The SPOTT Dashboard, an area of the SPOTT website where users can view and download SPOTT data, has a new weighting feature which enables users to view data according to their specific preferences. The feature can be used to increase or decrease the weight of indicator themes or audited versus self-reported disclosures in the most recent SPOTT timber and pulp, natural rubber, and palm oil assessments.
Register for a free Dashboard account, here.
Weightings can be applied to indicators according to three classifications: Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), Disclosure type, and the ten SPOTT indicator categories. Each element within these classifications can be adjusted in increments of 0.5 to amplify points to a maximum of 2x their default setting, or to a minimum of 0 – effectively removing them from the overall score. Weightings can be saved and applied to individual companies or alternatively, users can explore the website commodity pages and see how their ‘weighting set’ has changed company rankings.
Applying a customised weighting set will highlight issues relevant to your interests. For example, if social aspects are of particular concern in client/investee or supplier engagement, the user may wish to adjust the weighting of points awarded for ‘Social’ indicators to 1.5 or 2x their default setting. This will change company scores and rankings to accurately reflect the emphasis you wish to place on social issues.
In the most recent SPOTT assessments additional indicators relating to company practice have been added to reflect the importance of monitoring progress towards policy commitments and goals. If a user prefers company claims to be substantiated, then scores derived from self-reported data from companies could be reduced in weighting and scores from externally verified data enhanced. If the user wanted to overlook self-reported claims completely, their weighting could be reduced to 0.
SPOTT categories group indicators into themes such as ‘Deforestation and Biodiversity’ or ‘Peat, fire and GHGs’. If you wish to engage with companies on the importance of monitoring greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for example, then increasing the weighting on the relevant category and/or reducing the weighting for all categories unrelated to GHGs may be of interest. In doing so, companies will then be ranked according to their public reporting in the ‘Peat, fire and GHGs’ SPOTT category , making it easier to draw on direct comparisons and prioritise lower-scoring companies for engagement.
Importantly, there are no limits to the number of weighting sets that can be saved, and weightings can be changed in ESG, Disclosure and Category both independently and in combination to create a set, allowing for a highly tailored view of SPOTT data. Once saved, a custom weighting set can be reapplied when future assessments have been published.
To access the feature, click on the ‘Modify score weighting’ button on a company or commodity page and log in or register for a free Dashboard account. If already registered in the SPOTT Dashboard, the weighting feature can also be accessed from the Dashboard page.
Creating a Dashboard account allows users to further explore company scoring and gives access to multiple features including downloading of past and present company assessments.
