Introduction:

The purpose of this paper is to give an overview and a basic comparison of two different non-financial rating methodologies, one referring to the ethics and one to the sustainability-approach. In the first part the theoretical background is explained with Hans Küng’s Global Ethics and ”Frankfurt-Hohenheimer Leitfaden” as a theoretical foundation on one side and the Sustainability-approach as proposed by business associations on the other side. The second part of the paper goes into details and introduces Corporate Responsibility-Rating of Oekom Research based on the “Frankfurt-Hohenheimer Leitfaden” and Corporate Sustainability Rating of SAM-Group based on the Sustainability-approach. They will be compared using the example of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group.