Methodology · Hash registry

The methodology has a hash. The hash does not change without a new index family.

Per Berg, Koelbel & Rigobon (2020) on ESG-rating divergence: when methodology drifts silently, comparison becomes impossible and trust collapses. Aequara's registry is designed to prevent this: a SHA-256 hash of every active methodology, published with every quarterly cycle. Operational amendments do not rotate the hash. Methodology changes do — and require declaring a new index family with parallel publication during the deprecation horizon. The registry opens with the first publication cycle; the entries below are illustrative examples of the format.

NPX-100 v2.0.0 · Published 2026-07-01

SHA-256 · NPX-100 · v2.0.0 · Effective 2026-07-01 · LIVE ENTRY 438537fac91ca1fe9b582a2f41bbba8a789132e516eb9bfee2cedc75fa0c1c04

The current live methodology hash. Cross-industry, global, 8-axis composite. Computed over the canonical document at /npx-100-methodology-v2.0.0.txt (UTF-8, Unix LF). The hash holds through operational amendments. It rotates only when a new index family is declared. Verify it yourself: sha256sum npx-100-methodology-v2.0.0.txt

The amendment ledger — live from v1.0.0.

Two columns matter: type (operational amendment vs methodology change) and hash rotation. Operational amendments are versioned without rotating the hash; methodology changes require a new index family and parallel publication.

Version

Date

Type · summary

Hash

v2.0.0

2026-07-01

methodology Cross-industry ratification. Eight axes (FC/EQ/CD/GV/ST/EC/SK/DH) — adds Earnings Quality axis (Sloan accruals, M-Score, FCF conversion). Global universe, all sectors. Sector-relative z-scoring. NPX-Financial-50 sub-index for the v1.0.0 financial cohort. Hybrid constituent model. Anti-issuer-pay. Brier-tracked. First quarterly publication 2027-02-04.

438537fa

v1.0.0 SUPERSEDED

2026-07-01

methodology Initial ratification. Seven axes (CE/FA/PT/MT/GV/AI/DH). Financial-sector only. 13-firm founding cohort. Superseded same-day by v2.0.0 cross-industry expansion. Archived at /npx-100-methodology-v1.0.0.txt.

13589f6a

Current hash (v2.0.0): 438537fac91ca1fe9b582a2f41bbba8a789132e516eb9bfee2cedc75fa0c1c04 · Superseded (v1.0.0): 13589f6abbd8b43017fd30df240fa7edb9c562bb46b87688b1a26b066c7d7349

Operational amendment vs methodology change.

Operational amendment

Affects how the methodology is operated, but not what it measures. Examples: governance changes, publication cadence formalization, constituent-band tightening, holiday-adjustment rules, steward rotation policies. Designed for approval by an editorial steward panel. Hash does not rotate. Versioned (v1.0.1 · v2.1.0 · etc.) for tracking.

Methodology change

Affects what the methodology measures or how the measurement is mathematically defined. Examples: weight-axis additions, scoring-formula changes, definition shifts, signal additions. Requires declaring a new index family (NPX-200, NPX-100v2, etc.) and a parallel publication cycle during a deprecation horizon. Hash rotates with the new family.

The point is not stasis — methodology improves, and improvement requires evolution. The point is that users always know which methodology they're looking at. They can compare 2026Q1 NPX-100 to 2027Q1 NPX-100 and trust they're comparing like to like. They can choose to migrate to NPX-100v2 if and when it ships, with a documented deprecation horizon for the original.

Tier III Custodians will co-sign methodology-hash rotations.

In the registry's design, methodology changes (the kind that rotate the hash) will require co-signatures from at least three Tier III Custodians in addition to the editorial steward panel. This is structural: it prevents Aequara from quietly drifting its own methodology under commercial pressure. The Custodian community is designed to be small, named, and accountable — the firewall against ourselves.