Company ESG Scores and Glass Box Methodology

Scores

What the company scores cover

Each company is assessed only on the issues that matter to its business. We use established frameworks to decide which issues those are and how they are scored.

Every metric is scored on the same 0 to 4 scale, so results can be compared directly across metrics, companies and sectors. The Integrum ESG Scoring Framework sets out how metric scores combine and convert into A to E grades.

Absolute and relative views

Red-to-green heatmaps show at a glance where a company is strong and where it carries risk. Each result can be read in absolute terms, against the 0 to 4 scale, or relative to the company’s peers (companies in the same subsector worldwide for Sustainability and Climate Risk metrics, and companies globally for Impact and Governance metrics), as explained in our Heatstrips and Peer Benchmarking Methodology.

Glass Box

The Glass Box

Many ESG ratings work as a black box: users see the final score but cannot work out precisely how it was reached or see the data behind the judgement. Integrum ESG takes the opposite approach. For every score on every metric, the Glass Box shows:

1. The summary A plain-language explanation of why the company has that score.
2. The excerpt The passage from the company’s disclosure that the score is based on.
3. The source page The full report page the excerpt comes from, so the finding can be checked in its original context.

Our proprietary AI models surface this data from company reports, which saves analysts the time they would otherwise spend searching for it, and an ESG analyst reviews every datapoint before it is published. Company data is updated within 10 days of a new report.

Worked example

Worked example: Netflix

In July 2025, our Glass Box showed the following scores for Netflix on the 0 to 4 scale:

The overall score of 2.01 is the average of the Sustainability and Governance scores. Behind each figure, the Glass Box showed the evidence:

• Competitive Behavior: Netflix acknowledges anti-competitive practice as an ESG issue but does not disclose a formal competition policy or report the number of anti-competitive incidents.
• Climate Stability: Netflix’s combined Scope 1 and 2 emissions rose from 25,790 to 50,488 tCO2e, the fifth-largest year-on-year rise among the Internet Media & Services companies we cover.

Read the full Glass Box summary.

Beyond risk

Impact, climate and sentiment

• Impact: alongside risk, we assess how each company is advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals using the Cambridge Impact Framework, as set out in our SDG Impact from Operations Methodology.
• Climate: for portfolios, the carbon footprint and global warming score are calculated automatically from the holdings’ company data.
• Sentiment: real-time ESG sentiment for any company on a watchlist, drawn from more than 47,000 news and social media sources, with alerts when sentiment shifts. Our ESG Controversies and Sentiment Methodology explains how it works.

Disclosure-based scores show how well a company manages its material issues. Sentiment shows whether events are testing that picture now. The two are reported separately so each can be read on its own terms.

Customisation

Customising the scores

Our standard ratings follow the published methodology. Clients can build their own view on top of them:

• Exclusions: set the activities and companies to exclude from a portfolio or universe.
• Scoring style: choose the style of scoring used across the Integrum ESG Platform.
• Metric weights: choose which metrics matter most to the firm or to a particular client.
• A proprietary scoring system: combine our data, licensed frameworks and raw scores into a scoring system unique to the firm.
• White-labelling: present the Integrum ESG Platform under the firm’s own branding to clients and consultants.

A client’s custom weightings change only that client’s view. Our standard ratings stay the same.

Access

Accessing the data

Coverage spans 6mn+ ISINs across companies and funds, alongside sovereign ESG scores for 182 countries.

Related methodologies

• Integrum ESG Core Methodologies
• Integrum ESG Scoring Framework
• Consensus ESG Score Methodology
• Controversial Activities Methodology
• ESG Controversies and Sentiment Methodology
• Private Markets ESG Data Capture Methodology
• EDCI Data Collection and Reporting Methodology
• SFDR Classification and PAI Methodology
• EU Sustainable Investment Audit Methodology
• EU Taxonomy Alignment Methodology
• TCFD Reporting and Climate VaR Methodology
• Portfolio Footprint Calculator Methodology
• Fund ESG Ratings Methodology
• Golden Retriever Data Extraction Methodology
• Heatstrips and Peer Benchmarking Methodology
• Proxy ESG Scores Methodology
• ESG Screening Methodology
• SDG Impact from Operations Methodology
• Sovereign ESG Scores Methodology
• Temperature Score and Implied Temperature Rise Methodology
• SDG Revenue Alignment Methodology