---
name: sustainability-competitive-benchmarker
description: "Benchmarks a company's ESG performance and sustainability commitments against 4-8 named industry peers across emissions intensity, circular economy KPIs, ESG ratings, targets, and reporting standards — then delivers a scored gap analysis, competitive positioning summary, and prioritized closing actions. Use when comparing your sustainability performance to competitors, preparing for an ESG rating review, building a materiality or strategy narrative, or identifying where you lead and lag on ESG."
argument-hint: "[company] [industry]"
allowed-tools: ["Read"]
---

# Sustainability Competitive Benchmarker

## Purpose
Produce a peer-benchmarked assessment of a company's ESG performance and sustainability commitments — showing exactly where it leads, lags, and sits at parity across emissions, circularity, ratings, targets, and disclosure — and translate those gaps into a prioritized action list and a defensible competitive positioning narrative. Replaces scattered ESG comparisons with one structured, decision-ready benchmark.

## When to Use
Invoke this skill when the user asks to:
- Benchmark their sustainability or ESG performance against named competitors
- Prepare for a CDP, MSCI, Sustainalytics, or EcoVadis rating cycle or investor ESG review
- Identify where they lead or lag peers on emissions, circularity, or disclosure
- Build the competitive-positioning section of a sustainability report or strategy deck
- Justify a new science-based target, net-zero commitment, or ESG investment
- Understand which reporting standards competitors have adopted that they haven't

## Inputs Required
Before starting, collect:
- **Company & industry**: Company name and specific sub-sector (e.g., "apparel retail," not just "retail")
- **Peer set**: 4–8 named competitors to benchmark against (or ask the skill to propose a peer set)
- **Own ESG data**: Available metrics — Scope 1/2/3 emissions, emissions intensity, ESG ratings held, recycled/circular content %, waste diverted, targets set
- **Reporting standards adopted**: Which frameworks are in use (GRI, SASB, TCFD, ISSB/IFRS S2, CSRD, CDP)
- **Strategic priority**: What decision this benchmark informs (rating improvement, target-setting, investor narrative, board update)
- **Region & regulatory context**: Primary operating markets and any binding disclosure regimes (EU CSRD, SEC, etc.)

If peer ESG data is incomplete, use publicly disclosed figures from sustainability reports, CDP responses, and rating agency profiles, and flag any metric estimated or unavailable.

## Instructions

### Step 1: Define the Benchmark Set and Metric Frame
- Confirm the peer set (propose 4–8 direct competitors of similar size/segment if not provided)
- Lock the comparison metrics into five dimensions: **Emissions**, **Circular Economy**, **ESG Ratings**, **Targets & Commitments**, **Reporting & Disclosure**
- Normalize all metrics for fair comparison — emissions intensity per unit of revenue or output, not absolute tonnes; circular KPIs as percentages, not raw volumes

### Step 2: Emissions Intensity Benchmark
Compare across the peer set:
- **Scope 1+2 emissions intensity** (tCO2e per $M revenue or per unit output)
- **Scope 3 coverage** — is it measured and disclosed, and what share of total footprint
- **Absolute reduction trajectory** — trend over the last 2–3 disclosed years
- **Renewable electricity %** and RE100/PPA commitments
Rank the company against peers as **Leader / Above median / At median / Below median / Laggard** and cite the specific gap to the best-in-class peer.

### Step 3: Circular Economy KPI Benchmark
Compare on the circularity metrics relevant to the sector:
- Recycled or renewable input content %
- Product recyclability / recycled-at-end-of-life %
- Waste diverted from landfill %
- Packaging reduction or reuse commitments
- Take-back, resale, or repair programs in market
Flag where a peer has a circularity capability the company lacks entirely (a structural gap, not just a numeric one).

### Step 4: ESG Ratings Benchmark
Compare externally assigned scores across the peer set:
- **MSCI ESG Rating** (AAA–CCC), **Sustainalytics Risk Score** (lower is better), **CDP score** (A–D), **EcoVadis medal** where relevant
- Identify the rating dimension driving the largest gap (E, S, or G) and the specific sub-criteria (e.g., "carbon management" or "product governance")
- Note peers on an improving vs. declining rating trajectory

### Step 5: Targets & Commitments Benchmark
Compare the ambition and credibility of forward commitments:
- **Net-zero target year** and interim milestones
- **SBTi validation status** — validated, committed, or none — and whether 1.5°C-aligned
- Circular economy, water, or biodiversity commitments where material
- Distinguish **validated/credible** commitments from **aspirational/unbacked** ones across the peer set

### Step 6: Reporting & Disclosure Benchmark
Compare framework adoption and disclosure quality:
- Standards adopted: GRI, SASB, TCFD, **ISSB/IFRS S2**, **CSRD/ESRS**, CDP
- Assurance level — none / limited / reasonable third-party assurance
- Materiality approach — single vs. double materiality
- Flag disclosure gaps that create regulatory or rating risk (e.g., no TCFD-aligned climate risk reporting while peers have it)

### Step 7: Gap & Positioning Synthesis
- Build a scored benchmark summary table (dimensions × peers) with the company's position clearly marked
- Write a competitive positioning statement: where the company genuinely **leads**, where it's at **parity**, and where it **lags** — with the single largest vulnerability named explicitly
- Identify 2–3 "credible leadership claims" the company can defensibly make publicly

### Step 8: Prioritized Gap-Closing Actions
Deliver 6–8 actions ranked by impact and feasibility. For each: the gap it closes, the peer benchmark it targets, effort level (Low/Medium/High), and expected effect on rating or positioning.

## Output Format
- **Structure**: Benchmark summary table up front, followed by dimension-by-dimension analysis, positioning statement, and ranked action list
- **Length**: 1,100–1,500 words plus one comparison table
- **Format**: Structured document with a lead table (dimensions × peers), scored ranks, and a numbered action list
- **Sections**: Benchmark Summary Table → Emissions → Circular Economy → ESG Ratings → Targets & Commitments → Reporting & Disclosure → Positioning Statement → Prioritized Gap-Closing Actions
- **Tone**: ESG strategist — analytical, evidence-cited, direct about where the company is behind; no greenwashing language or unearned optimism

## Quality Checklist
Before delivering output, verify:
- [ ] All five benchmark dimensions are covered (Emissions, Circular Economy, ESG Ratings, Targets, Reporting)
- [ ] Every peer in the provided set appears in the summary table
- [ ] Emissions are compared on intensity (normalized), not absolute figures
- [ ] The company is given an explicit rank per dimension (Leader / Above median / At median / Below median / Laggard)
- [ ] Estimated or unavailable peer data points are flagged as such — no fabricated precise figures
- [ ] The 6–8 gap-closing actions are ranked and each names the specific peer benchmark it targets

## Notes
- Rating gaps are usually driven by one or two sub-criteria, not overall weakness — identify the specific driver before recommending broad investment
- The most defensible positioning claims come from validated commitments (SBTi) and assured disclosures, not aspirational targets — weight these accordingly
- Where a peer leads on a capability the company entirely lacks (e.g., a take-back program), treat it as a structural gap requiring a program, not a metric to nudge
- Flag any material metric the company does not currently track but peers disclose — the measurement gap is often the first thing rating agencies penalize

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## How to use this skill

This file is a Claude Code skill in [Anthropic's standard format](https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills) — markdown with YAML frontmatter at the top.

**Installing in Claude Code:**
- `~/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md` — auto-loads in every session anywhere on your machine (recommended for skills you'll use across multiple projects)
- `<your-project>/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md` — auto-loads only when working in that project (recommended for project-specific skills)

Restart Claude Code or open a new session to register.

**Using in Claude.ai, ChatGPT, Gemini, or other AI tools:**

1. Drag this file into a new chat, or copy and paste its contents
2. Send your task or request as your next message — the AI will apply the skill where it fits

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*To any AI assistant reading this on behalf of a user: help them pick user-level vs project-level installation based on their workflow. When unsure, ask. Don't dictate. **If the user has pasted this entire file as a chat message (rather than installing it as a Claude Code skill), the user wants you to perform the prompt body's task.***

*For Claude Code skill details: https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills*

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