholder-services-iss\/\">https:\/\/ga-institute.com\/to-the-point\/the-universe-of-esg-rankers-serving-institutional-investor-clients-expands-to-include-a-significant-player-institutional-shareholder-services-iss\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>And information on FSB Task Force&#8217;s\u00a0<strong>TCFD<\/strong> (recommendations) for Climate-related Disclosure is also a To the Point! brief &#8212; link:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/ga-institute.com\/to-the-point\/the-universe-of-esg-rankers-serving-institutional-investor-clients-expands-to-include-a-significant-player-institutional-shareholder-services-iss\/\">https:\/\/ga-institute.com\/to-the-point\/the-universe-of-esg-rankers-serving-institutional-investor-clients-expands-to-include-a-significant-player-institutional-shareholder-services-iss\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More \u201cbig news\u201d for both corporate sustainability officers and sustainable investment professionals at the start of 2018: In addition to the core \u201cG\u201d scores, ISS has made public the first \u201cS\u201d and\u00a0 \u201cE\u201d QualityScores for 1,500 companies in six industries:<\/p>\n<p>Energy<br \/>\nMaterials<br \/>\nCapital Goods<br \/>\nTransportation<br \/>\nAutomobiles &#038; Components<br \/>\nConsumer Durables &#038; Apparel<\/p>\n<p>These new &#8220;E&#8221; and &#8220;S&#8221; QualityScores meet the demand of ISS\u2019s institutional investor clients, seeking high-quality data and analytics covering environment and social topics&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":285,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1645,1626,1639,1469,1643,99,306,1467,1632,1448,1640,32,1630,1465,69,631,1627,1628,749,459,37,63,448,54,41,48,83,82,1635,1641,1642,1631,1466,1633,1637,1638,1450,1600,58,56,1636,1629,406,55,46,452,453,1468,1644,1634],"class_list":["post-961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-mosaic-disclosure-reporting","tag-qualityscore","tag-affordable-and-clean-energy","tag-automobiles-components","tag-board-audit-committee","tag-board-independence","tag-board-of-directors","tag-capital-goods","tag-carbon-and-climate","tag-clean-water-and-sanitation","tag-climate-action","tag-climate-change","tag-consumer-durables-apparel","tag-core-governance-qualityscore","tag-corporate-governance","tag-corporate-proxy","tag-corporate-proxy-voting","tag-corporate-proxy-voting-issues","tag-corporate-proxy-voting-season","tag-energy","tag-esg","tag-financial-stability-board","tag-fsb","tag-global-reporting-initiative","tag-gri","tag-human-rights","tag-institutional-shareholder-services","tag-iss","tag-labor-health-safety","tag-life-below-water-protection","tag-life-on-land-protection","tag-management-of-environmental-risk-and-opportunities","tag-materials","tag-natural-resources","tag-product-safety","tag-quality-and-brand","tag-responsible-consumption-and-production","tag-sp-500r-index","tag-sasb","tag-sdgs","tag-stakeholder-and-society","tag-stephen-harvey","tag-sustainable-accounting-standards-board","tag-sustainable-development-goals","tag-sustainable-investing","tag-task-force-on-climate-related-financial-disclosures","tag-tcfd","tag-transportation","tag-unequal-voting-rights","tag-waste-toxicity"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ga-institute.com\/to-the-point\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ga-institute.com\/to-the-point\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ga-institute.com\/to-the-point\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ga-institute.com\/to-the-point\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ga-institute.com\/to-the-point\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=961"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/ga-institute.com\/to-the-point\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":974,"href":"https:\/\/ga-institute.com\/to-the-point\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961\/revisions\/974"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ga-institute.com\/to-the-point\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ga-institute.com\/to-the-point\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ga-institute.com\/to-the-point\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ga-institute.com\/to-the-point\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}