13-02-2024 10:30

Nordea included in the S&P Global Sustainability Yearbook for second year running

At Nordea, we have climbed in several of our key ESG ratings and are again included in the S&P Global Sustainability Yearbook, which places us among the top 15% sustainable banks globally.
Sun shining through the forest

The Yearbook is derived from the S&P Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA), which evaluates close to ten thousand companies globally. Only the top performers in each industry make it into the Yearbook, and Nordea is proud to be featured once again as the only Nordic bank. The S&P CSA is a key ESG rating tool used by investors and other financial stakeholders to assess companies’ environmental, social and governance performance. 

In 2023 we made significant improvements and climbed in several of our key ESG ratings. Companies are evaluated on a range of factors such as overall sustainability credentials, environmental policies, governance, employee welfare, security and approaches to social issues. The rating landscape is, however, somewhat ambiguous. We are currently focusing on four major ratings that are important for our key stakeholders: Morningstar Sustainalytics, the S&P CSA, MSCI ESG Rating, and ISS ESG Corporate Rating.   

In order to ensure a balanced reflection of our ESG activities, we engage with various internal subject matter experts and we also aim to continuously improve the transparency of our external reporting on the key topics emphasised by the rating agencies to make visible the great work we already do across the bank.   

This is how we were ranked in 2023

ISS ESG Corporate Rating: Nordea improved to Prime status, awarded to companies with an ESG performance above the sector-specific Prime threshold, which means that they fulfil ambitious absolute performance requirements. 

Morningstar Sustainalytics: Nordea was ranked the best among Nordic peers, resulting from a significant improvement in our rating, i.e. we moved from a previous medium risk score of 21.7 to a low risk score of 16.1. 

MSCI ESG Rating: Nordea kept its AA status (the next highest score you can achieve).

S&P CSA: In December we also got confirmation of having received the best score (66) among Nordic peers in the CSA rating.

Rating process at Nordea

Sustainability is integral to how we organise ourselves, run the bank and manage our risks. To gain further insights into our risks, opportunities and impacts related to the climate transition, we embed considerations of environmental, social and governance factors into our risk management frameworks and internal due diligence processes. The insights gained support our understanding of our customers’ business environment. This in turn puts us in a better position to support our customers’ transition and drive real impact.