Hera Group best Multi & Water Utility according to S&P
For the fifth consecutive year, Hera has been included in S&P Global’s Yearbook, published today, in the “Top 1%” category among the world's best performing companies in the Multi & Water Utility sector. The analysis shows that the Group excels in identifying the best “market opportunities”, achieving a very positive rating by global standards, including in terms of effective “risk and crisis management”, as is proven by its long record of uninterrupted growth in results. Furthermore, Morningstar Sustainalytics has included Hera in its list of “Top Rated” companies for 2025: the analysis shows a risk profile rating very close to fully regulated companies.
According to Standard & Poor’s, the Hera Group is the world’s best company in the Multi & Water Utility sector and has been included, for the fifth consecutive year, in S&P Global’s Sustainability Yearbook, for its best performances in three areas: Governance&Economics, Environment and Social. This result comes after Hera was included in S&P Global’s Dow Jones Europe & World Indices, two authoritative international stock market indices that include outstanding listed companies based on their performance in the areas of environmental, social and governance sustainability.
More specifically, Hera is in the “Top 1%” of the best performing companies in its sector, with a score of 80/100, compared to a sector average of 35/100. This leadership is based on its exemplary ability to seize “market opportunities” and to carefully control and manage “risks and crisis” and “cybersecurity”. This analysis by S&P’s Global portrays a company at the forefront that, for the fifth year in a row, leads a benchmark made up of outstanding companies in the industry worldwide.
Morningstar Sustainalytics has also included the Hera Group in its 2025 list of the best companies in terms of performance in the quality of risk management. In particular, the Group also stood out as “Industry Top Rated,” obtaining a score that places it at the top of its reference sector, alongside companies with one of the highest risk/return profiles, having fully regulated businesses and being highly protected from risks arising from the macro environment.
These positive assessments confirm the Hera Group’s ability to pursue a sustainability strategy along a path that includes a constant commitment to developing the entire value chain, with a careful eye to global best practices. These recognitions come shortly after the presentation of the new Business Plan to 2028, in which the aspects highlighted by analysts are confirmed: a company that continues to sustain a significant creation of shared value, which translates into an average annual Total Shareholders Return expected at a double-digit percentage rate.
The Business Plan to 2028 also allocates significant investments to strategies and initiatives aimed at long-term resilience, innovation and sustainability. In particular, of the 4.6 billion euro in total investments planned for the five-year period 2024-2028, 2.6 billion euro will be aligned with the European taxonomy for environmental sustainability projects (96% of eligible investments) and will thus be able to fully access subsidised sustainable finance instruments, with benefits in terms of financial costs. Maintaining its focus on the main drivers of decarbonisation, circular economy, resilience and innovation, over the five-year period the Hera Group expects a significant evolution in its operating, financial and sustainability results, confirming its uninterrupted growth for the future as well.
Listed on the FTSE MIB since 2003 and included in the FTSE MIB since 2019, the Hera stock, in addition to being part of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index Europe & World since 2020, is also included in the blue-chip Italian ESG MIB index dedicated to ESG best practices, launched by Euronext and Borsa Italiana in 2021. For almost 10 years, Hera has also been in the “Top 100” of the FTSE Diversity Inclusion Index, certified by FTSE Russell, for its commitment to promoting diversity, inclusion and people development, and has ranked among the highest in the ESG Identity Corporate Index for four years, for its full and conscious integration of sustainability policies into its governance and business strategies.
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The multi-utility tops the ranking, marking its sixth consecutive year on the podium, the only Italian company to achieve this result. The recognition rewards the credibility and consistency with which the Group integrates ESG factors into its strategy, governance and corporate culture.
Hera Group ranked first in the 2026 ESG Identity Corporate Index, developed by ET.Group to measure the extent to which ESG factors are integrated into companies’ strategies and decision-making processes. The results of the eleventh edition were presented today in Milan at the ESG Business Conference.
The Group’s growth, together with the progressive evolution and increasing maturity of its ESG model, has gone hand in hand with continuous advances in governance, enabling the multi-utility to rank among the Top 10 for 9 consecutive years and on the podium for six years in a row.
A more selective assessment focused on ESG credibilityThe recognition is even more significant as it is the outcome of a rigorous assessment process carried out against a benchmark that continues to rise. The 2026 edition included a record 109 companies, all demonstrating increasingly advanced levels of ESG maturity.
The assessment itself has also become more demanding, shifting the focus from disclosure alone to companies’ ability to demonstrate the effective integration of ESG factors into strategy, decision-making processes and corporate culture. The analysis centres on the development of a robust and coherent ESG strategy geared towards value creation, transparent reporting of results, and the ability to anticipate and manage risks.
For Hera Group, particular emphasis was placed on:
- governance as an enabler, supported by the active involvement of dedicated governance bodies;
- the integration of ESG targets into remuneration policies and long-term strategies;
- the ability to foster a cross-functional ESG culture involving all business functions and the entire value chain.
Hera Group builds its ESG narrative on its strategy, its commitments and its ability to translate them into tangible results. Over more than twenty years, the multi-utility has combined sustained economic growth with the evolution of its governance towards increasingly demanding targets, clear accountability and measurable performance. The credibility of the Group’s commitments rests on a consistent track record of delivery, as demonstrated by significant investments, completed projects and reported impacts. The same rigour underpins investment in people development through skills, inclusion and professional growth, as well as incentive systems that embed sustainability targets.
For Hera Group, ESG is therefore the practical framework through which the company governs, grows and creates value over time.
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