Morningstar Sustainalytics Introduces Significant Enhancements to its ESG Risk Ratings
May 30, 2024
This week, Morningstar Sustainalytics introduced the first in a series of planned enhancements to its flagship ESG Risk Ratings. This is the first major enhancement to the methodology since launch in 2018.
The enhancements, which went live in Global Access on May 30 and will go live in all client systems by June 5, include an upgrade to the Corporate Governance baseline and the creation of two standalone Material ESG Issues (MEIs) for Corporate and Stakeholder Governance. As a next step, we will create a new Water MEI and expand our existing Data Privacy and Cybersecurity MEIs. As a result of the initial changes, we've seen 9% of companies in the coverage universe change ESG Risk Rating categories.
As the global ESG risk environment constantly changes and evolves, Morningstar Sustainalytics must constantly evolve its ratings to ensure they are relevant and useful. These updates are part of a continuous process of improvement to our ratings to benefit our clients. As always, our goal is to maintain the quality, relevance and ease-of-use with our ratings while minimizing any disruption to our clients.