RepRisk
A Swiss ESG data and analytics company that monitors environmental, social, governance, and business-conduct risks.
Last updated August 24, 2026
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Overview
RepRisk AG is a Zurich-based environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data science company focused on identifying, analyzing, and quantifying reputational and business-conduct risks. Its services are designed for organizations that need to examine the risk exposure of companies, infrastructure projects, sectors, and countries across operations, supply chains, lending relationships, and investment portfolios. The company traces its origins to ECOFACT, a Swiss environmental and social risk consultancy established in 1998 with a focus on the financial sector. In 2006, ECOFACT created an ESG risk database at the request of UBS. That database developed into a separate commercial data business, and RepRisk became an independent company in 2010. RepRisk's core offering is an online due-diligence database and related analytical products. The platform organizes adverse information concerning entities and projects across 28 ESG issues and a broader set of thematic tags. Topics can include environmental degradation, pollution, human-rights concerns, child labor, forced labor, fraud, corruption, tax-related issues, and other forms of controversial business conduct. Its issue framework is mapped to external standards and reference systems including the ten principles of the United Nations Global Compact, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board Materiality Map, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The research process combines automated text and metadata analysis with multilingual processing, source de-duplication, clustering, and review by human analysts. RepRisk states that it screens more than 100,000 public and stakeholder sources each day in 20 major business languages. These sources may include local and international media, online news, newsletters, nongovernmental organizations, government bodies, think tanks, blogs, and social-media content. Analysts assess the severity and novelty of incidents, link them to relevant companies or projects, and conduct quality checks before information is added to the database. RepRisk's quantitative tools include the RepRisk Index (RRI), a score from 1 to 100 that measures current reputational exposure to ESG and business-conduct criticism. The index considers factors such as source influence, frequency and timing of criticism, and the novelty and severity of reported incidents. A separate Peak RRI records the highest level of exposure over a preceding two-year period. RepRisk also provides the RepRisk Rating, a letter-based rating from AAA to D, which combines an organization's own exposure with the risk characteristics of the countries and sectors associated with its reported activities. Another indicator identifies companies with a high potential risk of violating one or more of the ten UN Global Compact principles. Clients can access RepRisk data through the online platform, reports, benchmarking products, supplier-monitoring products, and portfolio-monitoring products. The company serves financial institutions and corporations seeking to support due diligence, compliance, responsible investment, procurement oversight, and risk management. Its database has also been used in academic and industry research on credit risk, share performance, reputation, corporate responsibility, sustainability disclosure, and investment analysis. The company publishes recurring research and rankings, including annual lists of the most controversial companies and projects based on RepRisk Index exposure. Publicly described coverage has included more than 150,000 public and private companies, over 40,000 infrastructure projects, all countries, 34 sectors, more than 20,000 nongovernmental organizations, and over 15,000 government bodies as of July 2020. These figures describe the database at that point in time rather than a current coverage claim.
History
RepRisk developed from ECOFACT, a Zurich-based consultancy founded in 1998 to advise the financial sector on environmental and social risks. The consultancy's work reflected a growing need among banks and investors to evaluate risks that were not captured adequately by conventional financial analysis, including pollution, labor concerns, human-rights controversies, corruption, and other forms of potentially damaging business conduct. In 2006, at the request of UBS, ECOFACT created an ESG risk database. The database was intended to organize publicly available information about adverse environmental and social events and make that information useful for institutional due diligence. Rather than relying solely on corporate disclosures, the approach emphasized external criticism and stakeholder information, including media reporting, nongovernmental-organization publications, government material, and other public sources. The database subsequently became the foundation for a specialized data business. In 2010, the data operation separated from the consultancy and became an independent company under the RepRisk name. Its offering expanded from a research database into a broader set of tools for monitoring companies, projects, sectors, and countries. The business focused on making ESG and business-conduct risk searchable, comparable, and suitable for integration into investment, procurement, lending, and compliance workflows. RepRisk's methodology combines machine-based screening with analyst review. Automated systems process unstructured text and metadata, identify potentially relevant incidents, and help remove duplicate or repeated reporting. Human analysts then assess the significance, severity, and novelty of incidents, associate them with the relevant entities, and prepare standardized summaries. The resulting information is quality-checked before publication in the platform. The process is designed to support consistent tracking across languages and over time while preserving the context of stakeholder criticism. The company organizes research around 28 ESG issues and additional thematic tags. Its framework is aligned with widely used international and sustainability standards, including the ten principles of the United Nations Global Compact, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board Materiality Map, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This alignment allows users to relate individual incidents to broader sustainability, compliance, and responsible-investment frameworks. RepRisk also developed proprietary quantitative indicators. The RepRisk Index measures current exposure to ESG and business-conduct criticism on a scale from 1 to 100, while Peak RRI captures the highest exposure over a two-year period. The methodology takes account of source influence, the timing and frequency of criticism, and the novelty and severity of reported allegations or incidents. The RepRisk Rating adds a letter-grade format and incorporates exposure associated with countries and sectors. A separate UN Global Compact Violator Flag highlights companies with a high potential risk of violating one or more of the Global Compact's principles. Over time, RepRisk expanded its commercial formats beyond the searchable database. Its described products include company reports, benchmarking briefs, supplier-monitoring briefs, and portfolio-monitoring reports. These products are aimed at financial institutions and corporations managing investments, counterparties, suppliers, and other business relationships. RepRisk has also published annual rankings of controversial companies and infrastructure projects and has supported external academic and professional research into the relationship between negative ESG news, reputation, credit risk, market performance, and investment outcomes. As reported for July 2020, the database covered more than 150,000 public and private companies, over 40,000 infrastructure projects, all countries, and 34 sectors, alongside records concerning ESG issues, nongovernmental organizations, and government bodies. RepRisk's historical development therefore represents a shift from specialist environmental and social-risk consulting toward a global, technology-enabled ESG intelligence and monitoring business.
- 2020
Reported database coverage exceeds 150,000 companies
[1]A July 2020 description reported coverage of more than 150,000 public and private companies and over 40,000 infrastructure projects, together with country, sector, NGO, and government-body data.
- 2013
Annual controversial-company and controversial-project reports begin
[1]RepRisk begins publishing recurring rankings of companies and infrastructure projects with the highest ESG-related reputational exposure during the relevant year.
- 2010
RepRisk becomes independent
[1]The ESG risk database operation separates from the consultancy and becomes an independent company known as RepRisk.
- 2006
ESG risk database created for UBS
[1]ECOFACT develops an ESG risk database at the request of UBS, creating the foundation for RepRisk's later data products.
- 1998
ECOFACT is established
[1]The Zurich-based environmental and social risk consultancy that later gave rise to RepRisk is formed with a focus on the financial sector.
Products and positioning
ESG and business-conduct risk data provider for corporate due diligence, financial risk management, responsible investment, supply-chain monitoring, and compliance.
ESG risk intelligence platform
RepRisk Platform
RepRisk's online due-diligence database allows users to search and monitor companies, infrastructure projects, sectors, and countries associated with ESG and business-conduct risks. It organizes incidents across 28 ESG issues and additional thematic tags, and presents research prepared through automated screening, multilingual processing, analyst review, and quality control.
Risk scoring
RepRisk Index (RRI)
The RRI is a quantitative indicator of an entity's current exposure to ESG and business-conduct criticism. It ranges from 1 to 100 and incorporates factors such as source influence, criticism frequency and timing, and the novelty and severity of reported issues. Peak RRI records the highest exposure over a two-year period.
ESG risk rating
RepRisk Rating (RRR)
The RRR is a letter-based rating ranging from AAA to D. It is intended to support comparison and ESG integration by combining an organization's own reported ESG risk exposure with the exposure associated with the countries and sectors linked to its activities.
Compliance indicator
UN Global Compact Violator Flag
This indicator identifies companies with a high potential risk of violating one or more of the ten principles of the United Nations Global Compact. It can also distinguish whether the identified risk is primarily connected with a company's own operations or its supply chain.
ESG risk report
Company Reports
Company Reports summarize ESG and business-conduct risks associated with an individual company. They provide a report-oriented format for organizations that need a focused assessment rather than a broad search across the entire database.
ESG benchmarking
Benchmarking Briefs
Benchmarking Briefs compare ESG risk exposure for up to ten companies. The product is designed to help users assess relative reputational and business-conduct exposure among peers or potential counterparties.
Supply-chain monitoring
Supplier Monitoring Briefs
Supplier Monitoring Briefs identify companies in a supplier population that show exposure to ESG risks or may be likely to breach internal policies, ethical guidelines, or international standards.
Investment portfolio monitoring
Portfolio Monitoring Reports
Portfolio Monitoring Reports help investment organizations review ESG and business-conduct exposure across holdings. The described reports identify entities with significant exposure and can be delivered on a monthly or quarterly basis.
Recent events
RepRisk and B3 partner to update sustainability index[2]
Reported:
RepRisk partnered with B3 to update the B3 Corporate Sustainability Index, integrating RepRisk ESG risk data on 1,000 Brazilian companies into its selection and scoring algorithm.
Apex Group partners with RepRisk on ESG risk data[3]
Reported:
Apex Group partnered with RepRisk to incorporate RepRisk's technology for identifying ESG risks for private-markets participants. The partnership combines RepRisk's risk dataset with Apex's ESG ratings.
RepRisk and BattleFin form ESG data partnership[4]
Reported:
RepRisk formed a strategic partnership with BattleFin to make RepRisk ESG risk data available through BattleFin’s Ensemble marketplace, where data buyers can test, evaluate, and purchase it.
Sources4 sources
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