A review of corporate climate ratings: Assessing divergence from scientific expectations.
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| Title: | A review of corporate climate ratings: Assessing divergence from scientific expectations. |
|---|---|
| Authors: | Kohler, Marine1,2 (AUTHOR) marine.kohler@centralesupelec.fr, Da Costa, Pascal1 (AUTHOR) pascal.da-costa@centralesupelec.fr, Cluzel, François1 (AUTHOR) francois.cluzel@centralesupelec.fr, Umbricht, Loïc2 (AUTHOR) loic@greenly.earth |
| Source: | Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews. Jan2026:Part C, Vol. 226, pN.PAG-N.PAG. 1p. |
| Subjects: | Information asymmetry, Corporate sustainability, Benchmarking (Management), Carbon dioxide mitigation, Greenhouse gases, Environmental indicators, Greenhouse gas analysis, Test validity |
| Abstract: | Private investment and consumption choices serve as a major driver to push companies to cut their greenhouse gas emissions and align their activities with the goal of reaching global Net Zero. Sustainability scores, labels and rankings have helped guide these decisions since the 1990s. They thus have significant leverage on defining future energy consumption and production, and, more generally, the upcoming low-carbon economy. Yet, such tools are now coming under increasing scholarly criticism. In this context, this study offers a review of issues raised by scholars, an inventory of climate-related scores, labels and ranking providers and their offerings, and an assessment of scores against best-in-class practices for each issue. The concerns raised in the scientific literature are related to the accuracy, reliability, and fairness of the tools, and whether they are effective in driving corporate action. Tool providers were found to use a diversity of business models, methodologies, and definitions of corporate climate performance. Despite some variability across tools and concerns, tools remain generally opaque and poorly aligned with scientific expectations. While corporate climate performance systems typically address indirect impacts and industry and size specificities; they rarely use standardized, verified inputs, and transparent, science-based weightings. Investors, corporations, and researchers can use our results to inform their choice of information providers, and regulators might take interest in the snapshot we provide on the maturity of the corporate climate performance measurement market. This paper aims to initiate improvements in the design of sustainability information systems. • Climate scores can lack accuracy, reliability, fairness, and impact. • Varying definitions of climate performance result in diverse methods and perimeters. • Scoring systems remain relatively opaque, leading to information asymmetry. • Despite exceptions, climate scores generally misalign with academic concerns. • Standardized, verified inputs and transparent, science-based weightings remain rare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews is the property of Pergamon Press - An Imprint of Elsevier Science and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | Engineering Source |
| FullText | Text: Availability: 0 |
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| Header | DbId: egs DbLabel: Engineering Source An: 189498663 AccessLevel: 6 PubType: Academic Journal PubTypeId: academicJournal PreciseRelevancyScore: 0 |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: A review of corporate climate ratings: Assessing divergence from scientific expectations. – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Kohler%2C+Marine%22">Kohler, Marine</searchLink><relatesTo>1,2</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> marine.kohler@centralesupelec.fr</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Da+Costa%2C+Pascal%22">Da Costa, Pascal</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> pascal.da-costa@centralesupelec.fr</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Cluzel%2C+François%22">Cluzel, François</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> francois.cluzel@centralesupelec.fr</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Umbricht%2C+Loïc%22">Umbricht, Loïc</searchLink><relatesTo>2</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> loic@greenly.earth</i> – Name: TitleSource Label: Source Group: Src Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Renewable+%26+Sustainable+Energy+Reviews%22">Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews</searchLink>. Jan2026:Part C, Vol. 226, pN.PAG-N.PAG. 1p. – Name: Subject Label: Subjects Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Information+asymmetry%22">Information asymmetry</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Corporate+sustainability%22">Corporate sustainability</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Benchmarking+%28Management%29%22">Benchmarking (Management)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Carbon+dioxide+mitigation%22">Carbon dioxide mitigation</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Greenhouse+gases%22">Greenhouse gases</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Environmental+indicators%22">Environmental indicators</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Greenhouse+gas+analysis%22">Greenhouse gas analysis</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Test+validity%22">Test validity</searchLink> – Name: Abstract Label: Abstract Group: Ab Data: Private investment and consumption choices serve as a major driver to push companies to cut their greenhouse gas emissions and align their activities with the goal of reaching global Net Zero. Sustainability scores, labels and rankings have helped guide these decisions since the 1990s. They thus have significant leverage on defining future energy consumption and production, and, more generally, the upcoming low-carbon economy. Yet, such tools are now coming under increasing scholarly criticism. In this context, this study offers a review of issues raised by scholars, an inventory of climate-related scores, labels and ranking providers and their offerings, and an assessment of scores against best-in-class practices for each issue. The concerns raised in the scientific literature are related to the accuracy, reliability, and fairness of the tools, and whether they are effective in driving corporate action. Tool providers were found to use a diversity of business models, methodologies, and definitions of corporate climate performance. Despite some variability across tools and concerns, tools remain generally opaque and poorly aligned with scientific expectations. While corporate climate performance systems typically address indirect impacts and industry and size specificities; they rarely use standardized, verified inputs, and transparent, science-based weightings. Investors, corporations, and researchers can use our results to inform their choice of information providers, and regulators might take interest in the snapshot we provide on the maturity of the corporate climate performance measurement market. This paper aims to initiate improvements in the design of sustainability information systems. • Climate scores can lack accuracy, reliability, fairness, and impact. • Varying definitions of climate performance result in diverse methods and perimeters. • Scoring systems remain relatively opaque, leading to information asymmetry. • Despite exceptions, climate scores generally misalign with academic concerns. • Standardized, verified inputs and transparent, science-based weightings remain rare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] – Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright Label: Group: Ab Data: <i>Copyright of Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews is the property of Pergamon Press - An Imprint of Elsevier Science and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) |
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| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Identifiers: – Type: doi Value: 10.1016/j.rser.2025.116352 Languages: – Code: eng Text: English PhysicalDescription: Pagination: PageCount: 1 StartPage: N.PAG Subjects: – SubjectFull: Information asymmetry Type: general – SubjectFull: Corporate sustainability Type: general – SubjectFull: Benchmarking (Management) Type: general – SubjectFull: Carbon dioxide mitigation Type: general – SubjectFull: Greenhouse gases Type: general – SubjectFull: Environmental indicators Type: general – SubjectFull: Greenhouse gas analysis Type: general – SubjectFull: Test validity Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: A review of corporate climate ratings: Assessing divergence from scientific expectations. Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Kohler, Marine – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Da Costa, Pascal – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Cluzel, François – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Umbricht, Loïc IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 10 M: 01 Text: Jan2026:Part C Type: published Y: 2026 Identifiers: – Type: issn-print Value: 13640321 Numbering: – Type: volume Value: 226 Titles: – TitleFull: Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews Type: main |
| ResultId | 1 |
