POSCO was ranked 30th in the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World announced by Corporate Knights, a Canadian economic magazine in the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on January 25th 2012 local time.
Since 2005, Davos forum has announced the 100 most sustainable corporations in the world every year based on the evaluations of sustainability research institutes across the world.
In 2012, POSCO was ranked 30th, becoming the only steel company in the list, and Samsung Electronics was placed 73rd. POSCO and Samsung Electronics were the only two Korean companies among the selected 100 most sustainable corporations.
The top place was taken by Novo Nordisk, a Danish pharmaceutical company, and of the Asian companies, Toyota Motor was the highest rank, as 21st, followed by Hitachi Chemical, which was placed 28th.
Mr Joon yang Chung chairman of POSCO said that "POSCO was selected as 30th in the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World announced in Davos forum. POSCO had been ranked 93rd in 2010 and has come back into the list this year, and in that POSCO is the only steel company in the list and that Samsung Electronics was ranked 73rd, our achievement is very significant."
He added that "This objective result of the outer evaluation will contribute to promoting the positive image of POSCO which has made huge achievements under the current challenging business environments."
The evaluation items for the global 100 consist of eleven main performance indicators, including diversity, safety efficiency, innovation competence through R&D investment, employment and maintenance of employment and improvement of energy, greenhouse gases and water resources efficiency.
POSCO was highly evaluated for its increased sales, 20% up from the previous year, and the reduction of carbon dioxide emission and water use every year. In addition, it has actively conducted activities to improve the added value of by products, such as utilizing slag to restore the sea from albinism, and has also been praised for its efforts for transparent opening of information, such as publishing the Carbon Report each year since 2010 for the first time in the steel industry.
POSCO has published the Sustainability Report since 2004 and was selected as an excellent global company on the SAM Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (SAM DJSI) evaluation for seven consecutive years from 2005 through 2011.
Of the 2500 companies selected by Dow Jones in terms of sales, SAM DJSI Excellent Global Companies developed jointly by SAM, a Swiss sustainability investment institute, and Dow Jones of the US selects top 10% in terms of economic profitability, environmental soundness and social responsibility.
In the meantime, since chairman Mr Joon yang Chung took office in 2009, POSCO has been highly recognized at home and abroad. it was ranked first in the metal sector of the World's Most Respected Companies (Fortune) and 43rd in the World's Most Reputable Companies, which is the first place among Korean companies (Forbes), and was selected as the most competitive steel company in the world by WSD for two consecutive years.
