Trucost Environmental
Data
Methodology
S&P Global Sustainable1

June 2024

Trucost Environmental Data

Table of Contents
Introduction and Context .......................................................................... 3
Data Sources and Collection .................................................................... 5
Methodology Overview ............................................................................. 6
Monitoring and Review ............................................................................ 9
Maintenance and Updates ....................................................................... 9
Significant Updates ................................................................................... 9
Related Documentation ............................................................................10
Appendix 1: Methodology FAQs .............................................................11
S&P Global Sustainable1 Disclaimer ......................................................16

Proprietary and Confidential: Intended for Recipient only. Further distribution or publication of thecontent in any form requires S&Pprior written consent.

2Trucost Environmental Data

Introduction and Context
What is Trucost Environmental Data?
Trucost Environmental Data contains quantitative information on the environmental performance of over
18,000The
Trucost Environmental Data is associated with approximately 500 distinct industry sectors across over
100 environmental key performance indicators (KPIs). The data covers hundreds of environmental issues
encompassing greenhouse gas emissions, pollution to air, land & water, waste generation, and othernatural resource use.

Data Universe
The Trucost Core Plus universe consists of the company constituents of the following indices where theminimum data input requirements (e.g., reporting a full year of company revenue), is met:•

S&P Broad Market Index (BMI)•

S&P China A SmallCap 300 Index•

S&P 500 Index•

S&P Global 1200 Index•

S&P/TOPIX 150 Index•

S&P/TSX Composite Index•

S&P/ASX 200 Index•

S&P/ASX 300 Index•

TSE TOPIX Index

In addition, approximately 1,500 companies that are not members of the above indices are included in
the Core Plus universe.
Once included in the Core Plus, companies are researched annually, regardless of index membership, if
the minimum data input requirements are available.
The Trucost Cemetery universe consists of over 1,000 delisted or defunct companies.

Historical coverage
Historical coverage for small- and mid-cap companies starts from 2016; historical coverage for largecap companies goes back to 2005.

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Trucost Environmental Data

Research Process
S&P Global Sustainble1 (S1) follows a four-step research process designed to provide a transparent
system for companies to verify their environmental performance profile, and, at any time, contribute
their most recent data.
Four-step research process
1. MAP company business segments:
Company business segments are mapped to more than 450 business activities in the S1
Environmentally Extended Input. The EEIO model is based on
the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), but has been customized, and goes
into greater granularity in some areas, such as power generating utilities.
2. ESTIMATE data-modelled profile:Once company business segments have been mapped to the Trucost business activities andtheir share of revenue apportioned to each, a data-modelled profile is generated for thecompany. The EEIO model is applied to estimate data for over 800 environmental and operational
metrics across the entire operations of companies, from the raw materials they depend on in
their supply chains to the electricity they purchase to power their operations.
3. COLLECT public disclosure:
S1 s research analysts search for environmental performance information in annual reports,
sustainability reports, ESG reports, company websites, and other publicly disclosed sources.
Third party datasets, like disclosures to the CDP, are also reviewed. Reported environmental
performance data is then standardized to best practice guidelines so that it can be comparedacross companies, regions, and business activities. To correct reporting errors, vigorous data
control procedures are applied, such as sector specialist data reviews, data sampling to detect
errors, automated outlier identifications and year-on-year comparisons. Wherever a material
metric is not disclosed or not sufficiently disclosed, its modelled value is used, thus ensuringthat all data gaps have been filled.
4. ENGAGE with company:
S1 then conducts an annual engagement process with researched companies, providing an
opportunity to verify environmental performance and provide additional information. Companies
are further welcomed to contact S1 analysts at any point in their environmental reporting cycle
to provide their most recently available data for review and possible incorporation.

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Trucost Environmental Data

Data Sources and Collection
The data comes from a variety of sources, including models developed from scientific literature, a widearray of national, internati
The table below provides a list of typical data sources for economic output, prices, resources, andemissions that are used by the S1 EEIO model.
Table 1: Typical Data Sources for the S1 EEIO Model

Data Category

Example Sources

Sector economic output•

United States Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)

Resource use energy,
water, and land•••

Industry and academic reports
United States Department of Energy (DOE)
EurostatEmissions greenhousegases, air pollutants, land
pollutants, and waterpollutants

•
•
•
•
•

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
Toxic Release Inventories
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
United States Energy Information Agency
International Energy Agency (IEA)

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Trucost Environmental Data

Methodology Overview
A rigorous research process
growing demand for:proprietary economic modeling to respond to the•Greater transparency about corporate environmental performance•

Greater consistency in corporate environmental data•

Standardized corporate environmental reporting, making it easier for market participants tocompare the impacts of different companies•

Support to adhere to new and evolving regulatory requirements•

Measuring environmental impact•

Correction of reporting errors

operations and supply chain

Estimating Environmental Impacts
The S1 Environmentally Extended Input-

the EEIO model

The EEIO model iscore environmental profiling model for estimating the environmental impacts
across company operations and supply chain tiers including primary resource extraction, secondary
processing, and final product assembly. This can be done in the absence of company disclosure or
partial disclosure.
The EEIO model brings together
vast database of industry-specific environmental impact data withquantitative macroeconomic data on the flow of goods and services between different sectors in theeconomy. The
across its
entire global supply chain to be estimated, associated with approximately 500 distinct industry sectors
across over 100 environmental key performance indicators (KPIs).
The EEIO model covers the most material drivers of impacts across greenhouse gas emissions, pollutionof air, land & water, waste generation, and other natural resource use. These environmental intensity
factors are reported in units of emissions or resource use per million dollars of economic output, and arederived from a wide array of national, international, and industry databases as mentioned in Table 1. S1tests this data against the many thousands of disclosures we collect from companies during our annual
engagement program. Where available, the S1 methodology uses country-specific information to inform
global average intensity factors, which are weighted by production value. This approach allows us toconsider differences in the emissions profiles of different sectors within the global model.
This model can be tested against many years of data on quantitative environmental disclosures fromthousands of companies.
Strengths of the S1 EEIO model
Quality of Data Sources
S1 applies best-in-class scientific literature to calculate the environmental impacts of different
U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, as well as sector-reviewed
academic studies.
Granularity of Analysis
Many publicly available EEIO models may cover only a small proportion of business activities. To ensure
the model is representative of dispersed company operations, we leverage granular industry datasets
and apply global environmental factors to further disaggregate the coverage of discrete business

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Trucost Environmental Data

activities. In particular, high-impact business activities, such as utilities and agriculture are split up toaccount for variations within the most environmentally significant business sectors.
Regularity of Updates
A frequent criticism of publicly available EEIO models is that they are out of date. In general, theenvironmental impact data is updated every year, and S1 engages with companies to incorporate thelatest publicly disclosed and not publicly disclosed environmental performance information.
Scope of Environmental KPIs
Some models only estimate GHG emissions, but the Trucost Environmental Datathe environmental performance of companies across a broad range of environmental impact categories,
including GHGs, air pollution, land pollution, water pollution, water use, and waste disposal.
Calculation Overview
Environmental impacts attributable to a business are calculated by using environmental intensities
expressed as pollutant or resource use per unit of revenue. These are calculated by obtaining absoluteemissions or resource data by sector and using this data in conjunction with financial data to createtes Bureau of Economic Analysis to enable the EEIO model to
These have been adapted so that theoperational and supply chain emissions or resource use of approximately 500 distinct industry sectors
can be calculated.
Specific Concepts•

Sectors: areas of economic activity (business activities)•

Environmental intensity: a metric of the environmental impacts of an economic activity per unit•

Operational environmental impacts:•

Supply chain environmental impacts:of revenue

supply chain

e global

Key Methodological Steps within the S1 EEIO model
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Selection of the sector(s) of interest from a list of approximately 500 distinct industry sectors
Calculation of environmental intensities
Modeling of operational environmental impacts
Modeling of supply chain environmental impacts
Outputs

Illustration of the methodological steps
The table below outlines the key methodological steps in this process as well as giving some examples
at each of these stages.

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Table 2: Methodological Steps within the S1 EEIO model

Methodological Steps

Examples

1. Selection of the sector(s) ofinterest from a list of
approximately 500 distinct
industry sectors
2. Calculation of environmental
intensities

Cotton farming; natural gas extraction; coal power
generation; plastic bottle manufacturing

The environmental intensities are calculated in terms of
metric tons or cubic meters per unit of revenue.
Data is utilized from a wide array of supra-national,
international, national, and industry bodies across a wide
range of sectors and geographies.
Impacts are calculated in one of six categories
including:• Greenhouse gas emissions• Air pollutants• Land and water pollutants• Waste production• Water consumption• Natural resource use

3. Modeling of operational
environmental impacts

Calculated using industry-specific environmental
intensity factors for each of the sectors in which acompany operates.

4. Modeling of supply chain
environmental impacts

By combining the industry-specific environmental
intensity described above with an expanded input-output
published by the United States Bureau of Economic
Analysis, the environmental impacts within supply chainsare estimated by applying environmental intensities tothe flows of monetary transactions.
(1) to detail theratio of expenditure from one sector with every othersector of the economyand (2) to provide additional detail on several
environmentally important sectors, such as the mining,
power generation and wholesale and retail trade sectors,
by disaggregating the tables proportionally.

5. Outputs

Note: The S1 EEIO model uses the US economy as a proxy
for the world economy and as a starting point for thecreation of its supply chain model.
Over 100 qualified environmental impacts are classified
into the categories listed above, which enables:• Identification of the companies or portfolios
generating the greatest absolute and relativeenvironmental impacts.
• Identification of the most material
environmental impacts for each company of portfolio.
• Comparison of operational vs. supply-chain impacts.

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Monitoring and Review
Disclosed data is subjected to thorough review and quality checking as detailed in
Research
section above. All new methodologies and any material changes to existing methodologies arereviewed and approved by an independent methodology governance committee.

Maintenance and Updates
The research process for Trucost Environmental Data is annual each environmental data point is for acomplete company financial year. A new company year is added to the database as companies complete
their financial years and relevant data is publicly disclosed.
a disclosure to have valuable information pertaining toprevious financial years (time-series performance). This allows S1 to refine its modeling or take adisclosed value for a prior year instead of previously estimated values. The research process is
continuous; such historical revisions may occur at any point in the year. Company data re-statements
are considered in the data when certain criterion is met such as errors in disclosures.

Significant Updates
Changes made to this methodology document include the following:
Document
Date
Version07/09/2019
1.0
06/01/2020

Changes
Initial version•

Research Process
o Updated the section on the four-step research process.
Sources of S1Datao Updated the list of typical data sources for economic output,
prices, resources, and emissions.
Data Standardization/Calculationo Updated the section on the key methodological steps within the
S1EEIO model.

•
1.1

•

10/09/2020•

FAQs>Sector Classificationo Expanded the discussion for sector classification.

1.2
20/06/2024•

Data Universe•

Research Process•

o Updated to include independent sampling quality checks
Data Sources and Collectiono Included only sources used for S1 EEIO Model

1.3oUpdated to include the latest coverage of companies

9Trucost Environmental Data

Related Documentation
There are several supporting documents available on the S&P Global Marketplace:•

Trucost Environmental Data - Xpressfeed User Guide This user guide provides an overview ofTrucost Environmental Data through Xpressfeed, including the data structure of the packages,
database schema, specific details about working with the data, and a common way of querying
Trucost data with SQL examples.

•

Trucost Environmental Data Item List This spreadsheet provides table names by package anddataItemIds/data item names/data item definitions that exist in each table.

•

S&P Capital IQ Base Files User Guide The Base Files associate companies, symbols, securities,
and other objects across all S&P Capital IQ data sets. This guide describes the data structure of
the Base Files as well as integration of the Base Files with other S&P Capital IQ data sets.

•

Xpressfeed Loader User Guide This user guide outlines the features and capabilities of theXpressfeed Loader. The Xpressfeed Loader generates a database schema and structure andloads the data records as a set of fully indexed tables. The Loader automates the daily updatesof records and keeps your database up to date.

•Xpressfeed File Delivery Technical Guide This guide provides information for clients who
download S&P Global Market Intelligence data files directly from our server and write their own
loading procedures.

•

File Format Spreadsheets These spreadsheets contain full and change file zip file prefixes,
individual text file names, and information for each column in the file (e.g., column names,
column data types, whether the column is nullable, and primary keys).

•

Xpressfeed File Delivery Schedule This spreadsheet provides expected full and change filedelivery times as well as the length of time the files remain on the server.

•

SNL Reference Data User Guide This user guide provides the schema for the SNL Reference
package and detailed descriptions of all tables and fields; information on how to link SNL
Reference data to S&P Capital IQ data sets or to Compustat data using the Company Cross
Reference File; and common ways of querying SNL

If you are linking to other S&P Global Market Intelligence data sets, supporting documents are available
on the S&P Global Marketplace website.

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Trucost Environmental Data

Appendix 1: Methodology FAQs
State of environmental reporting
What is the state of environmental reporting?
Despite growing demand for companies to provide transparency about their environmental
performance, corporate reporting remains patchy. Some regions are leading the way whileothers are lagging. Published disclosure is often incomplete or non- standard, making it difficult
to compare the liabilities of different companies. Reporting errors can be prevalent.
analysis finds that for many companies, environmental risk is often concealed within supply
chain tiers, a scope of impact that is significantly underreported.

Company Selection
How does S1 schedule the companies in the Trucost Environmental Data research process?
As a general rule, S1

Company Data
What data is collected from companies?
S1 research analysts collect company environmental data, including performance data anddisclosure metrics on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, fuel consumption, water use, pollution
impacts, and waste disposal. S1

Environmental Reporting Gaps
How is the absence of company reported information navigated?
The S1 methodology uses economic modeling techniques to complete disclosure gaps for
hundreds of environmental impact metrics across the entire operation of companies, from theraw materials on which they depend in their supply chains to the electricity they purchase topower their operations. This approach allows for comparisons between all companies,
regardless of disclosure levels. Subsequently, S1 engages annually with every company it
assesses to verify its research and collect the latest information, which, although available, isundisclosed.

Comparisons made with other data sources
When collating data, are comparisons made with other data sources?
Yes. S1 sense checks all data points as companies often make mistakes in their reporting. Whenconsidering company disclosure, it is compared to the modelled estimates As part of its
research process, S1 checks the environmental data of companies in sectors and checks foroutliers using statistical testing techniques, and further investigates and qualifies notable
exceptions to sector averages. Similarly, company environmental metrics are compared year-toyear to investigate any large fluctuations in data, with legitimate variations qualified and quality
checked.

Changes in data year-to-year
What explains some large changes in data year-to-year?

11Trucost Environmental Data

Commonly, significant year-to-year changes in company data can be explained by at least one of
the following reasons:•Significant year-to-year changes in revenues and the business activities in which thecompany is engaged•

Changes in reporting methodologies adopted by companies•

Increased scope of company reporting compared to previous years (it may not have been
apparent that the original scope was narrower than desired). Previous year data would
subsequently be adjusted to ensure consistency•

Corporate actions (e.g., spin off, acquisition, and merger)•

Significant changes in company operations (e.g., where a company drastically improves its
energy efficiency or carbon reduction strategies)•

Improvements in the level of accuracy
impacts•modelled values.

Sector classification
What sector classification does the Trucost Environmental Data use?
The Trucost Environmental Data splits the world economy into hundreds of distinct businessactivities based on the North American Classification System (NAICS), howeverclassifications are more granular in some areas such as power generating utilities.

Environmental intensity
What is an environmental intensity?
such as greenhouse gas emissions or water, with another data point: a normalizing factor. The
standard intensity metrics denominate environmental impacts b
consolidated revenues in millions of US dollars, for example, carbon intensity would be in theunits: tCO2e/US$ mn Revenues. Environmental intensities are useful in comparing companies
both within and across different sectors. These metrics can control for different company
characteristics, such as size, making it possible to assess the environmental efficiency of acompany.
Why are environmental intensities denominated by company revenues?
Environmental impacts, such as greenhouse gas emissions or water, are generated by acorrelated with direct and supply chain operations for the environmental intensity metric toreflect the environmental efficiencies of companies more closely. Since it is deemed that asector, revenues have become the market-standard normalizing factor for environmental
intensities
environmental impact).
financial performance to begin to understand the relationship between environmental impact
and financial risk. Hence, intensity metrics which normalize environmental impact by revenue,
such as tCO2e/US$ mn Revenues, indicate the dependency on the generation of environmental
impacts a company has in generating revenues.
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Environmental damage costs
interpret them?
the emission of a pollutant. They reflect the environmental impact of a business activity inmonetary terms. Damage costs assume that the cost of maintaining an environmental benefit isa reasonable estimate of its value. The total cost of environmental damages incurred by acompany is calculated by multiplying company data on the quantity of resources used or
pollutants emitted (i.e., tCO2e, m3 of water use, kg of waste generated etc.) by S1 damage cost
factors .
An externality, or external cost, is a consequence of an industrial or commercial activity that
affects other parties (such as society or the environment) but is not reflected in market prices.
impact categories.

water and air pollutants generated, and natural resources used.
Environmental damage costs can be either direct or indirect. Direct damage costs are thoseindirect damage costs are those that are
Total damage costs are the sum of both.
are denominated in a common unit (US$ million) and bring together a range of environmental
impacts with different units (for example, greenhouse gas emissions are measured in tCO2e,
while water used is measured in cubic meters). Damage costs can also be used alongside otherfinancial metrics since they are based on a US$ unit.

Company Definitions
The
applied in this dataset are those engaged inprimary fossil fuel extractive industries as defined by the following 7 Trucost Sectors:
Petroleum and Na

Theapplied in this dataset are those engaged in coal
extraction and power generation, as defined by 3 Trucost Sectors:
andThe
applied in this dataset are those engaged inrenewables power generation that can be seen in their renewable generation data (GWh) wheredisclosed. Alternatively, these companies can be seen in the Trucost sector revenues data,
defined by having business activities in the 6 Trucost Sectors: Biomass Power Generation;
Geothermal Power Generation; Hydroelectric Power Generation; Solar Power Generation; Wave &Tidal Power Generation; and Wind Power Generation.
What
The standard definition of companies engaged in fossil fuel power generation activities appliedin this dataset are those with some generation production data (GWh) from any coal, natural gas(including LNG, LPG) and petroleum (including conventional, unconventional or fuel oils).

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Trucost Environmental Data

Alternatively, sector revenues data can be used to screen for companies engaged in fossil fuelpower generation, as defined by the
Coal Power Gene,andCorporate Actions
How does S1 account for corporate actions?
The Trucost Environmental Data accounts for M&A activity, though there tends to be a lag in thedata reflecting such activities. The reason for this is fundamental to our research methodology:
Each observation in our data is a complete financial year. Therefore, should any M&A activity
occur, this will only be reflected in our data once (i) the financial year has concluded (ii) thecompany has disclosed its year-end performance data, and (iii) S1 has analyzed, quality checkedand engaged with the company to attempt to validate our data for it. Regarding the specificactions taken, these will differ depending on each scenario.
Acquisitions
In such cases, we are likely to consolidate the entities into the Trucost institutionId profile of theretire thecompany then has its designation changed from being a member of our Core or Core Plus
universe (the universe of companies generally analyzed
se companies no longer maintained).
identity as independent of its acquirer. The specific treatment of each company whereacquisitions occur mid-financial year will also depend on how the companies in question reporttheir year-end financial data.
e.g., consolidated
revenues) as separate companies, in which case the environmental data for each company
would be assigned to them as separate entities.
Another example would be where the acquired company does not report, and the acquiringsuch a case, no fi
with all of theof the acquirer.
One final scenario is where each company reports partial financial year data (e.g.,
performance prior to the acquisition for the acquired, and a complete financial year for theacquirer, though with the last 4 months representing an alternate corporate structure). For the
Trucost Environmental Data to be comparable across all companies, each observation must becomplete 12-month financial years. Therefore, in the case of the acquired the 8 months of databecomplete 12-month cycle.
Mergers
In the case of mergers where there is no clear acquirer, and often where the merger results in theformation of a new corporate, both entities would be retired to the to the cemetery universe anda new profile would be created for the new company without any data history. For example, in
September 2017, DuPont and The Dow Chemical Company merged to become DowDuPont. This
new corporate entity will have a new profile and institutionId created where data for this new
corporate entity will be collected or modelled once it has completed its first complete 12-monthfinancial year.

14Trucost Environmental Data

De-mergers
For de-mergers, only once the new companies have completed their first full financial year after
the corporate action will these companies be accounted for in the Trucost Environmental Data.
Often this implies that the incomplete financial year in which the de-merger occurred is not-de-merged company.
Name changes
Some companies may change their names due to rebranding or other reasons while theircorporate structure remains unchanged. In such cases, the company retains its same profile andinstitutionId, but its name is amended to reflect its current name. This new name would also bereferenced against any historical data for the company, even in years prior to the name change.
M&A Activity and security identifiers
Often the securities owned by an investor pre- and post-corporate actions will have the same
identifiers (e.g., ISINs) despite now relating to a new corporate entity. Regarding mapping thesesecurities to Trucost Environmental Data, mappings in existence prior to the corporate action
would remain until Trucost Environmental Data database has a new profile for the new entity
impacts.

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Trucost Environmental Data

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