Even so, S&P’s updated handling of ESG in debt ratings now makes it an outlier among the big three in the industry.
A Moody’s spokesperson said the firm “incorporates all risks, including those related to ESG, into its credit ratings when they are material, and also publishes ESG scores on a one-to-five scale.” Meanwhile, anti-ESG Republicans have lambasted such scores in debt ratings as more evidence of Wall Street’s embrace of so-called woke ideology. Last year, Utah’s governor and its federal lawmakers singled out S&P for its decision to publish ESG indicators for U.S. states, calling it an undue politicization of the ratings process.