Reading a response

2. In the detailed answers to the ESG core section, each question shows the title of the question, the response from the company, including any comments and/or links to supporting documentation.

The implementation rate shows the percentage of peers answering Yes for that question.

3. While the ESG Core section is focused more on policies, management and reporting, industry-specific sections present an assessment of actionable sustainability practices. These practices can be implemented as part of an improvement plan.

Opportunity scores for a practice is connected to improvement to the industry score that could be gained by implementing the practice (higher is better). Calculation used to derive opportunity score: Opportunity score = (intrinsic value assigned to a practice) x ( 1 + implementation rate ) x (3 – value assigned to the answer (i.e. Yes, Mostly Yes, Mostly No, No).

Note: Using this methodology means that the opportunity score for any practice will increase as the implementation rate for a practice increases (as new users complete the assessment and report implementing the practice). This results in a minor bias against early adoption of a practice; however, testing showed the bias to be negligible.

How does scoring work? 

Scoring on the ESG Core section is based on points per question (ESG Core Questions with assigned points (.xlsx)). As a result, the ESG Core section score is independent of peers responding to the ESG/Environmental practices questionnaire.

Scoring on industry-specific practices is on the intrinsic value of the practice as well as its implementation rate amongst peers. As a result, industry-specific scores are an indicator of the opportunity for your organization to prioritize one or another practice in its improvement planning.

• Score for a single practice: Score for a practice is calculated by multiplying the value assigned to the practice by the value assigned to your response to the question “Is this implemented as standard practice?” (See table below for values).
• Score for a section of practices: practices are grouped into sections (e.g. Electricity/gas, Fuel, Waste/pollution). The scores for each practice are used to calculate your percentage score for that section. Each section is also assigned a weight to indicate its relative significance against other sections.
• Total score: Sum of the totals for each section multiplied by their weight.
• Note: Your scores will change slightly as more respondents complete the Assessment for an industry segment.

If you are curious, dig into the history on how scoring evolved over the years.