From 2026, the Stock Exchange of Thailand assesses its listed companies using FTSE Russell ESG Scores rather than the retired in-house SET ESG Ratings. The shift matters because FTSE Russell scores a company almost entirely on what it publicly discloses — not on a private questionnaire. For most SET-listed companies, that means the fastest way to raise a FTSE Russell ESG score is not to do more sustainability work, but to disclose the work they already do — completely, and in both Thai and English. This guide sets out where Thai companies lose points and a practical 2026 roadmap to recover them.

What the FTSE Russell ESG Score Measures

FTSE Russell’s ESG model rests on three pillars — Environmental, Social and Governance — broken into 14 themes and more than 300 individual indicators. Not every indicator applies to every company; FTSE selects the themes most material to your sector, so a typical company is assessed against roughly 125 indicators. Each is scored from 0 to 5 and rolled up into theme, pillar and an overall score.

The defining feature is that the model is disclosure-based. Analysts assess publicly available information — your annual and sustainability reports, the 56-1 One Report, your website, and other public sources. If a data point is not publicly disclosed, it scores zero, regardless of your actual performance. This is the single most important thing to understand: an undisclosed policy is, to the model, a non-existent policy.

Why Thai Companies Score Below Their Real Performance

Across SET-listed disclosures, the same gaps recur — and each one is a set of avoidable zeros:

• The English disclosure says less than the Thai. Many companies file a detailed Thai 56-1 but a thinner English version. FTSE Russell analysts work primarily from English, so points earned in Thai are simply lost.
• Policies exist but are not published. Human-rights, anti-corruption, supplier and environmental policies are approved internally but never posted publicly in full.
• Quantitative data is missing. Targets without baselines, Scope 3 emissions omitted, no time-bound reduction targets, or metrics buried deep in a PDF rather than presented in a structured, findable form.
• Governance detail is withheld. Board independence, committee mandates, remuneration linked to ESG, and risk oversight are frequently under-disclosed.
• There is no single ESG data home. Data scattered across documents is harder for an analyst — and a search engine — to locate and credit.

A Practical Roadmap to Improve Your FTSE Russell ESG Score

Raising the score is a disclosure programme, not a one-off exercise. A workable 2026 sequence:

1. Run a gap analysis against the FTSE indicators. Map your sector’s applicable themes and score each indicator honestly on what is currently public. This shows exactly where the zeros are.
2. Anchor it in a proper materiality assessment. A defensible double-materiality assessment tells you and your investors which themes deserve the most disclosure effort.
3. Complete your GHG inventory. A full Scope 1, 2 and 3 inventory, aligned to the GHG Protocol and TGO factors, underpins the Environmental pillar and your climate metrics.
4. Align climate disclosure to IFRS S2 / TCFD. Governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics & targets — the four-pillar climate disclosure FTSE and investors expect.
5. Publish governance and social policies in full. Move approved policies from the intranet to the public domain, with enough substance to be scored.
6. Reconcile Thai and English. Ensure the English discloses everything the Thai does — the highest-return, lowest-cost lever for most issuers. This is the core of bilingual ESG disclosure.
7. Sequence the work before the assessment window. FTSE assesses on a schedule; disclosures published after the cut-off will not count until the next cycle.

The Bilingual Disclosure Lever

For Thai companies, bilingual accuracy is not a translation nicety — it is a scoring mechanism. When FTSE Russell analysts read a thinner or looser English report, the company is scored on the weaker version. Reconciling the two languages so the English discloses the full substance of the Thai — same policies, same metrics, same targets — often recovers points a company has already earned in practice. This is where an ESG-literate bilingual disclosure partner pays for itself: not by inventing performance, but by making sure none of it is lost in translation. It also feeds directly into your ratings submissions across FTSE, MSCI and S&P.

What to Do in the Rest of 2026

If you have not yet been scored under the new model, treat the rest of 2026 as a disclosure sprint: complete the gap analysis, close the highest-value zeros first (usually English reconciliation and published policies), and lock your GHG and climate metrics before your next reporting cycle. Companies that treat the FTSE transition as a disclosure project — rather than a compliance afterthought — will see the largest score gains in the first full cycle.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does FTSE Russell score private questionnaire responses?

No. Unlike the retired SET ESG Ratings, the FTSE Russell model is disclosure-based — it scores publicly available information only. Undisclosed data scores zero, whatever your actual performance.

How many indicators apply to my company?

FTSE selects the themes and indicators most material to your sector, so a typical company is assessed against roughly 125 of the 300+ indicators, each scored from 0 to 5.

What is the fastest way to raise our FTSE Russell ESG score?

For most SET-listed companies: reconcile the English disclosure with the Thai so the English version discloses everything the Thai does, and publish already-approved policies. These recover points you have already earned in practice.

When are companies assessed?

FTSE Russell assesses on a defined schedule; disclosures must be public before the assessment window to be counted in that cycle — which is why sequencing matters.

📘 Free resource: Explore The FTSE 2026 Playbook Library — Othello’s ESG disclosure playbook plus focused editions for Thai banks, energy, property, healthcare, technology and more.

Related services from Othello International

Othello International is a Bangkok-based bilingual (EN↔TH) technical translation and ESG advisory firm. Related specialist services:

• ESG ratings submissions — FTSE, MSCI, S&P and SET
• ESG disclosure translation — IFRS S2, GRI, FTSE-ready
• materiality assessment — double-materiality, rater-ready
• GHG inventory — Scope 1/2/3, TGO-aligned
• climate & IFRS S2 disclosure — TCFD four-pillar