S&P Global CSA · Corporate Sustainability Assessment and the Dow Jones indices
S&P Global CSA assessment consulting for a score that reflects what you really do.
Answer the Corporate Sustainability Assessment with disclosed, defensible evidence and a clear view of where the points are lost. Sterling's expert and experienced consultants map your industry questionnaire, close the disclosure gaps and prepare the submission with your team, in 60+ countries. The CSA is an assessment, not a certificate: S&P Global scores you from 0 to 100. We ensure a complete, evidence-backed CSA submission for our clients.
- Fixed scope, one proposal: consulting, Effivity software, Sterling Academy access and internal auditor training, as applicable to your standard, in one proposal
- A team of expert and experienced sustainability consultants, supporting management systems and disclosure programmes across sectors and countries since 2003
- The Sterling Promise: 100% on-time completion, 100% success, 8,100+ client engagements. Sterling does not score; S&P Global assesses and S&P Dow Jones Indices selects index members
8,100+ client engagements in 60+ countries.
Sustainability client experience
What it is
What is the S&P Global CSA and what is it used for?
The Corporate Sustainability Assessment is S&P Global Sustainable1's annual evaluation of corporate sustainability performance, running since 1999. A company answers a questionnaire written for its industry, supports its answers with evidence, and S&P Global turns the result into a score between 0 and 100. That score feeds the S&P Global ESG Scores sold to investors, the selection of companies for sustainability and climate indices run by S&P Dow Jones Indices, and the annual Sustainability Yearbook.
The best known of those indices is the family once called the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices; inclusion is decided on the index rules, not requested. For most companies the practical value of the CSA is closer to home: an external, peer-ranked view of where their sustainability management is strong, where it is undocumented and where investors will see a gap.
Current cycle. The questionnaire and methodology are reviewed every year; the current scoring rules are set out in the S&P Global ESG Scores Methodology dated September 2026. The 2026 questionnaire opened on 1 April 2026, with official invitations sent between February and June. Since 10 February 2025 the DJSI family has been named the Dow Jones Best-in-Class Indices.
Who it is for
Who needs an S&P Global CSA assessment?
S&P Global invites companies that are eligible for its Dow Jones and benchmark indices, and any other company can ask for a score. The request usually reaches Sterling from one of four directions:
- An invitation has arrived. A listed company, or one newly added to a benchmark, receives the invitation and has to decide whether to respond or be assessed on its public information alone.
- Investors or the board want a better score. The last result sat below industry peers, and nobody can say which criteria cost the points or why.
- A customer, lender or tender asks for an external ESG score. A company outside the invited universe wants a recognised benchmark and considers a Public, Confidential or Provisional score through CSA as a Service.
- A parent group reports on every subsidiary. Group sustainability needs consistent indicators, policies and evidence from each business unit before the group questionnaire is answered.
Requirements
What are the main S&P Global CSA requirements?
The CSA has no clauses to conform to; it asks questions and awards points. Each question scores towards a criterion, criteria roll up into three dimensions, and the dimensions make the headline score. The areas below describe that structure at title level; the weighting and the questions themselves depend on your industry questionnaire, which is reviewed every year.
- Governance & Economic dimension: how the company is governed, how it manages risk, conduct and its economic relationships.
- Environmental dimension: how environmental policy, performance and impacts are managed and measured.
- Social dimension: how the company treats its workforce, communities and the people affected by its operations.
- General criteria: Corporate Governance, Human Capital Management, and Risk and Crisis Management, applied across industries.
- Industry-specific criteria: the risks and opportunities of your industry, based on the GICS classification.
- Public disclosure: most questions expect publicly available information; internal documents are accepted for some, with extra credit where the information is public.
- Media and Stakeholder Analysis: S&P Global monitors controversies, and a material case can lower the score, even between cycles.
What does useful CSA evidence look like?
A board-approved policy with a named owner, indicators with units, boundaries, years and coverage, targets with progress against them, and a public report or web page that says the same thing. We help you find which answers lack the proof, fix the underlying records rather than the wording, and keep the evidence in Effivity so next year's submission starts from current data.
Assessment process
How do you get assessed in the S&P Global CSA?
S&P Global runs the assessment and awards the score; S&P Dow Jones Indices applies its own rules to decide index membership. Sterling prepares your organisation for both and takes no part in either decision.
- 01Confirm your route into the CSA.Check whether you are in the invited universe, or whether a score through CSA as a Service suits your purpose, and who will own the response.
- 02Gap analysis: compare your evidence with the industry questionnaire.Question by question, identify what is managed but undisclosed, what is missing and where last year's score fell short.
- 03Close the gaps that carry the most weight.Approve policies, complete indicators, set targets and publish the information the questions expect to find in the public domain.
- 04Book your window and submit through the portal.Reserve a participation window in the Sustainability Reporting Portal, answer each question and attach documents, links and comments as evidence.
- 05Receive the score and plan the next cycle.S&P Global publishes the result; index reviews follow the CSA timeline, and the 2026 Dow Jones Best-in-Class review took effect on 1 May 2026.
Check the route before you sign. Only S&P Global scores the CSA and only S&P Dow Jones Indices decides index membership; confirm any claim about scores or index status on their own websites. Treat any offer of a "DJSI certificate" or guaranteed index inclusion as a warning sign. The certification buyer's checklist
Cost
How much does S&P Global CSA support cost?
The effort depends more on your starting point than on your size. A company with a current public report needs targeted work on the questions it is losing; a first-time respondent may need policies, indicators and disclosures built first.
| Cost component | What affects it |
|---|---|
| Consulting and preparation | The industry questionnaire, your disclosure maturity, the number of business units and how much of the work your team takes on (Design™ or Drive™) |
| Internal resources | Time from indicator owners, approvers and the sustainability lead, and any reporting or policy work that has to be done |
| Software and learning | Included in a Sterling engagement: Effivity for the evidence and Sterling Academy access for your people, with users and access period confirmed in the proposal |
What moves the price
- Your industry questionnaire and how many criteria apply
- How much of the evidence is already public
- The quality of indicator data across sites and subsidiaries
- Whether policies, targets and owners exist or must be agreed
- The time left before your participation window
What a Sterling proposal always shows
- Scope, deliverables, assumptions and exclusions, in writing
- What your team provides and when
- Effivity, training and Academy access itemised at no additional cost
- Payment milestones linked to deliverables
- One all-inclusive proposal. No surprises, ever
Timeline
How long does S&P Global CSA preparation take?
You choose your participation window in the portal, so the calendar is partly yours to set. What takes time is the evidence: a policy must be approved, a target set and a disclosure published before a question can score. As an estimate, a first response usually needs three to six months of preparation; a company improving an existing score can often work within a shorter plan focused on the weakest criteria.
| Phase | What determines the pace |
|---|---|
| Route and gap analysis | Access to last year's scorecard, the questionnaire and the people who hold the data |
| Closing the gaps | Policy approvals, indicator collection across sites and the time needed to set targets |
| Disclosure | Publishing updated reports or web pages before the answers that rely on them |
| Submission | The participation window you book and internal sign-off of the final answers |
Tell us your intended window and any investor or board date at the start. We will say what can be ready in time and which improvements belong to next year's cycle.
Your engagement
What your S&P Global CSA engagement includes
Sterling does not score, rate or certify; S&P Global assesses the submission and S&P Dow Jones Indices applies the index rules. Our work is the preparation, organised through the Sterling OS™ phases.
Design™: guided support
Your team owns the response; we supply the gap analysis, question-level guidance, templates and reviews.
Drive™: managed support
The alternative to Design™: we lead the preparation and your people supply decisions, data and approvals.
Effivity ISO & GRC software
Automate™: policies, indicators and evidence kept in Effivity, included with the engagement at no additional cost.
Training for everyone
Internal auditor training, as applicable to your standard, and preferential Sterling Academy access, including complimentary awareness training for your people as part of the engagement.
Submission support
A final review of answers and attached evidence before you submit in the portal.
Sustain™ after the score
The scorecard turned into the improvement plan for the next cycle, with data kept current through the year.
Scores are awarded by S&P Global, and index membership is decided by S&P Dow Jones Indices.
Often combined with
Standards organisations pair with S&P Global CSA and DJSI
- AA1000AA1000 implementation and requirements: apply the AccountAbility Principles and SES, then prepare for AA1000AS v3 assurance by a licensed provider.
- B Corp CertificationB Corp certification made clear: the new B Lab Standards, Foundation Requirements, seven Impact Topics, the audit route and how Sterling prepares you.
- CBAMCBAM compliance and requirements explained: authorised declarant status, the 50-tonne threshold, verified embedded emissions and how Sterling helps you prepare.
- CDPCDP disclosure consulting: a complete, evidenced response on climate, forests and water, prepared with your team.
- CSDDDCSDDD compliance and requirements after Omnibus I: scoping, risk-based due diligence, complaints, monitoring and the 2029 start, delivered in one all-inclusive proposal.
- CSRD / ESRSCSRD and ESRS Sustainability reporting consulting: double materiality, ESRS disclosures and data prepared for limited assurance of your statement.
Effivity · ISO and GRC software, included in every engagement
How Effivity helps you fulfil, automate and simplify the requirements of the S&P Global CSA.
Every Sterling CSA engagement includes Effivity, the ISO and GRC automation platform built by the Sterling group and used in 50+ countries. Your consultant sets up the workspace within the agreed scope, so policies, risks, indicators, audits, incidents, training records and management review sit in one place, and the evidence behind each answer is found in minutes rather than chased by e-mail. Sterling consulting clients get their Effivity subscription included with the engagement, at no additional cost.
Policies, roles and approvals
Each policy with its owner, approval date and review cycle, so the answer to "is it board-approved and current?" is on screen.
Risks and opportunities
A register with owners, treatments and review dates that shows risk management working, not just described.
Environmental indicators and targets
Energy, emissions, water and waste figures by site and year, with units and boundaries, against the targets you have set.
Health, safety and incidents
Incidents, investigations and corrective actions recorded as they happen, giving the social answers a traceable history.
Competence, awareness and training
Training records for every person, linked to Sterling Academy, so workforce questions are answered from data.
Supplier evaluation
Supplier assessments and follow-up in one list, ready for the questions on how you manage sustainability beyond your own sites.
Documents and controlled information
Versions, approvals and publication status for reports and policies, so what you submit matches what you publish.
Internal audit and management review
Audit programmes, findings and review decisions that show management oversight of the whole programme year-round.
What this means at submission
When the questionnaire asks for a policy, a target, a trend or proof of oversight, the owner, date and document are already linked in Effivity. After the score is published, Sustain™ runs in the same workspace, so the next cycle begins with the gaps already assigned.
In your engagement
- Subscription included with the engagement, at no additional cost
- Configured by your Sterling consultant within the agreed scope
- Your documents, records and registers migrated, not retyped
- Admin and user training for your team
- Modules for QMS, EMS, OHSMS, ISMS and more when you integrate other standards
Sterling Academy · sustainability e-learning
Give the people behind your CSA answers the knowledge to keep them true.
Sterling Academy offers e-learning with video lessons, practice checkpoints, a final exam and a numbered Certificate of Completion for each learner, verifiable online. Sterling consulting clients benefit from preferential Sterling Academy course access and special pricing through their Sterling consultant, including complimentary awareness training for their people as part of the engagement.
- Awareness for employees whose work produces sustainability data
- Practitioner learning for indicator owners and the sustainability lead
- Internal auditor training, as applicable to your standard, as part of the engagement
- Training records that answer the human capital questions
- New joiners trained as they arrive, year after year
- A Sterling consultant reachable when a learner needs one
Keep exploring
Explore more about S&P Global CSA and DJSI
S&P Global CSA resources
Services for S&P Global CSA and DJSI
Why Sterling
Want a stronger S&P Global CSA submission? Come to Sterling.
A good CSA response rests on a working management system and accurate disclosure. Sterling brings both together, so the evidence behind each answer comes from processes your people run all year, across every country and subsidiary in scope.
60+ countries since 2003
Management systems and disclosure programmes supported for groups operating across regions, with one engagement team accountable for the whole scope.
All-inclusive proposal
Consulting, Effivity, training and Academy access in one proposal. No surprises, ever.
Evidence before wording
We fix the policy, the indicator or the disclosure first; better answers follow from better proof.
Expert and experienced consultants
Consultants who have built environmental, social and governance management systems across sectors since 2003, and who know how questionnaire answers are tested against evidence.
The Sterling Promise
What our S&P Global CSA success guarantee means
We stay with you until your agreed S&P Global CSA outcome is achieved: a complete, evidence-backed submission, delivered on time, with a plan for the next cycle. Clear explanations, practical delivery, included software and employee learning leave you with lasting capability, not a one-off questionnaire.
The engagement identifies the scope, outcome and responsibilities. Your organisation supplies accurate information and approves what is disclosed. S&P Global assesses and scores the submission, and S&P Dow Jones Indices retains every index decision. Our commitment concerns the agreed support, not a particular score or index membership.
FAQs
Frequently asked questions about the S&P Global CSA
Can a company take part in the S&P Global CSA without an invitation?
Yes, through CSA as a Service. A company outside the invited universe can request an assessment and choose a Public, Confidential or Provisional CSA Score, depending on whether and how it wants the result to be seen.
What happens if we do not respond to the CSA invitation?
S&P Global may still assess you, using publicly available information, and share the resulting score and data through its platforms. A score built only from public sources often understates practices that exist internally but were never disclosed.
Is the S&P Global CSA Score the same as the S&P Global ESG Score?
Not quite. The CSA Score reflects what the company discloses and evidences; the ESG Score adds S&P Global's modelling to fill disclosure gaps. Both run from 0 to 100 on the same three dimensions.
What is the difference between the DJSI and the Dow Jones Best-in-Class Indices?
They are the same index family under a new name, effective 10 February 2025. For the World index, constituents are the top 10% of the largest 2,500 companies in the S&P Global BMI on long-term economic, environmental and social criteria, identified through the CSA.
Can internal documents be used as evidence in the CSA?
For some questions, yes. Most questions look for publicly available information; those that accept internal documents give additional credit where the information is also public, so publishing what you already manage is often the quickest improvement.
Keep exploring
More on S&P Global CSA and DJSI and related standards
More in ESG & sustainability reporting
Talk to a consultant
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