ESG Ratings and the Assessment of Corporate Sustainability

Seminar paper from the year 2021 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: 2,7, University of Applied Sciences Essen, language: English, abstract: This paper examines the current situation of ESG ratings available on the market and questions their informative value and reliability. It discusses the challenges in data collection and the creation of rating models by existing rating agencies. ESG stands for Environment, Social and Governance and serves as the conceptual composite for corporate social responsibility. It goes hand in hand with a major impact on key business decisions regarding leadership, innovation and direction of the company. It is dealing with topics like the ecological footprint within the limited resources of our planet, greenhouse gas production and renewable energy as the environmental elements. Furthermore, creating fair working conditions, respecting human rights and investing in workplace safety and health as the social elements and corruption or anti-competitive behavior, performance-based compensation on the achievement of sustainability targets and even regarding these requirements at the supplier and service providers of the company as the governmental elements