ESG

Environmental Social Governance (ESG) are the criteria by which companies are assessed in terms of how these values are reflected in the sustainable development of their business

What are the ESG criteria?

Three criteria increasingly influence the "value" of a company, which is what ESG encapsulates:

its actions towards the Environment
its attitude towards Society, and
the Corporate Governance it has in place to make decisions about the way the business conducts itself

Why is it so important?

Integration of ESG factors into investment processes and decision-making underpins responsible investing and lending. Stakeholders, investors and financial institutions recognise that ESG information is invaluable to help understand an organisation’s corporate purpose, strategy and management quality. ESG reports, disclosures and ratings take some of the complexity out of evaluating a company's ESG activities.

At the same time, companies themselves recognize the value of incorporating ESG criteria into their practices. Demand for ESG reporting and metrics is now reaching the mainstream. Therefore, more and more companies are measuring and disclosing their ESG data.

How is Artemis Credit Bureau involved in ESG?

Both at international and European levels, regulatory obligations and standards have been launched and continue to be introduced for financial institutions and companies.

In the Cypriot market, Artemis Credit Bureau in collaboration with the Association of Cyprus Banks and the banks it represents, along with ICAP CRIF S.A., (a member of the international CRIF S.p.A. Group), has established an important infrastructure initiative for ESG business assessment.

The ESG initiative is called: “The Interbank Project for the assessment of businesses based on ESG criteria in the Cypriot market”.

Through this Initiative, a standardised, international tool for assessing the degree of compliance of companies regarding ESG criteria is being introduced to the Cypriot market called “Synesgy”.

Companies are invited to complete a questionnaire through Synesgy, an international digital platform for ESG data collection and evaluation.

How does the ESG assessment work?

THROUGH YOUR BANK

Step 1: The bank informs its corporate client about the Interbank Project and the role of Artemis Credit Bureau.

Step 2: Artemis Credit Bureau sends an email to the customer with an invitation to participate in the assessment through a link to the Synesgy platform.

Step 3: The company registers on the Synesgy platform, and completes the questionnaire with information related to the ESG criteria.

DIRECT ACCESS

If you wish your company to proceed and complete the questionnaire even though that did not receive any information and/or other communication from your Bank, then the authorized representative of your company can register the company online via the website https://service.synesgy.com/cy and complete the questionnaire.

Once the questionnaire is completed, the company automatically receives:

The ESG Score
The ESG Certificate, valid for one (1) year. *
An Action Plan with prioritized recommendations on how the company can improve its ESG performance.

*[The certificate can be published on the company's website and shared with its customers, suppliers, and partners.]

All the above data received by the company, along with any supporting documents submitted in the platform are communicated through Artemis Credit Bureau to each company’s bank for evaluation purposes.

As the initiative is interbanking, companies who utilise a variety of banks for their business will be asked to fill a single questionnaire for all the banks, while correspondingly, the banks involved, will draw homogeneous information about the company, which, for transparency purposes, will be exactly the same received by the company.

Additional information about the questionnaire

If you have received an invitation to complete the questionnaire about your company through the Synesgy platform and you need clarifications a regarding its completion and/or any other technical support, you may contact the Customer Support Service of ICAP CRIF S.A. via the email address [email protected]

About the Synesgy platform

The Synesgy platform is an innovation of the CRIF S.p.A. Group. It provides the ability to each company, regardless of its size and industry, to assess its degree of sustainability.

The platform is based on the evaluation of the company's ESG data through recognized methodologies, which are based on the latest international and European regulations and standards in the field of ESG.

In the Cypriot market, the platform is offered through ICAP CRIF S.A. the subsidiary of the CRIF S.p.A.

More information about Synesgy platform can be found here: www.synesgy.gr

More about Synesgy