Country Rating
A Country Rating does not impact by default national companies with registered offices in that country - as is the case with credit ratings.
Direct or indirect impacts may occur only in relation to lower ratings, where a country does not achieve a sustainable investment grade (EE- or above). In this case, it means that the country is not in line with international sustainability and governance recommendations.
Indirect impacts are possible because a company operating in a country with low democratic or free market standards may be less inclined to adopt voluntary sustainability policies promoted by the UN, OECD or the EU. The extent of this impact is observed on a case-by-case basis, by studying the ESG strategies that companies implement.
Direct impacts are related to Corporate Governance: if a company is owned by a national state without a sustainable investment grade, Standard Ethics analysts will take this into account, assuming that the company cannot act against the interests (and strategies) of its ownership. This is an additional complication to evaluate.
Finally, if a country had an "F" rating, which is the absolute lowest sustainable investment grade, all issuers with investments in that country would be subject to a negative impact.
For ratings before 2013, send an email to mr.welcome@standardethics.eu