SD-KPI Standards provide more than 15 years of sector-structured, financially relevant ESG data across 68 industries. Each industry framework identifies three particularly material ESG indicators designed to reflect sustainability-related risks and opportunities relevant to expected business performance, risk management and strategic positioning. The methodology was originally developed between 2009 and 2016 using a sector-specific financial materiality logic and has been applied consistently since.

In 2016, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) noted “a high degree of overlap” between SD-KPI analysis and the SASB industry standards and appreciated the SD-KPI approach to ranking and prioritizing sustainability topics per industry. Since SASB Standards are now incorporated within the IFRS Foundation and referenced under IFRS S1 issued by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), the SD-KPI structure facilitates analytical comparability with the industry-based components of current global sustainability disclosure standards.

The SD-KPI Standard 2016–2021 is explicitly referenced in German Financial Regulator's (BaFin) “Guidance Notice on Dealing with Sustainability Risks” as an example of an external sustainability standard in the context of strategic alignment and risk management.