Scientific Climate Ratings (SCR) is an independent climate risk rating agency born from the EDHEC Business School venture ecosystem. It delivers forward-looking ratings that quantify the financial materiality of climate risks for infrastructure companies and investors worldwide. The agency is the first European rating agency fully dedicated to assessing the financial impact of climate risk, combining science-based models, high-resolution geospatial data, and the world’s largest financial dataset for infrastructure assets.

Organisation behind the tool
Scientific Climate Ratings was established within the EDHEC Climate Finance applied research ecosystem, including the EDHEC Climate Institute. It operates as an independent rating agency within EDHEC Business School’s venture ecosystem.

What the tool does
SCR provides two primary rating products. Climate Exposure Ratings (CER) assess current exposure to future climate risks under a “continuity” scenario, reflecting the most likely pathway based on prevailing global policies and trends. Climate Risk Ratings (CRR) integrate climate risk data into financial valuation models across multiple probability-weighted scenarios to estimate financial effects of climate-related risks through 2035 and 2050. The platform covers both Transition Risks (linked to the shift toward a low-carbon economy) and Physical Risks (arising from hazards such as floods, storms, heatwaves, and wildfires). Key features include: precise geoshape extractions at 10m × 10m flood hazard resolution; 100+ climate damage and vulnerability models; coverage of 6,000+ infrastructure assets across 25 countries and 100+ sub-sectors; sovereign climate risk ratings across 180+ sovereigns and 3,400+ regions; and the ClimaTech database of 1,800+ decarbonisation and resilience strategies. Data quality is aligned with the Partnership of Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF) reference scale. Listed equities coverage (4,000+ assets) is scheduled to launch in 2026.

Target audience
SCR serves infrastructure issuers, institutional investors, public institutions, and (from 2026) listed equities investors. Its ratings are designed for entities seeking to assess and manage climate risk exposure and financial materiality across assets, portfolios, and regions.

Relevance to finance professionals
SCR is relevant to finance professionals across several areas: risk assessment — quantifying physical and transition climate risks and their financial impact on infrastructure and sovereign assets; ESG analysis — providing independent, consistent, and comparable climate risk scores aligned with international standards; investment context — enabling scenario-based portfolio analysis across multiple probability-weighted climate pathways through 2050; and infrastructure finance — equipping issuers and investors with tools to benchmark and contextualise climate risk across a broad global asset universe.