What is it about?
Companies are increasingly evaluated using environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scores, but can one overall rating accurately reflect their sustainability capabilities? This study introduces the concept of sustainability readiness: a company's ability to collect, verify, organize, and communicate reliable sustainability information across different areas of transformation. Using World Benchmarking Alliance data covering 2,000 companies, the research examines readiness across climate, digital, food, nature, social, and urban transformations. The findings reveal important differences between regions, organizational characteristics, and sustainability domains, showing that a single composite score can conceal meaningful differences.
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Why is it important?
Investors, regulators, and business leaders increasingly rely on sustainability ratings to inform decisions. This research offers a more transparent way to evaluate organizational readiness without assuming that one ESG score captures every dimension. A domain-specific approach can improve benchmarking, identify reporting and governance gaps, and help organizations prioritize the capabilities needed for credible sustainability management.
Perspectives
Sustainability is too complex to be fully represented by a single number. I argue that organizations should be evaluated according to their preparedness to generate reliable sustainability information in specific areas. This approach moves the discussion beyond rankings toward a more transparent understanding of organizational capabilities and governance.
Dr. Ricardo Teruel-Gutiérrez
Universidad Politecnica de Cartagena
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Beyond ESG Scores: Sustainability Readiness as a Domain‐Specific Organizational Capability, Business Strategy and the Environment, July 2026, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1002/bse.71306.
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