Detecting Green. The process and feasibility of recognising sustainable companies on basis of public content

This study focusses on identifying the degree of sustainability of a sample of companies. The project is initially conducted for the Dutch bank Rabobank, who is interested in having a company classification tool, in order to rank-score organisations on being green. The goal of this tool is to classify the banks’ current investment portfolio to be able to offer a diversified product that focusses on doing “good”. The following research question should tackle this problem: “In what way is it possible to create a tool that makes it possible to conduct a simple company screening, which leads to an adequate identification of the sustainable frontrunners within particular industries?” The study is design oriented, focusing largely on the creation process of the tool.