Sustainability ratings

We strive to achieve good performance both in financial and non-financial matters, and to gain and maintain the trust and support of our stakeholders. The feedback of ESG rating agencies is very important to us as a benchmark and indicator of our stakeholders’ main concerns.

• DB Group once again received the top rating of “A” from the international rating organization CDP in 2020 and was singled out as one of the world’s leading companies for its commitment to climate change. For the fourth time in a row, we received the top rating and are once again in the top group of 273 companies worldwide along with another rail transport company. In its annual rating process, CDP uses a detailed and independent methodology, in which ratings from A to D are assigned. The process assesses the degree of transparency and disclosure of climate data, the awareness and management of environmental risks and best practices in connection with environmental management, such as the setting of ambitious targets.
• In the ECOVADIS 2020 rating, we are still among the top 4% in the rail transport sector and were able to improve our result by 2 points to 61 in total (as of: October 2020). The objective of the EcoVadis Corporate Social Responsi­bility (CSR) rating is to evaluate the quality of a company’s CSR management system based on its guidelines, actions and results. The assessment focuses on 21 CSR criteria in four topics: environment, labor and human rights, ethics, and sustainable procurement. The EcoVadis overall rat-
  ing (0–100) reflects the quality of the company’s CSR management system at the time of the assessment.
• In the ISS ESG corporate rating, we also maintained our good assessment of “B–” and “Prime” status in 2020. In addition, DB Group has a decile rank of 1 (as of: December 22, 2020). The ISSESG Corporate Rating assesses the sustainability performance of companies in the areas of the environment, social affairs and governance (ESG criteria). About one-third of the rating criteria are entirely sector-specific. The ESG Corporate Rating uses a 12-level rating system from A+/4.00 to D–/1.00. The rating uses an absolute best-in-class approach: companies that achieve or exceed the ISSESG’s defined sustainability requirements (“Prime” threshold) for a particular sector as part of the ISSESG Corporate Ratings are awarded “Prime” status. The decile rank indicates performance compared to the industry in addition to the overall ranking. A decile rank of 1 indicates a relatively high performance, while a 10 indicates a relatively low performance.
• In the MSCI ESG rating, we continued to receive the rating of “A” in 2020. Compared to the rest of the sector, we received very good assessments. The MSCIESG rating is intended to measure a company’s resilience to long-term, industry-relevant ESG risks. MSCI uses a rules-based methodology to identify industry leaders and laggards on the basis of their exposure to ESG risks and how well they manage these risks in comparison with their competitors. MSCIESG ratings range from leader (“AAA,” “AA”) to average (“A,” “BBB,” “BB”) to laggard (“B,” “CCC”). With an assessment of “A,” we fall into the upper range of the second group. ESG risks and opportunities may vary depending on the sector and company.
• With a score of 19.5, we improved our Sustainalytics’ ESG risk rating in 2020 and this assessment puts us in a good position in the Transport sector. Sustainalytics evaluates the sustainability of listed companies on the basis of their ESG performance. Sustainalytics’ ESG Risk Rating combines an assessment of the estimated exposure to sector-specific material ESG issues and how well companies deal with these risks. Companies are divided into five different risk categories, ranging from negligible (0–10) to low (10–20), medium (20–30) and high (30–40), to severe (40+).