ESG ratings & benchmarks

Our priorities and performance

Key ratings and benchmarks

Our belief in sustainability as our core value, key responsibility and important business driver is reflected in the recognition we receive in Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) ratings and benchmarks.

The ESG ratings and benchmarks universe is experiencing rapid expansion and fragmentation with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) reporting that there are over 2,000 individual ESG reporting indicators requested by the approximately 600 ratings and benchmarks.

There are considerable differences in stakeholder focus and approach with some concentrating on management and strategy and others on performance and metrics. It is not possible for us to actively participate in every benchmark and rating so we prioritize our participation in those that are most useful to us and our stakeholders, specifically:

  • Transparency in methodology, enabling us and our stakeholders to understand and interpret the results.
  • Relying primarily on public information, ensuring that our stakeholders are all assessing us on the same, equal basis.
  • Does not create additional, unnecessary workload, enabling us to focus our efforts on engagement and performance improvement.
  • Are commonly completed by our industry peers to enable greater comparability.
  • Provides sufficient feedback loops to enable us to make sustainable year-on-year improvements and to provide input on future developments of the index.
  • Are recognized by our stakeholders as relevant and fit for purpose.

Prioritized benchmarks

In January 2021 DSM was assessed as an ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) leader within the chemicals industry by Sustainalytics, ranking number 2 out of 121 companies.

In March 2020 DSM was awarded a Platinum CSR Rating by EcoVadis. Our score of 75 points puts us in the top 1% of companies assessed on the platform in our industry.

In May 2020 ISS ESG reconfirmed DSM as ‘ Prime’ according to its rating methodology. DSM’s ISS QualityScore rating is a 1 (on a 10-point scale). A 1 indicates better disclosure and lower risk versus our industry group.

In June 2020 DSM was again confirmed as a constituent of the FTSE4Good Index. We have held a position on this list since 2004.

In June 2020 MSCI’s rating of DSM remained unchanged at AAA. Their report noted out increased focus on nutrition and health, our focus and investment in R&D and our strong carbon mitigation strategy..

DSM is a constituent of the Vigeo Eiris Benelux 20, Europe 120, Eurozone 120 and World 120 indices, based on the review performed in October 2020. Koninklijke DSM has been reconfirmed as a constituent of the Ethibel Sustainability Index (ESI) Excellence Europe and the Ethibel Sustainability Index (ESI) Excellence Global.

In December 2020 CDP assessed our climate strategy and water governance and strategy as A for Climate Change and A- for Water Security.

DSM believes that convergence towards a single set of ESG indicators is urgently needed and is actively engaging with other companies and organizations towards this end.

DJSI (Dow Jones Sustainability Index)

After careful consideration, in 2019 DSM decided to no longer actively participate in the DJSI assessment process. 

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