Can environmental, social, and governance rating agencies favor business models that promote a more sustainable development?

Abstract

The development of sustainable finance favors the appearance of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) rating agencies as providers of ESG information and tools for measuring the contribution of companies to sustainable development. This paper attempts to show whether assessment methods adopted by eight ESG agencies are consistent with the Integrative ESG Sustainable Value Framework proposed according to the literature and sustainable business models (SBMs) conceptualization. An exploratory research analyzes whether these methods are identifying and/or driving more SBMs that contribute to promote the creation of sustainable value, seeking to generate economic, social, and environmental value. Results indicate that ESG rating agencies identify the short‐term results in the internal organizational perspective mainly in the environmental dimension, whereas social aspects are emphasized from the external organizational perspective. However, ESG rating agencies are not driving a more SBMs that must integrate ESG criteria in a holistic way with a short‐term and long‐term perspective.