Remove sources that following a review with independent third-party experts are determined to be biased and unreliable; limit mention of divestment activities if they do not create significant risk to a company and cannot be corroborated by additional approved sources; and remove references to the Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions campaign. Sustainalytics will immediately terminate the use of several sources, including the United Nations Human Rights Council, among others. As part of the sources review process, Sustainalytics will immediately suspend the use of WhoProfits.
COMPLETE*
- Identified and removed from controversy narratives and incident chains all references to the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign, the UN’s list of companies linked to Israeli settlements, and the UN Human Rights Council, as well as most references to divestment actions. (Sustainalytics removed 120 references from controversy incident chains and controversy narratives. In some instances, Sustainalytics upgraded the controversy rating of companies to reflect the removal of these references.)
- Suspended the use of WhoProfits.
Source: Press Release, Additional Commitment #3
Why it’s important: Sustainalytics utilizes a third-party database (LexisNexis) of more than 70,000 sources. We utilize these sources to identify possible incidents and controversies. Typically, controversies must be corroborated by other sources. Occasionally, we need to remove unreliable sources. This commitment honors that process by removing several sources that we now deem to be unreliable for our research purposes. The addition of an external expert to review our approach to sources will further strengthen our research processes.
How does Sustainalytics use sources? We use media, civil society, and nongovernmnetal organization reports to identify companies’ involvement in controversies.
What are controversies and controversy narratives? A controversy is an event or a collection of events related to an ESG topic. A controversy narrative is how the controversy is communicated within the context of the associated ESG topic.