Resources | EU ESG Ratings Regulation
Our Methodologies and Regulatory Position
GIST Impact supports Regulation (EU) 2024/3005 on the transparency and integrity of ESG rating and associated activities. Greater accountability and comparability across the ESG data market - including ESG data and intelligence, which goes beyond backward-looking, subjective ESG ratings - is overdue. The regulation's emphasis on transparent methodological disclosure reflects how we have chosen to operate since our founding - well before these regulations came to be.
Regulation
(EU) 2024/3005
Headquarters
Switzerland
EU legal presence
The Netherlands
ESMA authorisation
Formal application in progress
GIST Impact is headquartered in Switzerland and serves clients across the European Union. We have established a legal presence in the Netherlands and are progressing our formal application for European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) authorisation.
Independence, methodological transparency and traceability of our disclosed and estimated data have always underpinned our analytics. Every disclosed data point we publish is traceable to source, and our methodologies, available below, are similarly transparent.
Methodology library
Our methodologies
Transparency is very important to us as a company. As a result, we have made many methodology documents publicly available below. We have laid out methodology documents for each product domain in turn, starting with rating / score-based methodologies that are required to be disclosed under EU ESG Ratings Regulation. A wider set of supporting methodologies that we have chosen to share in the interests of transparency follows.
Rating / score
Disclosed under EU ESG Ratings Regulation
Supporting
Shared voluntarily in the interests of transparency
Nature & Biodiversity
Actionable (i.e., financially material and auditable), scientifically robust insights supported by an extensive network of data partnerships, allowing for effective risk and impact mitigation.
2 methodologies
Core documents
Supporting documents
Supporting
Species Threat Abatement and Restoration
Supporting
Forest IQ data
Supporting
Ecosystem Integrity (MSA, BII, Land Area, Pop Density)
Supporting
Dependencies on Ecosystem Services
Supporting
Pressures on Ecosystems
Supporting
Impact on Biodiversity (PDF and LCE)
Supporting
Water Risk
Supporting
Areas of Biodiversity Importance (KBA, WDPA, IUCN Red List)
Supporting
Ecosystem Condition (BII)
Supporting
Ocean Sensitive Areas
Supporting
Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities
Climate Risk
Robust climate risk models that interface with your other sustainability needs (e.g., nature risk). Option to choose scenarios, time series, etc.
2 methodologies
Impact on Society
Impact is in our name, and our approach is based on award-winning foundations. Our science and economics quantify real-world impact and provide a holistic measure of performance.
1 methodology
Regulatory & Voluntary Reporting
Robust, transparent, audit-ready data to enable all of your sustainability reporting needs, seamlessly integrating GIST data.
2 methodologies
Data Foundations
Transparent proprietary data at fair cost, with AI compatibility and complete traceability across 10+ years of data for our 20,000+ companies and 3M+ assets.
1 methodology
Corporate structure
In line with the regulation's disclosure requirements, details of our corporate and ownership structure are available on request. Please contact us for more information.
Conflicts of Interest
Our Conflict of Interest Policy sets out how GIST Impact identifies, prevents and manages conflicts of interest in its ESG rating activities, so that our ratings stay independent, objective and free from commercial or outside influence. It explains how we keep rating work separate from our other business activities, the rules our staff follow (for example on personal investments, gifts and fee negotiations), and who oversees these safeguards. You can read our Conflicts of Interest Policy here.
Pricing policy
GIST Impact sets the prices for its ESG ratings and related data products using clear, objective factors. These include how many companies are covered, the level of detail provided, how the data is delivered, and how it will be used. Prices are never influenced by a company's rating or by who that company is, so our ratings and scores stay independent and every client is treated fairly. If you would like to understand more about how we calculate fees, when discounts apply, and how pricing is governed in line with the EU ESG Ratings Regulation (2024/3005) you can access our pricing policy here.
Other policies
In the interests of being completely transparent, the following policies are also available for download:
Feedback and complaints
Before we issue a rating or score on a company for the first time, we notify the company during its working hours and at least two full working days in advance, so that it can tell us of any factual errors. Additionally, on request, we can provide the company, free of charge, with the information and data we have used that relate to it, including the date the data was last updated. This process is for fact-checking only; it does not provide for consultation on our methodologies or rating outcomes.
If you believe that one of our ratings or scores is not in line with the data sources given, or is not consistent with our methodology documentation, you are welcome to provide feedback to us. You can do this by emailing [email protected] and providing the details of your feedback or complaint: your name and contact details, description of the complaint, the rated entity/product concerned along with a description of the issue, and any supporting evidence if available. Further details about our complaints policy are available here.