The grant is awarded by the Nasdaq Nordic Foundation for 2 years, and the project already started. The interest in so-called ESG (Environmental Social and Government) issues has been increasing dramatically in the past few years in research and practice alike, but there is no common standard for how companies can approach these major aspects of Corporate Sustainability (CS) yet.

So far, the financial sector mostly uses different ESG ratings, which are produced by independent analysis firms that base their ratings on the companies’sustainability reporting and additional surveys sent out to the companies. Ratings for the same company can diverge considerably depending on the rating agency, and often it is hard to judge the reliability of data and the quality of the rating.

The objective for the sustainability index is thus to develop a new approach to measure corporate sustainability, based on appropriate and rigorous academic methods and at the same time meeting the requirements from financial institutions. The researchers will collaborate closely with industry partners, most prominentlt AP1 and SEB as external partners.