Certificates and ESG criteria
If a sustainability certificate is based on an index, both the issuer and the underlying must meet predefined sustainability criteria. In the case of indices, the index provider is responsible for meeting these criteria. For example, when selecting companies, their ESG ratings are taken into account.
Companies that are active in sectors such as tobacco production, nuclear power or as armaments groups are usually also on the exclusion list. In addition, those companies that violate the ten principles of the UN Global Compact can also be excluded. If an index was designed on this basis, it can serve as the base value for a sustainability certificate.
The situation is different if the base value of a sustainability certificate relates to a share or a credit-dependent bond. The issuers use their own strict exclusion criteria to assess the sustainability of the product. The issuers usually disclose these criteria transparently on their websites.