Methodology
RECI applies a standardised seven-pillar framework to assess the operational depth of corporate climate strategy — examining the systems, governance, and financial controls behind sustainability commitments, not just the commitments themselves.
RECI is a corporate climate readiness benchmark. It is not an ESG rating, credit rating, investment recommendation, or assurance opinion. Scores reflect operational maturity based on publicly available evidence and are intended for corporate benchmarking, governance oversight, and climate strategy assessment.
Comparison
What RECI Measures
What others measure
- Headline disclosures
- Target announcements
- Narrative sustainability reports
- High-level GHG accounting
What RECI examines
- Governance accountability structures
- Data collection maturity
- Financial control integration
- Operational linkage depth
- Risk management systems
- Assurance rigour
- Disclosure completeness
Assessment framework
The Seven Pillars
Governance Chassis
Structural accountability, board oversight, and executive-level climate leadership. Examines whether climate strategy has real governance authority.
Data Infrastructure
Quality, granularity, and traceability of environmental data collection systems. Examines whether the data environment supports reliable reporting.
Financial Controls
Internal carbon pricing, dedicated sustainability budgets, and investment alignment. Examines whether financial systems support climate commitments.
Operational Linkage
Embedding climate goals into procurement, maintenance, supplier standards, and staff training. Examines real operational integration.
Risk Radar
Climate scenario analysis, TCFD alignment, and physical and transition risk management. Examines strategic risk maturity.
Assurance Depth
Rigour of third-party verification and the specific level of assurance achieved. Examines the evidential strength of reported data.
Transparency & Disclosure
CDP participation, TCFD indexing, and accessibility of machine-readable sustainability data. Examines the completeness of public disclosure.
Scoring model
Maturity Scale
No formal process, reactive activity only, or no evidence available.
Intent exists but practices are informal, inconsistent, or weakly documented.
Formal processes are documented and assigned, but lack deep cross-functional integration.
Sustainability is embedded into core operations with executive-level accountability.
Evidence of continuous improvement, external assurance (Reasonable), and automated MRV.
Level 5 — Assurance Depth
Pillar 6 Level 5 requires full-scope Reasonable Assurance across the complete GHG inventory (Scope 1, 2, and 3). Due to current market standards, Level 5 in Pillar 6 is rarely awarded.
Aggregation
Score Calculation
All seven pillars are weighted equally. The RECI score is the arithmetic mean of all pillar level scores, normalised to a 0–100 scale.
Aggregation Formula
Score = (Sum of 7 pillar levels ÷ 35) × 100
Where Level 5 = 5 pts, Level 4 = 4 pts, Level 3 = 3 pts, Level 2 = 2 pts, Level 1 = 1 pt.
A perfect score of 100.0 requires Level 5 across all seven pillars. Due to the Pillar 6 Level 5 rarity rule, scores above 97.1 are exceptionally rare in practice.
Classification
Performance Tiers
Platinum (90–100)
World-leading integration across all seven pillars. Significant evidence of operational linkage, executive accountability, and measurable decarbonisation progress.
Gold (70–89)
Strong established processes with executive-level oversight, documented climate risk management, and measurable progress on primary targets.
Silver (60–69)
Formal processes in place for primary pillars but lacking full-scope integration or deep operational alignment across the seven dimensions.
Bronze (Below 60)
Early-stage climate disclosure with limited structural integration. Reactive intent only across primary pillars. Significant gaps in governance, data, or assurance evidence.
Data quality
Confidence Ratings
Assessment based on comprehensive, independently assured public disclosures across all seven pillars. Primary metered data and TCFD-aligned reporting available.
Assessment based on partial public disclosures. One or more pillars rely on inferred or estimated evidence. Score is indicative for those pillars.
Assessment based on limited public disclosures. Significant estimation applied. The overall score should be treated as indicative only, pending richer disclosure.
Universe composition
How the Version 1 Universe Was Selected
Versioning note: RECI Global Index 2026 is the inaugural public release of the index (V1), based on the approved RECI Technical Methodology v2.4. V1 refers to the public edition. v2.4 refers to the underlying scoring framework.
The RECI Version 1 universe is a founding benchmark cohort of 100 companies selected to test and demonstrate the RECI methodology across sectors, geographies, and climate-accountability contexts.
This is not an exhaustive list of the world’s most sustainable companies. The Version 1 cohort is a structured launch universe designed to compare companies across different business models, reporting regimes, and transition profiles using a common framework.
Selection criteria
Companies in the Version 1 universe were selected using a combination of eight criteria:
Climate system relevance
The company operates where its decisions materially affect greenhouse gas emissions, climate transition pathways, or climate risk exposure, whether through direct emissions, value chain position, financed emissions, or a transition-enabling role.
Sector representation
The company’s inclusion contributes to the sectoral breadth of the universe. The cohort aims to reflect a range of climate-relevant sectors — including energy, industrials, financial services, technology, consumer sectors, healthcare, materials, transport, real estate, and telecom — weighted by climate-system significance rather than market-capitalisation share.
Geographic representation
The company’s inclusion contributes to the geographic breadth of the universe. The cohort aims to span major economic regions and, importantly, different regulatory and disclosure environments.
Public evidence sufficiency
Sufficient publicly available evidence exists to support structured adjudication against all seven RECI pillars. At minimum, this requires recent sustainability reporting, quantified emissions data, and governance disclosures.
Methodology stress-test value
The company presents a profile that tests whether the RECI methodology can handle diverse scenarios: high emitters with strong governance, low emitters with weak governance, state-influenced enterprises, conglomerates, hard-to-abate sectors, and financial intermediaries.
Comparative significance
The company is a meaningful benchmark within its sector or region, either by market position or as a natural peer comparison for other included companies.
Distinctiveness and non-redundancy
The company adds a dimension not already captured by another inclusion. Companies that share ownership, operate in the same sub-sector and country, or duplicate an existing profile are evaluated for whether both inclusions are justified.
Review feasibility
The company’s assessment can be completed within the available adjudication resources and timeline.
No single criterion is sufficient for inclusion. Each company must satisfy a combination of criteria, with climate system relevance and evidence sufficiency as minimum thresholds.
RECI Version 1 uses structured judgment within a published governance framework; it is not generated by a purely mechanical screening formula.
What the cohort is designed to include
- Transition leaders and companies at earlier stages of climate maturity
- Hard-to-abate sectors where decarbonisation is structurally difficult
- Enabling technologies and infrastructure
- Companies with significant supply-chain or financed-emissions relevance
- Companies operating under different regulatory and disclosure environments
The cohort is intentionally finite. It is broad enough to demonstrate the methodology across diverse profiles, but focused enough to support disciplined adjudication and quality control in a first edition.
Inclusion and exclusion
Inclusion in RECI Version 1 means a company was considered relevant and reviewable under the RECI framework. It does not mean the company is a climate leader. A company that scores Silver or Bronze is being assessed, not endorsed.
Exclusion from Version 1 does not imply weak performance. Many companies with strong climate practices are not yet in the universe. Exclusion may reflect evidence availability, adjudication capacity, sector or geographic balancing decisions, or simply the constraint of a 100-company starting universe.
How the universe will evolve
RECI is designed to grow through phased cycles rather than uncontrolled expansion. Future additions to the universe will be guided by the same eight criteria, with particular attention to:
- Filling gaps in sector coverage (notably steel, chemicals, aviation, telecom, and real estate)
- Improving geographic balance (notably Latin America and Africa, which are not represented in Version 1)
- Reducing overconcentration in any single region or sector
- Deepening evidence quality and adjudication rigour
New companies will be considered where they improve the universe on one or more of: sector completeness, geographic balance, climate materiality, evidence sufficiency, or methodology stress-test value.
Companies may be removed or deferred where evidence quality has deteriorated, inclusion has become redundant, rebalancing requires adjustment, or the company has ceased to exist as an independent entity. A company will not be removed because it scores poorly — low scores are valid methodology outputs, not grounds for exclusion.
The RECI methodology team reviews the universe composition once per cycle against the published selection criteria. Changes are documented and communicated before each new cycle’s publication.