This study examines the performance of S&P 500^® constituents over the past 10 years through the lens of their S&P Global ESG Scores. A key question for market participants has been whether companies with high or low ESG scores outperform or underperform relative to their peers and the broader market benchmarks. Building on our prior analysis that investigated the ESG score-related drivers behind the excess return in the S&P 500 Scored & Screened Index versus The 500™ over a five-year period, this analysis offers a broader perspective through a decade-long lens.

To assess the relation between ESG scores and performance, we created hypothetical ESG score quintile compositions by count, and we reconstituted them annually by ranking The 500’s constituents based on their S&P Global ESG Scores and assigning them to one of the five compositions, from highest to lowest ESG scores. The hypothetical market-cap-weighted cumulative performance of these compositions was then calculated and compared against the performance of The 500. The findings summarized in Exhibit 1 reveal a notable trend: companies in the second-highest ESG-scoring quintile outperformed The 500 by a cumulative 48.0%, while those in the lowest-scoring quintile underperformed by 27.1%.

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Exhibits 2 and 3 present a sectoral analysis of contributions from both the second-highest and lowest ESG-scoring companies, uncovering distinct performance patterns. The second-highest ESG-scoring quintile achieved a cumulative gain of 89.6%, with a substantial portion—47.9%—of this attributable to the Information Technology sector. In contrast, performance among the lowest ESG-scoring companies was more evenly distributed across multiple sectors, with no single sector showing a significantly stronger contribution.

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In addition to our overall S&P Global ESG Score evaluation, we also explored the social dimension of the ESG scores, motivated by growing interest among market participants in social criteria such as human capital management. In Exhibit 4, we used the same quintile approach as in Exhibit 1, applying it to S&P Global Social Scores to analyze cumulative returns. The results highlighted that the highest social-scoring companies outperformed The 500 by 68.6%, while those with the lowest social scores underperformed by 0.7%.

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In summary, our findings indicate that over the past decade, companies rated with the second-highest S&P Global ESG Scores outperformed The 500 cumulatively, largely driven by performance in the Information Technology sector, while those with the lowest ESG scores underperformed, with their returns distributed more evenly across various sectors. Additionally, our analysis of S&P Global Social Scores further revealed that the highest social-scoring companies also outperformed, emphasizing the potential significance of social criteria in ESG scores.

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