D&B ESG Intelligence

D&B ESG Intelligence or D&B ESG Insights Rankings help organizations across India, APAC, and global markets assess and manage environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks in both public and private companies. These insights support a wide range of use cases from third-party and operational risk management, procurement, and regulatory compliance, to corporate sustainability, insurance underwriting, credit risk evaluation, and capital markets decision-making.

By leveraging D&B’s trusted data and analytics, businesses can make informed decisions, meet ESG disclosure expectations, and strengthen their risk and compliance frameworks in line with global standards.

Dun & Bradstreet ESG Rankings are designed to help organizations across India, APAC, and global markets manage ESG and sustainability risks throughout their value chain. These rankings enable businesses to:

• Identify and avoid high-risk suppliers whose poor ESG practices could disrupt operations
• Stay compliant with evolving corporate and regulatory ESG requirements
• Protect brand reputation by meeting stakeholder and consumer expectations
• Integrate ESG factors into underwriting, lending, and financial decision-making
• Make informed investment choices based on ESG performance
• Target sustainability-focused customers through sales and marketing strategies

By using D&B ESG Rankings, companies can strengthen risk management, enhance transparency, and align with global ESG standards — essential for long-term growth and resilience.

ESG Data is collected from a host of public and consent based data sources. The following are the main data sources for the ESG Rankings dataset:

• Dun & Bradstreet proprietary business information
• Legal documents and government websitesv
• Global News - triggers for sustainability, Carbon emissions, employee welfare and other topics relevant
• Non-governmental organization (NGO) evaluations and data sources
• Third-party certifications such as ISO, LEED etc.
• Complany websites
• Company sustainability reports, annual reports, and filings
• Additional supplied ESG data from companies that is internally validated

Using ESG data to manage a company’s risk, such as through its suppliers, can help generate confidence that a company is unlikely to become caught up in regulatory or reputational issues, while having a stronger supply chain can act as a source of competitive advantage when it comes to winning new contracts.

ESG data is great for benchmarking committments, the journey each supplier has taken and whether their goals are aligned with your organiztion's committments and supply chain vision.

This data is also useful for benchmarking company ESG performance compared with industry or competitive peers; evaluating ESG performance of a company’s customers to inform sustainability strategies, including product development, customer engagement, or goal setting; evaluating ESG performance of a company’s supply chain to inform reporting, strategy, or target setting.

ESG data plays a vital role in helping organizations prioritize supplier engagement and risk management. It enables companies to monitor and engage with suppliers based on their risk profiles, identify ESG risk hotspots across different tiers of the supply chain, and align suppliers with corporate sustainability goals. Additionally, ESG insights support stronger relationships with low-risk suppliers by guiding decisions such as increasing spend, offering long-term contracts, or providing preferred terms all of which contribute to building a more resilient and responsible supply network.

Dun & Bradstreet builds on existing ESG efforts and its proprietary data assets to bring greater transparency to ESG performance across both public and private companies. The ESG dataset covers over 88 million global entities and is accessible through D&B’s Risk Analytics, Supplier Intelligence, and Compliance Intelligence solutions, as well as the ESG Insights Data Block, available in batch format.

This is a monitorable ranking system that enables customers to manage supplier and third-party sustainability risks effectively. It also helps identify and engage with preferred partners based on ESG insights, supporting smarter decisions in procurement, compliance, and risk management.

Yes, if ESG data is submitted to Dun & Bradstreet via the self-assessment, only authorized teams have access to your confidential information. This data is not shared with other customers or external parties. D&B only provides derived ESG scores and insights generated through its proprietary analysis, no sensitive data or individual components are disclosed.

ESG data, including ESG rankings, data depth, and topical scores, is available for use within Risk Analytics.

ESG intelligence serves as a strategic guide for companies to stay aligned with their commitments across environmental, social, and governance dimensions. ESG scores enable organizations to benchmark performance, assess supplier readiness for climate and social risks, and navigate the complexities of a VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) world with greater confidence and clarity.

ESG data is becoming increasingly critical for businesses in India, driven by evolving regulations and the urgent need to manage risks linked to climate change and social transformation. Key factors include:

• BRSR Framework: Under SEBI’s mandate, listed companies in India must disclose key ESG metrics, including mandatory reporting across their supply chains.
• Risk Management: With rising threats from extreme weather events like floods, droughts, and water scarcity, Indian businesses must prioritize climate risk mitigation to ensure operational continuity.
• Global Trade Pressures: As countries tighten sustainability standards, exporters face restrictions on products that don’t meet ESG thresholds. Measuring ESG performance is essential for global competitiveness.
• Stakeholder Expectations: Investors and consumers now look beyond financials, expecting companies to actively address environmental and social challenge, especially climate change as part of their long-term value creation.

D&B's ESG Rankings dataset leverages Dun & Bradstreet data, which is real data collected on and from companies. Other data sources, such as news and company reports, are triangulated with additional data collected by Dun & Bradstreet in order to confirm their veracity. The variable, GHG emissions, which is infrequently disclosed is modeled using predictive machine learning algorithms for a subset of companies using numerous firm-specific variables.

Some of the Factors evaluated include:

• Natural resources management such as Water management, energy management, waste management
• Climate risk, Environmental compliance among others
• Social factors include labour relations, focus on health and safety, diversity and inclusion, cyber risk, Corporate philanthropy and community engagement and others
• Governance based factors include Business Ethics, board accountability, Business Transparency among others