Sovereign ESG Assessment
September 2025
In this third edition of our Sovereign ESG Assessment publication we present our Sovereign ESG Assessment Model’s key findings. Our model comprises 37 publicly available indicators aimed at capturing the most significant aspects of sovereign behaviour across three pillars: Environmental, Social, and Governance (E, S, and G). These metrics are standardised and normalised to ensure comparability both cross sectionally and across time and are combined to generate an overall ESG ranking for each of the 37 countries in our universe.
As there are typically no notable year-to-year shifts in absolute country rankings, in order to pinpoint top performers, we prioritise momentum (i.e. Δs relative to the previous year). We identify as top performers the countries that have had a score above 50 and positive momentum over the past five years. Bottom performers are characterised by low ESG scores and negative momentum.
Overall, between 2020 and 2025, 27 countries improved their ESG scores, 2 remained unchanged, and 8 experienced declines.
Key findings and noticeable trends
Northern and Central European countries continue to rank high in our Sovereign ESG Assessment Model, maintaining their advantage in absolute scores, whereas emerging markets lag. Most emerging countries significantly improved their overall ESG scores during the period 2010–2020. However, for the years 2020–2025, only India and Thailand reported notable improvements in their scores.
It is worth noting that the top three countries in the ranking - Sweden, Switzerland, and Finland - were added to our list for the first time this year. However, Norway’s drop in the overall ranking is not solely attributable to the inclusion of new countries in our universe but is also linked to deteriorations in certain key indicators. Denmark, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Japan rose in the ranking, while the countries of Southern Europe largely maintained their overall positions. Among countries with lower scores, India - despite significant improvement - remains substantially lower in the ranking compared to China, Brazil, and Mexico.
Top / Bottom Performers
For the period 2020 – 2025, Italy, Greece, the United Kingdom and Ireland stand out as top performers.
Norway, Canada, and Germany demonstrated the lowest momentum among developed countries during the same period, although they continue to maintain high absolute scores (top performers but declining).
South Africa, Brazil, and to a lesser extent China, showed a significant decrease in momentum. In contrast, India improved its score during this period, although it remains at comparatively lower levels.