Unlocking the Strategic Power of the Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA)

The S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA) is widely recognized as one of the leading annual evaluations of corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance. But it is more than just an assessment; it’s a structured mechanism for measuring, benchmarking, and communicating your company’s sustainability performance.

As expectations for corporate sustainability disclosure continue to grow, companies are increasingly seeking structured frameworks to support these efforts, and the CSA has emerged as one of the most influential tools for doing so.

In G&A’s work with clients across diverse industries, we have seen participation in the CSA help turn a company’s broad sustainability ambitions into concrete, useful insights on which investors can rely to make informed decisions.

What Is the CSA?

The CSA is a survey of approximately 110 questions, tailored to the company’s industry and covering an average of 23 sustainability topics, spanning environmental, social, and governance criteria that are financially material for long-term business success.

S&P Global invites selected companies to participate, and evaluates these companies using the CSA. Invited companies may participate by providing information on their business and ESG efforts. If an invited company does not actively participate, it is still evaluated based on publicly available information, to help ESG-focused investors decide whether to invest in the company. Companies that are not invited by S&P Global can still opt to be assessed if they actively respond to the CSA.

Why it Matters: Scale and Reach

The CSA’s impact on global capital markets and corporate strategy is substantial. In 2025:

• Over 3,600 companies actively participated in the CSA, representing nearly half of global market capitalization
• Participating companies spanned 62 industries, enabling robust benchmarking and trend analysis across sectors
• Hundreds of financial institutions, including asset managers with trillions in assets under management, are directly subscribed to ESG Scores and Raw Data from the CSA to guide their investment decisions

Each year, thousands of organizations participate in the CSA by providing detailed information on governance structures, risk management approaches, operational performance, and forward-looking ESG strategies.

Why Participate?

An invited company is still evaluated by S&P Global based on publicly available information, even if they do not actively participate in the CSA. ESG-focused investors may use this information to decide whether to invest in the company. However, the CSA often accepts internal documentation as evidence in response to its questions.

Therefore, it is beneficial to actively participate in the CSA and upload your public and internal documentation directly. In doing so, you can expect a more complete and accurate picture of your ESG performance. Moreover, S&P will provide the company with its scoring decisions and high-level insight into how the company was evaluated.

To enhance their scoring, companies should actively participate in the CSA so they can submit internal ESG documentation for assessment, to which S&P Global would otherwise not have access.

Scoring and Benchmarking

S&P Global uses a standardized scoring methodology to evaluate ESG practices through the annual CSA assessment. Companies are scored across multiple aspects: coverage appraises the breadth of policies, programs, or KPIs, while completeness of policy examines whether policies thoroughly address multiple scenarios. Multi-year data considers the collection of quantitative data over time, and performance over the years evaluates key performance indicators (KPIs) across three- or four-year periods. Companies are also assessed on performance against peers, benchmarks, and targets, reflecting how their KPIs compare to industry peers and standards, best practices, and whether specified targets are achieved. Additional evaluation areas include accountability, which considers whether responsibilities are clearly defined; assurance, which grants credit for verification by an independent third party; and transparency, which awards companies for relevant publicly available evidence, rather than private or internal documentation.

Collectively, these aspects provide a comprehensive framework for assessing the depth, quality, and effectiveness of a company’s ESG practices. This approach allows investors to benchmark companies against peers, track progress over time, and identify leaders and laggards in ESG performance.

Both public and private companies can participate in the CSA by providing detailed responses supported by internal documentation and publicly available disclosures.  Information submitted by the company or gathered by S&P is then evaluated and translated into ESG scores.

Most importantly, the CSA results are used to identify global sustainability leaders and form the basis for inclusion in the Dow Jones Best-in-Class Indices, one of the most widely-recognized benchmarks for corporate ESG excellence, as well as other S&P ESG indices.

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CSA as a Strategic Tool

While many organizations first approach the CSA with index inclusion in mind, leading companies also recognize its broader value. Beyond serving as a disclosure or benchmarking tool, the CSA also serves as a strategic mechanism to strengthen sustainability governance, improve transparency, track year-over-year progress, and align with shifting investor expectations.

The CSA enables participating companies to construct a detailed roadmap of strengths and gaps across governance, strategy, and operational practices, giving companies the insight they need to prioritize improvements year-over-year. The assessment helps organizations:

• Strengthen ESG strategy and risk management by identifying and prioritizing industry-specific, financially material ESG issues
• Benchmark performance credibly against industry peers using standardized, analyst-reviewed data
• Enhance governance, controls, and disclosure practices
• Integrate ESG into business planning and decision-making
• Track progress using measurable KPIs aligned with CSA indicators

When companies apply CSA insights thoughtfully, it can become a competitive differentiator, helping organizations signal performance with confidence, strengthen market credibility, accelerate ESG maturity, and drive long-term value creation.

Conclusion

The CSA continues to play an important role in helping companies benchmark ESG performance, strengthen sustainability governance, and increase transparency for investors and other stakeholders. As sustainability expectations continue to evolve, companies that proactively prepare for and directly respond to the CSA are often better positioned to demonstrate leadership and improve overall ESG performance.

Ready for More?

At G&A, we help companies respond to the CSA and turn insights into action, driving measurable value, resilience, and ESG leadership. Learn more about how G&A supports companies across ESG strategy and Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA) services to better understand your current performance, identify gaps, and align with investor expectations. Our team supports companies throughout the CSA process, from response preparation to translating results into practical, year-over-year improvements.

Natali Alsunna

Natali Alsunna is a Senior Sustainability Analyst at Governance & Accountability Institute. Her role includes supporting client needs across several industries including responding to surveys such as CSA and CDP, gap analyses, and benchmarking research. Natali is passionate about environmental, social, and governance issues and about helping corporations foster sustainability to create a positive impact on society. Natali holds a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from the German Jordanian University and a MSc. in International Business Management from Coventry University. Her background in engineering and management across several countries has provided knowledge and a depth of technical skills in engineering while also building leadership skills.