Shauna joined the BD team at Integrum ESG in 2021, having previously worked in similar roles within Fintech companies. She holds a BA in English and New Media Studies from the University of Limerick, Ireland.
Sovereign ESG data measures the conditions in a country: its energy supply, its environment, its people and its institutions. Those conditions affect a government's credit. They also affect the companies that operate there.
Integrum ESG has just launched an improved version of its sovereign dataset. It covers 182 countries and uses the latest published figures from sources such as the World Bank, the World Health Organization and the United Nations.
We have used it to look at five countries that matter to investors well beyond their own markets. Each is central to a global industry: South Korea to memory chips, Vietnam and India to manufacturing, Indonesia to nickel and Chile to copper.
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South Korea ranks 14th of 182 countries on Integrum ESG's sovereign score, but imports 84.6% of its energy, a cost that reaches its chipmakers and their customers.
Vietnam's grid is cleaner than China's or India's, but its water and sanitation lag behind its role as a manufacturing hub.
India generates less than a fifth of its electricity from renewables, as more of Apple's iPhone assembly moves there.
Indonesia: one quota decision this year shut the world's largest nickel mine for about four months.
Chile has the highest water stress in the Americas, which has pushed Antofagasta to take most of its water from the sea.
Integrum ESG has launched an improved version of its Sovereign Intelligence dataset, which covers 182 countries and 56 sub-metrics and sits alongside company and fund data for 6mn+ ISINs.
Sovereign ESG data is usually associated with government bond analysis. It is also useful to investors in companies, because a company's risk depends on where it operates as well as where it is listed.
A chipmaker in South Korea pays for the country's imported energy. A brand whose shoes are made in Vietnam relies on Vietnam's grid. A miner in Chile depends on Chile's water. Company disclosures show a company's own emissions and water use, but not the national conditions behind them. Sovereign data fills that gap, so the conditions a company depends on can be read alongside the figures it reports.
Each profile explains why the country is in focus, then sets out its rank on our overall sovereign score and the sub-metrics behind it. It ends with listed companies whose operations or supply chains run through the country, using the figures those companies report.
RANK 14 OF 182 · FTSE WGBI INCLUSION
We start with South Korea. Its government bonds are joining FTSE Russell's World Government Bond Index this year, in monthly tranches from April to November.
The headline picture is strong. South Korea ranks 14th of 182 countries on Integrum ESG's overall sovereign score, and its R&D spending of 4.9% of GDP is the second highest in the dataset. Energy and demographics are the weak points:
Net imports meet 84.6% of its energy needs, second only to Japan in the G20
Renewables supply 9.7% of electricity, the third lowest share in the G20
UN projections give it an old-age dependency ratio of 75.6 by 2050, the highest of all 182 countries
Energy matters most for Korea's chipmakers, because making chips uses a lot of electricity. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix run their largest plants in Korea. Both have committed to 100% renewable electricity through RE100, a demanding target where renewables supply less than a tenth of power.
SK Hynix reports that 31% of its energy now comes from renewables. Samsung Electronics reports Scope 2 emissions, from the energy it buys, of 9.5 Mt CO2e, roughly double its Scope 1 emissions.
The exposure passes down the supply chain too. SK Hynix is a key supplier of memory for Nvidia's AI chips, according to TrendForce, so Korea's energy mix reaches the costs and emissions of its customers.
For new holders of Korean bonds, the overall score reflects strong institutions. The energy and ageing data show where the long-term pressure sits, for the state and for its biggest exporters.
For the company data used alongside these profiles, from Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions to governance and controversies, see our Company Intelligence page.
RANK 80 OF 182 · FTSE EMERGING MARKET UPGRADE
Vietnam is next because it has just been promoted to emerging market status. FTSE Russell moved it up from frontier on 21 September, with its weight phased in through September 2027. Funds tracking those indices will build positions over the coming year.
Vietnam ranks 80th of 182 countries on our overall score. Its grid is cleaner than those of its manufacturing rivals, but its basic infrastructure has gaps:
Renewables supply 42.3% of electricity, against 33.7% in China and 19.6% in India
Everyone has access to electricity, but net imports already meet 34% of energy needs
Safely managed drinking water reaches 58.6% of the population, and safely managed sanitation 45.4%
These conditions matter well beyond Vietnam. Its factories made about 51% of Nike Brand footwear in fiscal 2025, according to Nike's annual report. Samsung Electronics has made smartphones in northern Vietnam since 2009.
That makes the grid a supply chain issue. In June 2023, power cuts during a heatwave hit industrial parks hosting Samsung Electronics, Foxconn and Canon factories.
The grid also shapes the footprint of brands that make goods there. Nike reports Scope 3 emissions of 7.4 Mt CO2e, more than 99% of its total, and much of that value chain runs through Vietnam.
For investors arriving through the FTSE upgrade, Vietnam's data describes the country itself and the conditions some of the world's largest brands operate in.
RANK 109 OF 182 · EMERGING MARKET BOND INDICES
India is included for two reasons. Companies are moving manufacturing there as they diversify away from China. Its government bonds also now sit in all three major emerging market bond indices, most recently FTSE Russell's in September 2025.
India ranks 109th of 182 countries on our overall score. Its factories run on a grid still largely powered by fossil fuels:
Renewables supply 19.6% of electricity
Net imports meet 36.1% of energy needs
Average PM2.5 exposure is 54.1 µg/m³, more than ten times the WHO guideline and the 11th highest of 182 countries
Apple shows how this reaches a company listed elsewhere. It assembled around 55 million iPhones in India in 2025, about a quarter of its output, according to Bloomberg. Foxconn and Tata Electronics do most of that work.
Apple's own operations produce 56,300 tCO2e of Scope 1 and 2 emissions. Its value chain produces 15.2 Mt of Scope 3 emissions, more than 99% of its footprint.
As more of that value chain moves to India, more of it runs on a grid where renewables supply less than a fifth of power. Apple is listed in the US, but India's energy data is becoming part of its emissions profile.
RANK 98 OF 182 · 66.6% OF MINED NICKEL
Indonesia is included because it dominates nickel, a key input for stainless steel and electric vehicle batteries. It produced 66.6% of the world's mined nickel in 2025, according to S&P Global.
That output has a cost. Indonesia ranks 98th of 182 countries on our overall score, and the environment is its weakest pillar:
Global Forest Watch data shows annual tree cover loss of 1.16 million hectares, the sixth highest of 172 countries
Forest cover down 17.7% over the long term
Renewables supply 19.3% of electricity
Policy is a second risk. In February the government set an initial 2026 quota of 12 million tonnes of ore for Weda Bay, the world's largest nickel mine, down from 42 million in 2025. The mine ran out of quota in late May and began restarting gradually in September.
Two listed companies show how far that reaches. Eramet, listed in Paris, owns 38.7% of Weda Bay, so the cut fell directly on its output. Ford holds a stake in the Pomalaa nickel project, built to supply electric vehicle batteries.
Both companies report value chain emissions far above those of their own operations, and Indonesian nickel sits in those value chains. Eramet's Scope 3 emissions are more than eight times its Scope 1 and 2. Ford's are more than 150 times.
For investors in either company, a quota decision in Jakarta can matter as much as anything in the company's own disclosures.
Sovereign data shows forest loss at country level. For the exposure of more than 3 million company assets to protected areas and sensitive ecosystems, see our Biodiversity Intelligence page.
RANK 30 OF 182 · LARGEST COPPER PRODUCER
We end with Chile, the world's largest copper producer and a major source of lithium for batteries.
Chile ranks 30th of 182 countries on our overall score, third in Latin America and the Caribbean. Renewables supply 71.7% of its electricity, and its score of 63 out of 100 on Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index is among the better results in the region.
Water is the weak point. On WRI Aqueduct's measure, Chile's baseline water stress score of 4.47 out of 5 is the highest in the Americas.
That falls on both of Chile's main mining industries. Antofagasta, the London-listed copper miner, opened a desalination plant at its Los Pelambres mine in 2024 after drought cut output there. That year, 58% of the water it extracted came from the sea.
Albemarle, listed in New York, faces the same problem in lithium. It produces lithium by evaporating brine at the Salar de Atacama and reports total water withdrawals of 24.8 million cubic metres across its operations.
Neither company is listed in Chile, but Chile's water data is the clearest guide to a risk both carry.
Every sovereign score and sub-metric value in this article comes from the new version of Integrum ESG's sovereign dataset. It covers 182 countries and 56 sub-metrics, which are grouped into 36 metrics and three pillars: environmental, social and governance.
Each sub-metric uses the latest release from a recognised public source. Sources include the World Bank, the World Health Organization, the United Nations, the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, the Energy Institute, WRI Aqueduct, Global Forest Watch and Transparency International.
The sub-metrics cover five areas:
Nature and biodiversity: species habitat, nitrogen management, protected land and tree cover loss
Pollution and resources: air quality, water stress and natural resource depletion
Energy and infrastructure: energy import dependency, renewable electricity, transport, water and sanitation
People: health coverage, education, social protection, child labour and ageing to 2050
Institutions: corruption, democracy, public services, resource rents and conflict
Each sub-metric is scored against regional peers. The scores then roll up into metric, pillar and overall scores, and the rankings in this article use the overall score.
Sovereign scores sit alongside our company and fund data, which covers 6mn+ ISINs. Government bonds therefore feed into a portfolio's overall score with its equities and funds.
Our scoring methods for countries, companies and funds are published on our website, including a dedicated guide to sovereign scores.
Investors use sovereign data to answer questions that a credit rating does not:
Which countries in my portfolio carry the most environmental, social or governance risk?
What is driving each country's score?
How does each country compare with its regional peers?
How do my government bond holdings affect my portfolio's overall score?
See the full profile of every country you hold and the sub-metrics behind each score. More on the dataset is on our Sovereign Intelligence page.
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