S&P Global Ratings began publishing alphanumeric ESG credit indicators for certain sectors and asset classes of publicly rated entities in 2021.

However, less than three years into this novel method, S&P has chosen to discontinue the ESG credit indicators, removing them immediately from its reports.

On Friday 4 August 2023, in a brief , the agency announced that while it remains dedicated to offering the market clarity on how environmental, social and governance (ESG) aspects shape its creditworthiness evaluations, it won’t be releasing any new or revising ESG credit indicators anymore.

S&P Global Ratings reasoned that, “after further review, we have determined that the dedicated analytical narrative paragraphs in our credit rating reports are the most effective means of providing detail and transparency on ESG credit factors material to our rating analysis. These will remain integral to our reports.”

The firm will be updating its external websites and platforms to reflect this change.