Awards, Ratings & Rankings

AA1000AS Found to Add Value to ESG Reporting

Jul 25, 2024 9:15 AM ET
Campaign: CSRHub Research
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Comparison of Involvement with 19 ESG Analyst Groups

As seen previously on the CSRHub blog.

By Bahar Gidwani

CSRHub found that using the AA1000 Assurance Standard (AA1000AS) to assure an ESG report had a positive effect on a company’s ESG rating. Data from more than 7,000 entities showed that issuing a sustainability report had a positive effect on an entity’s consensus ESG ratings and that this effect was increased by assuring the report.

  • Issuing an ESG report increased a company’s overall score by an average of 5.4 points over two years—0.9 points more than non-reporting companies gain over that time.
  • Those entities who used the AA1000AS v3 assurance standard to assure a report showed a 5.9 point increase, 1.4 points over non-reporters and 0.5 points over other ESG reporters.
  • Regular users of the AA1000AS saw continuous growth year-over-year on their ESG rating score.
  • The AA1000 AS v3 helped companies grow their scores specifically in six sustainability topics: Leadership Ethics; Board Management; Training, Health and Safety; Diversity and Labor Rights; Compensation and Benefits.

Graph Showing Comparison of Involvement with 19 ESG Analyst Groups.

You can download the full report here.

Bahar Gidwani is CTO and Co-founder of CSRHub. He has built and run large technology-based businesses for many years. Bahar holds a CFA, worked on Wall Street with Kidder, Peabody, and with McKinsey & Co. Bahar has consulted to a number of major companies and currently serves on the board of several software and Web companies. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School and an undergraduate degree in physics and astronomy. He plays bridge, races sailboats, and is based in New York City.

About CSRHub

CSRHub offers the most comprehensive global set of Consensus ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) ratings, information, and tools. CSRHub’s business intelligence system measures the ESG business impact that drives corporate and investor sustainability decisions. Founded in 2007, CSRHub covers 55,000 public and private companies, and provides ESG performance scores on over 35,000 companies from 135 industries in 210 countries. Our Big Data platform uses algorithms to aggregate, normalize and weight ESG metrics from 933 sources to produce a strong consensus signal on corporate sustainability performance.

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