Standard Ethics Aei

Standard Ethics
Industry Ratings
Headquarters Brussels and Rome, Belgium and Italy
Website Standard Ethics

Standard Ethics is a Sustainability Rating Agency based in Brussels. It is a European Economic Interest Grouping (EEIG), a non profit organisation, which aims at promoting company ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Socially responsible investing (SRI) and Corporate Governance according to the principles and guidelines of the United Nations, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the European Union. Before Standard Ethics methodology was applied in 2001, sustainability assessments were designed according to the model of stakeholder theory. Standard Ethics, for the first time, applied to Sustainability Ratings a system of non-subjective and well-defined values,[1] therefore it does not participate in the creation of new inputs on Corporate Social Responsibility and only promotes the interpretations supplied by the UN, the OECD and the EU.

Contents

Sustainability Ratings

The Sustainability Ratings issued by Standard Ethics are the result of statistical and scientific work carried out to take a snapshot of the economic world in relation to ethical principles promoted by the large international organisations. This entails a twofold commitment: supplying a frame of reference for studies on Corporate Social Responsibility and disseminating and promoting a culture based on company ethics in relation to the UN, OECD and EU principles by highlighting the most virtuous cases. Under no circumstances, therefore, Standard Ethics, through publishing Ratings, intends to solicit the purchase or sale of securities by any issuer.

Final Assessment

Since 2002,[2] the final assessments by Standard Ethics on the level of conformity of companies and nations to the baseline ethical values are expressed with eight different Ratings: EEE; EEE-; EE+; EE; EE-; E+; E; E-.

Those nations and companies that do not comply with the values expressed by the United Nations do not receive ratings and are included amongst the “suspended” issuers.

For the last ten years the main Italian listed companies have been under observation by Standard Ethics.[3] It is the most important public monitoring on Ethical Ratings and CSR in Europe. Standard Ethics methodology it is also adopted by several organizations to disseminate CSR principles (for instance, the CEEP Guidelines on CSR, published in 2006, is based on the CEEP European project Discerno and the Standard Ethics methodology).[4][5]

Nations Rating

The following 43 listings make up the last Rating issuance on Nations (May 12, 2011):

Country Rating Outlook Date
 Argentina 18E+ May 2011
 Australia 21EE+ May 2011
 Austria 22EEE- May 2011
 Belgium 22EE- May 2011
 Brazil 19EE- May 2011
 Bulgaria 19EE- May 2011
 Canada 21EE+ May 2011
 Chile 18E+ May 2011
 China 16E- May 2011
 Czech Republic 17EE May 2011
 Denmark 23EEE Negative May 2011
 Egypt 16E- Positive May 2011
 Estonia 19EE- May 2011
 Finland 23EEE May 2011
 France 22EEE- May 2011
 Germany 22EEE- May 2011
 United Kingdom 22EEE- May 2011
 Greece 20EE May 2011
 Hungary 19EE- Negative May 2011
 Iceland 23EEE May 2011
 India 17E May 2011
 Ireland 22EEE- May 2011
 Israel 18E+ May 2011
 Italy 19EE- Negative May 2011
 Japan 20EE May 2011
 Luxembourg 21EE+ May 2011
 Mexico 20EE Negative May 2011
 Netherlands 22EEE- May 2011
 New Zealand 22EEE- May 2011
 Norway 23EEE May 2011
 Poland 18E+ May 2011
 Portugal 21EE+ May 2011
 Romania 19EE- May 2011
 Russia 17E May 2011
 Slovenia 21EE+ May 2011
 South Africa 19EE- May 2011
 South Korea 18E+ May 2011
 Spain 21EEE- May 2011
 Sweden 23EEE May 2011
 Switzerland 21EE+ May 2011
 Turkey 18E+ May 2011
 USA 21EE+ Positive May 2011

References

  1. ^ Massimo Pollifroni, "The “S-EPI MODEL”: A Theoretical Model that Links the E-Government Processes to the Instruments of the PSSR", eGovernment Workshop ’05 (eGOV05), September 13, 2005 [1]
  2. ^ CSR Magazine, October 2002, p. 35
  3. ^ Massimo Pollifroni, “Globalization and Glocalization: an Epistemological Analysis from Business Economics”, Association of Business Historians ABH Conference 2006 “Globalization and Business History” Queen Mary, University of London, 16th - 17th June 2006
  4. ^ “Discerno Plus, CEEP-CSR Label: "Guidelines for the evaluation of best practise”[2]
  5. ^ “EU INITIATIVES. Utilities pushed: Corporate Social Responsibility in Rome”, New Europe - The European Weekly, July 6–12, 2008, p. 11" [3]

External links