SET Senior Executive Vice President Soraphol Tulayasathien announced that SET ESG Ratings 2024 reached a new record high with 228 listed companies clinching their spots on the list, echoing the surging wave of sustainable investments locally and globally.
"SET ESG Ratings serves as an additional tool for investors, analysts and fund managers in evaluating risk profiles and growth opportunities of businesses alongside other information," Soraphol explained. " With ESG performance now crucial to business competitiveness and growth potential, funds in certain categories adopt SET ESG Ratings as one of their investment policies. Examples include the Thailand ESG Funds (TESG) and Vayupak Fund 1 (Class A), which manage THB 14.6 billion and THB 150 billion in assets, respectively. ESG-focused funds are expected to increase as sustainability gains traction among both investors and listed companies."
SET ESG Ratings 2024 recognized 228 listed companies, awarding AAA rating to 56 firms, AA to 80 firms, A to 71 firms, and BBB to 21 firms. These companies collectively represent 82 percent of total market capitalization of SET and Market for Alternative Investment (mai) as of December 12, 2024.
"Notably, a total of 106 medium-sized and small-sized listed companies, with market capitalization under THB 10 billion, passed SET ESG Ratings criteria in 2024. This showed remarkable progress as the number surged by 43 percent from the previous year, underlining their strong commitment to sustainability practices. The average scores of all companies listed on the SET ESG Ratings also improved across all ESG dimensions, particularly in customer-centric product and service offerings, climate risk management, GHG emissions disclosure, and concrete targets for carbon neutrality and net zero emission," said Soraphol.
SET ESG Ratings comprises listed companies that voluntarily participate in the assessment and score at least 50 percent in each ESG pillar. Other qualification criteria include a three-star or higher corporate governance report (CGR) rating by Thai Institute of Directors (IOD), and neither the company itself nor its directors or executives being alleged or convicted of ESG-related offenses by regulators or relevant authorities. Companies with CB, CC, CF, or CS sign designations are ineligible.
The assessment criteria are reviewed and updated annually to reflect the dynamic ESG landscape in both local and global contexts. SET also maintains stringent post-assessment monitoring, where rated companies failing to meet the criteria may face removal from the SET ESG Ratings list. Moreover, SET displays a remark to encourage users of SET ESG Ratings to review additional ESG information.
SET ESG Ratings 2024 is available at www.setsustainability.com/ESG-ratings.
In a move to global standards, SET ESG Ratings will transition into the FTSE Russell ESG Scores, a globally-renowned sustainability assessment trusted by institutional investors worldwide, with public disclosure of assessment results starting 2026.