ESGRisk.ai Launches ESG Leadership Awards Across Indian Market

ESGRisk.ai, India’s first ESG rating agency is pleased to announce the first edition of ‘ESG India Leadership Awards’. The awards aim to recognise sustainable Indian companies and celebrate their achievements in ESG. Companies will be recognised for their performance on 21 ESG themes including overall excellence in Environment, Social, Governance, and reporting Transparency.

ESGRisk.ai will be organising a virtual award ceremony on October 7, 2021 to announce and felicitate the winners of the first edition of the awards. The awardees are chosen after evaluating each of the top 500 listed companies (by market capitalisation) through a meticulous process after collecting and analysing disclosures, stock exchange releases, annual reports, news and controversies. The awards are purely based on ESG performance of the companies, and they did not have to nominate themselves (or pay a fee) to get themselves evaluated for the awards.

Mr. UK Sinha, former Chairman of The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and a leading authority on Indian capital markets and corporate governance, will be gracing the occasion as the Chief Guest. Mr. SS Mundra, Former Deputy Governor of The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and an expert in banking and financial regulations, will be joining the event as the Guest of Honour. Other eminent dignitaries from the banking and finance sector will be participating in a discussion on ‘Relevance of ESG in Capital Markets’, which will be held during the event.

Speaking on the development, Sankar Chakraborti, Chairman, ESGRisk.ai, and Group CEO, Acuité, said, “ESGRisk.ai’s core business is to provide ESG ratings to the companies and evangelise the benefits of ESG Risk assessment and management. We have launched ESG India 360 0, a real-time assessment database of the top 500 listed companies, which can be used by investors, bankers and corporates to monitor ESG performance of businesses in India. Launching ESG India Leadership Award is our initiative to showcase ESG Leaders in India, highlight their success stories and celebrate their ESG achievements, thereby inspiring more corporates to integrate ESG into the core business.”

To participate in the award ceremony and discussions, kindly register using this link:

https://esgrisk.ai/esg-india-leadership-awards/

ESG India Leadership Awards categories & selection criteria:

Principal Awards

·        ESG Leader: Overall best practices in the spheres of environmental, social, and governance

·     ESG Leader – Environment: Contribution to various environment-friendly initiatives to improve conservation, restoration, sustainable use of the terrestrial ecosystems and reduction of carbon footprints

·        ESG Leader – Social: Contribution to the initiatives such as community engagement, skill development, CSR, social justice, gender equality, peace, health and well-being among others.

·        ESG Leader – Governance: Outstanding governance transformation in an organisation within the ESG context, ethics, diversity and board independence.

·        Transparency & Disclosures: High disclosure rates and better reporting standards indicate high levels of transparency. The publication of an annual report, sustainability report, business responsibility report, and compliance with all disclosure requirements are crucial parameters.

Key Indicator Awards – Environment

·        Air Pollution Management: Initiatives specific targets for reducing air pollutant emissions and disclosing their environmental impact.

·        Biodiversity Impact Management: Initiatives to protect, restore and reduce the adverse impact on biodiversity and strategies for rehabilitation and resettlement programmes.

·        Energy Efficiency: Effective energy management which includes reducing overall energy consumption, using renewable energy in operations, having certified energy management systems, and disclosing energy consumption. 

·        GHG Emissions Reduction: Various initiatives undertaken for reduction of Green House Gas emissions and carbon footprints.

·        Green Supply Chain: Sustainability in the supply chain that includes sourcing products from environmentally responsible suppliers, monitoring and reducing environmental impacts at every stage.

·        Green Product / Service: Initiatives to introduce, develop and market green products or services.

·        Waste Management: Initiatives for managing several types of waste generated in the operations and reducing waste generation.

·        Water Efficiency: Reducing, recycling and reusing water, having certified water efficiency management systems and disclosing the withdrawal and consumption of water during different processes.

Key Indicator Awards – Social

·        Community Support & Development: Practicing community support & development and being cognisant of their impact on all facets of society, including economic, social and environmental.

·        Data Privacy and Security: Cyber security policies & practices, setting up information security management systems, and conducting data security audits.

·        Employment Quality: Strategies towards fair compensation, flexible work schedules, parental leave, bereavement leave, and sabbaticals to make sure that the workforce is satisfied.

·        Equal Opportunity: Diversity & inclusion practices based on age, gender, race, sexual orientation, disability, qualification, nationality, and ethnicity.

·        Product Quality: Initiatives towards quality management systems, communicating product defects, product recall and measuring customer satisfaction and retention rate.

·        Employee Development: Providing training, reskilling and upskilling opportunities to employees and partnering with academic institutions for the same and priority on internal job promotion and performance appraisal rate.

Key Indicator Awards – Governance

·        Board Diversity: Board members with different ethnic and educational backgrounds, nationalities, and cultural backgrounds.

·        Board Independence: Complying with disclosure requirements and independent member requirements.

About ESGRisk.ai:

ESG Risk Assessments & Insights (ESGRisk.ai) is India’s first ESG rating company and an Acuité Group Company. ESGRisk.ai provides objective, independent and unbiased opinion and assessments on the companies’ ability to mitigate emerging risks associated with Environment, Social, and Governance issues that have a material financial impact. Our ESG assessments foster informed decision-making while choosing ESG investments, assessing a particular company or industry’s performance, reviewing ESG business strategies and identifying the need for policy interventions.

About Acuité Group:

Acuité Group comprises Acuité Ratings & Research Limited, a SEBI registered, RBI-accredited bond rating agency, and its two wholly-owned subsidiaries, SMERA Ratings Private Limited, a pioneer in rating SMEs, and ESG Risk Assessments & Insights Limited, India’s first ESG rating company. The shareholders of Acuité Ratings & Research are SIDBI, D&B (India), State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Indian Bank, Bank of India, Union Bank of India, and Standard Chartered India.