Spanish listed companies continue to gain ground when it comes to sustainability. Even if at the global level we are surf a wave anti ESG (acronym that refers to environmental, social and good governance criteria), the truth is that Ibex companies continue to show their strength in responsible investment. The proof is the good grades he gives the latest revision of ESG ranking of elEconomista.es, the sustainable classification of the values of Ibex 35. This ranking, updated twice a year, ranks companies in the Spanish stock market benchmark index based on the ratings they receive from the main rating agencies. rating sustainable. And the good news is that the vast majority of its members have improved their score compared to the previous evaluation, carried out last March. Visit elEconomista ESG, the “green” portal of elEconomista.es.
They go to the top of the ranking, in this order, Enagas, Redeia And CaixaBank. All these companies appeared, recurrently, in the top 10 of the ESG ranking elEconomista since its creation in mid-2021.
The case of Enagás stands out, which stands out, for the first time, as a leading company, by obtaining a score close to 88 points out of 100 according to the algorithm elEconomista.es. The natural gas transmission network manager obtains very high marks from the four agencies that use the algorithm: S&P Global gives it 87 points out of a maximum of 100; Sustainalytics (an agency integrated into Morningstar) gives you a level weak ESG risks, with only 14 points out of 100 (for Sustainalytics, the lower the score, the better, the less sustainability risks the company presents). Regarding its corporate governance, ISS (Institutional Shareholder Services) gives it a score of 2 out of 10 (again, the lower the score, the better; for ISS, a 1 is the best possible score). Finally, the CDP, a reference organization for climate data, grants you a HASits highest score, which means that Enagás is among the leading companies in terms of commitment to the fight against climate change. Only a third of Ibex companies boast of being included in the prestigious List A of the CDP.
Enagás is firmly committed to green hydrogen. The company makes its debut as number 1 in the ESG ranking as it has just launched, with its partners, the search for customers for H2Med, the hydrogen corridor which will connect Spain and Portugal to France and to Germany. The aim of this corridor is for the continent to be supplied with renewable and affordable hydrogen from 2030. By 2030, Spain plans to have up to 12 gigawatts of installed electrolyser power, as stated in the National energy and climate plan. Last July, The Council of Ministers authorized Enagás to begin processing H2Med, as well as the Spanish hydrogen network and its associated storage.
How is the ESG Ranking constructed?
He ESG ranking from elEconomista.es It is carried out based on its own algorithm which brings together the ratings assigned to Ibex 35 companies by the aforementioned reference agencies. Global S&P contributes 40% of the grade, Sustainable analysis another 40%, ISS one 10% and CDP another 10%, converting it to a score from 0 to 100 (100 being the highest possible). The S&P rating is a rating that scores environmental, social and corporate governance criteria. Sustainalytics measures the level of unmanaged ESG risks the company faces. For its part, ISS exclusively evaluates g (corporate governance) and the CDP focuses on AND (commitment to the fight against climate change).
This ranking was born in May 2021 with the aim of clarifying and balancing, in some way, the sustainability scores of companies, traditionally characterized by their dispersion (a company can obtain a very good rating from an agency, and deserve a waiting in the eyes of another). The ranking currently covers 30 Ibex 35 companies; On this occasion it was not possible to include Colonial, Logista, Puig, Rovi or Unicaja, because some of the agency ratings necessary to prepare their ratings are not available.
Redeia advances 6 places
“We are facing an unprecedented opportunity in the revolution of the industrial and productive model that is crossing all of Europe. We cannot afford not to take advantage of it,” declared Beatriz Corredor, president of Redeia, referring to the energies renewable at the company’s last congress. meeting of shareholders. Like Enagás, Redeia is also resizing to cope with investments that will allow the Spanish network to be able to integrate green energies.
Redeia, always in prominent places within the ESG ranking by elEconomista.esexperienced a spectacular rise, moving up 6 places and obtain a score of 87.27 points. Move from eighth to second position. Its S&P rating is one of the highest in all of Ibex, at 85; Sustainalytics considers that it does not present any ESG risk; The CDP includes it on its list HAS. It weakens only slightly in terms of corporate governance: ISS gives it a rating which, although it exceeds the approved, does not reach outstanding.
With 86.9 points out of 100, CaixaBank, which was once at the top of the ranking ESG rankingclimbs onto the podium and ranks third. The entity has been advancing for years in the decarbonization of its credit portfolio and has established itself as one of the main issuers of sustainable debt in the country. Last September precisely, it went to the market to place a social bond of 1.25 billion euros, which received requests for almost 3 billion. AND
Caixa was In 2023, the third Spanish company to issue the most sustainable debtas reflected in the annual report of the Spanish Sustainable Finance Observatory (Ofiso). The bank raised 1 billion euros, which places it just behind Telefónica (with 2.6 billion) and Iberdrola (with 1,850), and related with Acciona Energía in this figure.
The “Subdon” of Sabadell
The improvement in the rating Sabadell, which has moved up eight places since the previous review, more than any other listed companyand moves from twelfth to fourth place. Much of the increase can be explained by the improvement it received from S&P Global, an agency that increased its score for the entity from 75 points to 83 in recent months. But Sustainalytics also improved its ESG risk score, which it estimates low. Concerning its corporate governance, ISS now gives it its highest rating, 1 out of 10, compared to 2 out of 10 which it gave it last March.
Amadeus also advances positions in this review: the technology service provider for the tourism sector fly from 17th to 12th place, driven mainly by the rating assigned by S&P, which improved significantly, from 64 points to 79. Sustainalytics also improved its score regarding its sustainability risks, which are low. Ferrovial, for its part, improves by four positionsto be placed at 17. The infrastructure group saw S&P improve its rating from 75 to 81 out of 100.
On the downhill sidethe worst goes to two companies which, in previous editions, were absolute leaders in the ESG ranking: these are Acciona Energía and Endesa, which in both cases lost 7 positions. This fall does not prevent them from continuing to be part of the top 10 of the ESG ranking and, therefore, being among the most advanced in terms of sustainability of the Ibex 35.
Regardless of their position in the ranking, as has been highlighted, the vast majority of Ibex companies have managed to improve their score since the assessment in March this year, reflecting the efforts they are making to improve aspects social and governance. . We must not forget that of the 30 companies that make up the ESG ranking by elEconomista.es25 obtained scores above 70 out of 100, which shows that the fruits of this work are already being reaped in terms of rating sustainable.
The desire of Spanish companies to be leaders in sustainability seems clear. They do so under the regulatory leadership of the European Union, which established itself a few years ago as the world leader in decarbonization. Under this philosophy, elEconomista.es will celebrate its IVth ESG Forumthe major annual sustainability event that this newspaper celebrates every year, which will bring together the main representatives of the ESG field in Spain to take stock of the current situation and future challenges.
