Company risk, Inherent risk, and Assessments are three connected concepts in Worldfavor. Each serves a different purpose, but together they form a complete picture of sustainability risk across your reporter network.
⚡️ Quick summary
Inherent risk shows a reporter's baseline risk exposure based on country and industry
Assessments evaluate how reporters manage sustainability risks through policies and practices
Company risk combines both — plus flagged answers — into a single, actionable risk overview
What is Inherent risk?
Inherent risk reflects a reporter's structural risk exposure — the baseline level of risk linked to where a company operates and what industry it belongs to. It is calculated using external risk indices based on a reporter's:
Headquarters country
Own operations country
Sub-supplier countries
Industry
Inherent risk represents exposure before any mitigation. A reporter in a high-risk country or industry will have elevated inherent risk regardless of the sustainability practices they have in place.
🤔 Where to find it: Inherent risk is available under Analyze → Inherent risk.
What are Assessments?
Assessments evaluate how reporters manage sustainability risks in practice. They are structured questionnaires sent to reporters to understand whether they have the right policies, processes, and governance in place across key ESG topics.
Assessment results reflect a reporter's sustainability performance — not just their exposure. They complement inherent risk by adding the reporter's own perspective on how risks are handled.
Results are typically presented on a scale such as Minimal – Limited – Robust, depending on the assessment type.
🤔 Where to find it: Assessment results are available under Analyze → Assessments.
What is Company risk?
Company risk is a consolidated sustainability risk overview that brings together three inputs for each reporter:
Inherent risk — structural exposure based on country and industry
Assessment performance — how reporters manage sustainability risks
Flags — specific answers that automatically increase risk when critical requirements are not met
Risk is calculated across four sustainability areas: Environment, Social, Governance, and Supply chain. The highest topic risk determines the reporter's overall risk severity, ensuring critical issues remain visible.
❗ About risk severity: A single high-risk topic can determine a reporter's overall risk level. This ensures that critical sustainability issues are never hidden by lower-risk results in other areas.
🤔 Where to find it: Depending on your solution, Company risk is available under Analyze as Supplier risk (Sustainable Sourcing), Portfolio company risk (Sustainable Investments), or Company risk (ESG Reporting).
How they work together
Each concept plays a distinct role in your due diligence process:
Concept | What it measures | Based on | Includes mitigation? |
Inherent risk | Structural exposure | Country & industry data | No |
Assessments | Sustainability performance | Reporter-provided answers | Yes |
Company risk | Combined risk severity | Inherent risk + Assessments + Flags | Yes |
Together, they give you both an external view of a reporter's risk context and an internal view of how they manage it — helping you prioritize due diligence where it matters most.
Related articles