UNAIR NEWS – Center for Environmental, Social, and Governance Studies (CESGS) of Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR) continues to expand its contribution to the development of ESG research through the ESGI Dataset. Since its development to meet the data research needs of corporations, the ESGI Dataset has reached more than 24,000 active users from over 260 universities in Indonesia and Malaysia.
CESGS continues to strive to expand the scope of the ESGI Dataset to provide a more comprehensive research database. The head of CESGS UNAIR, Prof. Iman Harymawan PhD, hopes that this development can broaden researchers’ access to corporate data and help them meet their data needs in research.
“The hope is that the ESGI Dataset can continue to develop into a comprehensive research database and support researchers in Indonesia. We are also striving to expand the data coverage so that the ESGI Dataset can become one of the solutions for researchers in obtaining the data they need,” said Prof Harymawan.
Supporting research development
ESGI Dataset provides data on companies listed in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore for the period 2010–2025. It includes five main groups: governance, audit, finance, ESG and green finance, and securities. Users can access a variety of information, ranging from director profiles, company ownership, and financial performance to ESG scores, carbon emissions, and stock prices.
To facilitate data processing, the ESGI Dataset provides an Excel format compatible with statistical analysis tools. The pay-as-you-go scheme allows researchers to purchase datasets as needed, while the text analytics feature supports sentiment analysis and the content of company reports.
In addition to providing data, CESGS also develops mentoring programs to strengthen research capacity. Until now, CESGS has organized six Research Camps that assist research toward publication in Scopus-indexed journals, fifteen Short Camps, 45 national and international activities, and 33 seminar and webinar collaborations with universities. Six universities have also established data subscription collaborations.
Various programs bring combined data access with competency development and academic collaboration, to ensure researchers have support to process corporate information into scientific findings.
Expanding access to ASEAN
The next step is to expand the coverage of the ESGI Dataset from three to five ASEAN countries. CESGS aims to add data from Filipino and Vietnamese companies by 2028. The hope is that this expansion can open up cross-country research opportunities on corporate governance, ESG performance, and sustainability in Southeast Asia. With a continuously expanding user base and extended regional data coverage, the ESGI Dataset is aimed at supporting an evidence-based corporate research ecosystem in the ASEAN region.
Author: CESGS UNAIR
Editor: Yulia Rohmawati
