JSW Steel, the flagship company of the diversified USD 13 billion JSW Group announced that it has been selected in the S&P Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) for the Emerging Markets for 2021.
JSW Steel is one of the 15 companies from India and one amongst only three steel companies from Emerging Markets that have made it to the DJSI EM Index which comprises 108 companies globally. The company has progressively improved its score across the three domains of Environment, Social and Governance.
DJSI is the gold standard for corporate sustainability and is highly regarded by global investors, fund managers, and financial analysts looking at ESG based investments. With a steel-making capacity of 27 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) in India and the USA, including capacities under joint control, JSW Steel has participated in the Corporate Sustainability Assessment conducted by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. As a responsible corporate citizen, JSW Steel’s carbon reduction goals are aligned to India’s Climate Change commitments under the Paris Accord.
Seshagiri Rao, Joint MD, JSW Steel & Group CFO said, “The entry in the DJSI Emerging Markets Index is a testimony to our work and progress in the area of sustainability. JSW Steel has always been a front runner in incorporating ESG into its core operations and decision making, along with adopting the Best Available Technologies (BAT) to improve its climate impact performance.”
JSW Steel has moved up from 81st to 93rd percentile y-o-y, with a major improvement in areas of policy influence, information and cybersecurity, codes of business conduct, supply chain management and materiality analysis. In the Environmental dimension, it has moved from 81st to 91st percentile y-o-y, with significant positive change in score across issues like operational eco-efficiency, biodiversity and climate strategy.
In the social dimension, it has seen an upgrade from 77th to 90th percentile y-o-y, with improvements in score in talent attraction and retention, occupational health and safety, social impacts on communities, human capital development, labour practice indicators and corporate citizenship and philanthropy.
With rising urgency to tackle issues like climate change, social impact, and the need for strengthening governance for better accountability, resilience, and responsibility, JSW’s performance in DJSI marks the company and its stakeholders’ commitment to advance the company on the track of strong ESG outlook and performance.
Manjit Jus, Global Head of ESG Research and Data, S&P Global said, “We congratulate JSW Steel for being included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) for Emerging Markets. A DJSI distinction is a reflection of being a sustainability leader in your industry. The record number of companies participating in the 2021 S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment is testament to the growing movement for ESG disclosure and transparency.”
The S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA) is an annual evaluation of the sustainability practices of some of the world’s largest companies. The CSA focuses on criteria that are both industry-specific and financially material and has been doing so since 1999. Offered by S&P Dow Jones Indices, the DJSI track the stock performance of the world’s leading companies in terms of economic, environmental, and social criteria. The indices serve as benchmarks for investors who believe sustainable business practices lead to long-term shareholder value and who wish to reflect their sustainability convictions in their portfolios.
JSW Steel has always been at the forefront of research and innovation and its next phase of growth includes a target of achieving 37.8 MTPA steel capacity by FY25. It has a strategic collaboration with global leader JFE Steel of Japan, enabling JSW to access new and state-of-the-art technologies to produce & offer high-value special steel products to its customers.