Credit ratings, research, and risk analysis provider Moody’s Investors Service announced today a significant expansion of its ESG profile and credit impact scores, adding a wide range of companies across sectors including auto, oil and gas, utilities, paper and forest products, media, telecom, semiconductors and technology, financial institutions, and multilateral development banks.

Moody’s integrates ESG considerations into the credit analysis of the companies, including each entity’s risk exposure and the degree of credit impact. The reports include two types of ESG scores, including issuer profile scores (IPS) and credit impact scores (CIS). IPS scores measure issuer’s exposure to ESG considerations that could be material to credit risk, while CIS gauges the impact those ESG considerations have on an issuer’s credit rating.

Moody’s initially launched the scores in January 2021, initially focusing on sovereign issuers, and has expanded its coverage throughout the year, adding sectors ranging from healthcare and electric and gas utilities to states, cities and counties. With today’s additions, the service now covers over 1,700 rated debt issuers globally.

Moody’s provided some of the findings from its new coverage, with the scores highlighting that ESG considerations, particularly carbon transition risks, have an overall negative impact on most automakers, oil & gas companies, and utilities, while social and governance risks tend to have a negative credit impact on the media and entertainment sectors.

Brian Cahill, Managing Director of ESG at Moody’s Investors Service, said:             

“Our continued rollout of ESG issuer profile and credit impact scores for companies, financial institutions, and governments assists in the transparent and more formalized evaluation of the influence of ESG considerations on credit risk.”