CSRHub CEO Highlights Difficulty of Performing Well Across ESG Spectrum

Republished with Nareit permission.

Cynthia Figge, co-founder and CEO of CSRHub, joined Nareit for a video interview at Nareit’s 2018 ESG Forum in Seattle.

Figge described CSRHub, which she co-founded in 2007, as the “largest aggregation of ESG metrics worldwide.” CSRHub rates 17,000 companies on ESG measures and aggregates data from more than 500 sources, she noted.

According to Figge, companies that are high performers are performing well across all dimensions of ESG, “and that’s really tough to do because it’s very hard work.”

On a range of zero to 100, the lowest-ranked companies tend to be rated around 40 and the highest are ranked in the 70’s, Figge explained.

“Although there is some improvement, we’re not seeing companies move into the Holy Grail of 80 to 100,” Figge said. She noted that the bar for performance has gone up and more companies are reporting ESG than before, so there’s more pressure for disclosure.

“Companies that are not disclosing are getting penalized in ways that they weren’t before,” Figge said.

Cynthia Figge is a forerunner and thought leader in the corporate sustainability movement who co-founded EKOS International in 1996, one of the first consultancies integrating sustainability and corporate strategy. Cynthia is CEO and Cofounder of CSRHub. Cynthia has worked with major organizations including BNSF, Boeing, Coca-Cola, Dow Jones, and REI to help craft sustainability strategy integrated with business. She was an Officer of LIN Broadcasting/McCaw Cellular leading new services development, and started a new “Greenfield” mill with Weyerhaeuser. She serves as Advisor to media and technology companies, and is Chair of the Board of Compassionate Action Network. Cynthia has an MBA from Harvard Business School. Cynthia is based in the Seattle area.

CSRHub provides access to the world’s largest corporate social responsibility and sustainability ratings and information.  It covers over 17,900 companies from 135 industries in 133 countries. By aggregating and normalizing the information from 556 data sources, CSRHub has created a broad, consistent rating system and a searchable database that links millions of rating elements back to their source. Managers, researchers, API partners and activists use CSRHub to benchmark company performance, learn how stakeholders evaluate company CSR practices, and seek ways to improve corporate sustainability performance.