SpaceX under scrutiny: What the Public Record Shows
09/16/2026
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5 mins read
SpaceX has spent the past three years in the news for reasons that have little to do with rockets. The company has been in court with a neighboring company in Texas, is at odds with the FAA, and has been quietly dropped by more than one European pension fund. In June 2026, shortly before its record 75 billion dollar public listing, MSCI gave the company its lowest corporate responsibility rating, a CCC.
We took a look at SESAMm’s data on SpaceX’s and pulled its record to see what three years of coverage actually holds. Between September 2023 and September 2026, we detected 139 distinct controversy cases involving the company, assembled from news reporting and other public sources. Four of them sit in the most severe tier, and between them they carry most of the story.
SpaceX and FAA in Regulatory Turmoil
UNGC: WatchlistSeverity 5 · Very High
CategoryEnvironmentalGovernanceSocial
17 events | February 2023 to June 2026
The first case in the record is a disagreement with the regulator. Conflict between SpaceX and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) intensified over time, with multiple proposed fines and significant penalties for data submission failures and safety oversight. Elon Musk publicly criticized the agency's management and called for reforms. What the case also notes is that none of this severed the relationship: through the same years, SpaceX continued to unveil ambitious plans for Mars and to collaborate with the FAA.
SpaceX's Environmental Challenges and Legal Battles
UNGC: WatchlistSeverity 5 · Very High
CategoryEnvironmentalGovernanceSocial
123 events | August 2019 to August 2026
SpaceX faces increasing scrutiny over its expansion and launch activities, with numerous environmental lawsuits and regulatory challenges emerging. The concerns range from habitat destruction and pollution to safety violations, and have prompted protests and legal action from environmental groups and local communities. As the company pushes forward with its plans, the balance between innovation and environmental responsibility remains contentious.
SpaceX Faces Scrutiny Over Workplace Safety Violations
Severity 5 · Very High
CategoryEnvironmentalGovernanceSocial
13 events | November 2023 to June 2026
SpaceX is under scrutiny following a series of workplace safety incidents, including a death and multiple injuries at its facilities. OSHA has imposed significant fines and opened investigations, citing trends in injury rates and unreported incidents, raising questions about the company's safety practices.
SpaceX's Starship Program: A Journey of Triumphs and Setbacks
Severity 5 · Very High
CategoryEnvironmentalGovernanceSocial
59 events | May 2020 to July 2026
The FAA has navigated a complex relationship with the Starship program, closing multiple investigations while mandating corrective actions after a series of explosive test failures. Set against those failures are significant milestones, including successful test flights and the development of new prototypes. Regulatory scrutiny and environmental concerns have continued through both.
What Investors are doing about it
Beyond these four, the record runs heavily to labor and employment litigation, as well as to Starlink's military use and security exposure.
Investors have already acted on it. Danish fund Akademiker Pension blacklisted SpaceX in March 2025. In August 2026 the Swedish state pension fund AP7, which manages savings for roughly six million people, ruled out investing at all, citing corporate governance and human rights risk management. Both decided on evidence that had been public for years. After the listing, the stock fell 27 percent.
Takeaways
The record does not point to one isolated controversy, or even to one particular part of the business. It points to a pattern. SpaceX’s exposure sits at the intersection of the risks that come with operating at extraordinary speed and scale: safety, environmental impact, labor practices, regulatory compliance and the governance of increasingly consequential technology.
That pattern matters more than any single headline. These cases are different in substance, but they share a common feature: the underlying disputes have persisted.
The exposure is not just something of the pastl. SESAMm’s Controversy Exposure Score* for SpaceXis currently 82 (considered “Very High Risk”) f, in its “Very High Risk” band, compared with an average of 67 (HIgh Risk) over the preceding year.
This ongoing exposure shows that controversy has become a recurring feature of SpaceX’s expansion story. For investors, regulators and other stakeholders, the question is increasingly whether the company’s governance and risk controls can scale as quickly as its rockets, satellites and ambitions.
*The Controversy Exposure Score (CES) is a continuous score from 0 to 100 measuring a company's exposure to ESG controversies over time, based on the severity of incidents and their media volume.
This is an unsolicited rating: it is not commissioned by the rated company. The company is notified before its score is first issued, does not take part in the rating, and SESAMm has no access to its management or non-public documents. Ratings are produced only from public and licensed sources. Methodology: https://www.sesamm.com/methodology
With sustainability being imperative, it's essential to examine how public and private companies align with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This article, leveraging insights from SESAMm's TextReveal, dives into the behaviors of both sectors across industries, exploring their impact on achieving a sustainable future. Join us as we unravel the complexities of corporate contributions to the SDGs, highlighting key differences and challenges public and private entities face in their journey toward sustainability.
What are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals?
The 17 UN SDG objectives, introduced in 2015 with the target of achievement by 2030, are geared towards building a sustainable society. Initially designed for governments, certain companies can contribute significantly to these goals through their products or conduct. However, our focus here will center on identifying behaviors that counter these 17 objectives.
The analysis of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) adverse behaviors, as identified by SESAMm's TextReveal, offers a comprehensive comparison between public and private companies within various industries. The focus is to discern disparities in SDG behaviors within the same sector and pinpoint the predominant SDG goal breaches in these industries.
Excluding Goal 2 ("End hunger") due to its alignment with state-related initiatives, the analysis concentrates on corporate-impactful goals.
Public and private sectors face challenges in meeting SDGs, particularly Goals 1 ("End poverty") and 16 ("Peace & justice and strong institutions"), with issues in labor rights and governance. However, public companies are more aligned with Goal 8 ("Decent work and economic growth") across industries, facing a range of controversies from biodiversity to management issues. In contrast, private companies focus on Goal 11 ("Sustainable cities"), dealing with climate change and customer relations risks.
Goal 16 ("Peace & justice and strong institutions") is significant in both sectors but particularly in the Financials and Information Technology for public companies and in Financials, Fossil Fuels, and Health Care for private companies. This goal involves human rights, labor rights, human capital, and governance-related controversies.
These findings highlight the profound impact of SDG-related risks on economic growth and stability across various sectors. Industries like Information Technology, Industrials, and Consumer Discretionary exhibit heightened susceptibility to SDG adverse behaviors, underscoring the necessity for vigilant risk management to ensure economic prosperity and security.
Industrial UNGC Use Case
What is the UN Global Compact?
The United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), established in 2000, outlines ten principles across four main pillars: human rights, labor standards, and anti-corruption. These principles are critical in guiding companies toward ethical and responsible behaviors.
Figure 1: UNGC for public companies.
Figure 2: UNGC for private companies.
The analysis reveals distinct patterns in breaches of UNGC principles. Private companies in the industrials and fossil fuel sectors show a notable correlation with anti-corruption breaches, emphasizing the importance of due diligence in these areas. In the fossil fuel industry, public companies primarily breach environmental principles, while private companies show more breaches related to anti-corruption along with environmental concerns.
Private industrial companies also display a significant number of anti-corruption breaches involving various legal challenges. In the consumer staples sector, public companies primarily face human rights breaches, including forced labor and privacy violations. The private consumer discretionary sector also shows a high number of human rights breaches, particularly related to privacy and diversity and inclusion.
Overall, public companies across various sectors tend to have more frequent or severe UNGC breaches compared to private companies. This highlights the different challenges faced by public and private entities in adhering to the UNGC principles.
Conclusion
Significant variations in sustainability strategies emerge when looking at public and private companies through their SDG performances. Public companies prioritize economic growth and grapple with environmental and governance concerns, while private companies focus on creating sustainable cities, addressing climate change, and fulfilling social responsibilities. Both sectors encounter obstacles in eradicating poverty and ensuring justice, highlighting their crucial roles in promoting global sustainability objectives. This analysis underscores the essential proactive approach needed from both public and private entities to tackle sustainability challenges effectively.
Download the full report to discover how different sectors navigate regulatory pressures and sustainability challenges with real-world examples to guide your strategy.
Reach out to SESAMm
TextReveal’s web data analysis of over five million public and private companies is essential for keeping tabs on ESG investment risks. To learn more about how you can analyze web data or to request a demo, reach out to one of our representatives.
In December 2021, Carlyle led a $475 million Series E funding round for YipitData. As part of its diligence process, Carlyle used SESAMm’s Natural Language Processing (NLP) models to help inform this investment decision.
Results
YipitData is an alternative data firm that extracts billions of data points from the web and other alternative data sources to generate proprietary data and KPIs on industries and individual companies.
SESAMm’s TextReveal® platform enabled Carlyle to extract valuable insights on the alternative data market to assess the global market opportunity based on the analysis of more than 17 billion web articles and messages. Using NLP in its due diligence process, Carlyle’s deal team was able to confirm YipitData’s leading market position and growth prospects across multiple industries and geographies. Furthermore, a risk analysis drawn from social discussions, anonymous forums and dark web content concluded there was very low risk associated with the company.
SESAMm provided valuable insights based on the analysis of billions of documents for this specific deal and helped translate unstructured contents into industry-level trends, competitive insights and risk analytics. These types of analytics can add value to the entire investment lifecycle, from sourcing to due diligence and portfolio monitoring — providing investment teams with key insights to assess investment opportunities and build a competitive edge.
“SESAMm provided us with valuable and timely insights for our investment process through its NLP alternative data. They helped us gain even more confidence in YipitData’s strong potential by confirming the company’s leading position. We are very happy with the insights provided by SESAMm and look forward to further collaborations.” Senior Associate – Technology Private Equity, The Carlyle Group
SESAMm is pleased to announce the appointment of Steven Carroll to its Advisory Board. Over a career spanning more than 25 years, Steven has built a uniquely broad perspective on financial data, having operated at a senior level across every major corner of the industry, from quant analytics and content to AI-powered research tools and global data platforms.
A Career at the Heart of Financial Data
Steven has seen financial data from every angle: quant analytics at StarMine, content and indices at Thomson Reuters, and AI-powered search at AlphaSense. At Refinitiv and then LSEG, he took on progressively broader remits, culminating in his role as Head of Customer Strategy and Execution, where he was responsible for go-to-market across Workspace, Data and Feeds, FTSE Russell, and Risk Intelligence and Analytics. Throughout, Steven's roles have sat at the intersection of product, marketing, and sales, spanning multiple geographies, including Australia, Singapore, the UK, and the United States.
Deep Roots in the Institutions and Workflows SESAMm Serves
Steven is a subject-matter expert on the content sets and workflows that underpin institutional investment and risk management, including fundamental data, estimates, broker research, ESG, sentiment, and credit analytics. He has also worked closely with the firms that consume this data, from private equity and asset managers to commercial banks and insurers, giving him a first-hand understanding of how they evaluate, adopt, and integrate new data and analytics tools into their processes.
Expanding SESAMm's Reach Across Global Financial Markets
Steven's appointment comes as SESAMm continues to expand its AI-powered risk intelligence platform and deepen its relationships with private equity firms, asset managers, commercial banks, insurers, and financial institutions globally. His perspective will provide valuable insight, bringing a practitioner's understanding of how financial data businesses grow and scale.
Steven is also the founder of CCAS (Carroll Consulting and Advisory Services), a London-based advisory practice supporting startups and established vendors across the information services ecosystem. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute and the Institute of Consulting, a member of the Institute of Directors and the CFA Institute, and serves on the Board of Governors at Greenwich Waldorf School.
We're thrilled to welcome Steven to SESAMm's Advisory Board and look forward to working together as we continue advancing AI-powered risk intelligence for investment firms and corporations worldwide.
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