ESG ratings, compared.
FTSE Russell, MSCI and Sustainalytics all rate Thai listed companies — on different scales, in different directions, measuring different things. But they share one method: they read your public, English-language disclosure, unsolicited. Here is how the three differ, and why the same disclosure moves them all.
- 01FTSE Russell — 0–5.0, the SET benchmark from 2026
- 02MSCI — AAA→CCC, industry-relative
- 03Sustainalytics — 0–100 risk, lower is better
กระบวนการรับรองนิติกรณ์เอกสารของ comparison.
Nine dimensions across the three unsolicited raters that assess Thai listed companies — and the one thing they all have in common.
| Dimension | FTSE RussellSET benchmark · 0–5.0 | กลยุทธ์การจัดอันดับ MSCI ESGAAA → CCC | การมีส่วนร่วมกับ Sustainalyticsrisk 0–100 · lower better |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scale / output | A numeric score, 0–5.0. Higher is better. | Seven letter bands, AAA → CCC. Higher is better. | An ESG Risk Rating, 0–100. Lower is better. |
| What it measures | ESG performance against a global, exposure-weighted model. | How well you manage the financially-material ESG risks and opportunities for your industry. | The magnitude of your unmanaged ESG risk. |
| Relative or absolute | Exposure-weighted — your sector sets the weighting and the bar. | Industry-relative — leader vs laggard against your peers. | Absolute — bands are comparable across industries. |
| How they get the data | Your public disclosure — no questionnaire. | Public disclosure + specialised and alternative data — no questionnaire. | Public disclosure + controversy screening — no questionnaire. |
| Language they read | English. | English. | English. |
| Who relies on it | The SET benchmark from 2026, FTSE4Good, index funds. | Global institutional investors, MSCI ESG indexes. | Morningstar, investors and lenders assessing risk. |
| Public lookup | Published via the SET. | Free search on the MSCI ESG Ratings site. | Free company lookup on the Sustainalytics site. |
| How you move it | Disclose more, in English, with methodology tags and base years. | Close the flagged key-issue gaps; resolve controversies. | Show active management of material risks; reduce controversies. |
| The catch for Thai issuers | Work published only in Thai reads as absent. | An unaddressed gap is scored, not excused. | Silence on a risk counts as unmanaged. |
Read them correctly.
The raters, answered.
01What is the difference between MSCI and Sustainalytics ESG ratings?+
They run in opposite directions and measure different things. MSCI gives a letter grade from AAA to CCC where higher is better, scored relative to your industry peers, and it measures how well you manage the ESG risks and opportunities that are financially material to your sector. Sustainalytics gives an ESG Risk Rating from 0 to 100 where lower is better, on an absolute scale, and it measures the magnitude of ESG risk you have left unmanaged. A company can look strong on one and weak on the other because the questions are not the same — MSCI asks “how well managed?”, Sustainalytics asks “how much risk remains?”.
02Is a higher Sustainalytics score better?+
No — and this trips people up constantly. Sustainalytics is a risk score, so a lower number is better: the bands run Negligible, Low, Medium, High and Severe risk. A Sustainalytics score of 12 (Low risk) is good; a 38 (High risk) is not. This is the opposite of MSCI and FTSE Russell, where a higher grade or number is better. When you cite your ratings, make the direction explicit so investors read them correctly.
03Which ESG rating matters most for a Thai listed company?+
From 2026, FTSE Russell is the most immediately consequential — the Stock Exchange of Thailand adopted FTSE Russell ESG Scores as its benchmark and launched the FTSE4Good Thailand Index. But MSCI and Sustainalytics matter independently, because global investors screening your stock rely on them regardless of the domestic benchmark. The common thread is that all three read your public, English-language disclosure without asking you anything — so the same disclosure quality moves all of them.
04Do we submit anything to these rating agencies?+
No. FTSE Russell, MSCI and Sustainalytics are unsolicited raters — they score you from your public disclosure, with no questionnaire and no chance to explain. This is the key shift from the old SET ESG Rating and from request-based schemes like CDP: there is no form to fill in. Whatever your annual report, 56-1 One Report and website disclose in English is the assessment. If material work exists only in the Thai filing, the rater cannot see it.
05How do we improve our ESG ratings across all three?+
Because all three read public English disclosure, one disclosure programme moves all of them: publish complete, framework-legible information in English; attach methodology, boundaries and base years to every metric so a rater can trust the numbers; address flagged controversies and known key-issue gaps; and make sure the English edition never says less than the Thai one. Othello builds the clause-mapped bilingual disclosure that does this, so the regulator and every rater read the same facts.
Turn ratings into a plan.
FTSE Russell vs SET
The 2026 benchmark change, dimension by dimension.
การเปิดเผยข้อมูลด้านสภาพภูมิอากาศตาม vs GRI vs ESRS
Which reporting framework applies to your company.
Thai ESG Statistics 2026
How many listed companies are rated — the sourced numbers.
Thai ESG Rating Check
Look up any SET-listed company’s ESG rating.
How FTSE Russell scores you.
One disclosure. Every rater.
Because FTSE Russell, MSCI and Sustainalytics all read the same public English disclosure, one clause-mapped bilingual programme moves all three — complete, methodology-tagged, and never saying less in English than in Thai.
