South Korea’s leading steelmaker Posco has made it to the Corporate Knights’ 100 most sustainable corporations list, becoming the first steelmaker listed three consecutive years, the company said Wednesday.

The list has been released by Corporate Knights, a Canadian media and research company, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland every year since 2005. 

Posco ranked No. 35, climbing five places from the previous year. It is the highest ranked South Korean company, with the other two inclusions being Shinhan Bank at No. 40 and LG Electronics at No. 65. Samsung Electronics failed to make the list for the first time in four years.

The list evaluated the performance of 4,973 listed companies with market capitalization of $2 billion and above as of Oct. 1, 2016. It is determined using 14 quantitative sustainability indicators that measure an organization’s management of resources, employees and finances.

The steelmaker earned particularly high marks for efficient use of water, recycling of waste and low CEO-to-average-worker pay ratio, according to the company.

German electronics company Siemens was named the world’s most sustainable company this year.

Posco has been acknowledged for its sustainable management by other gauges. It was included in Dow Jones Sustainability Index for the 12th straight year last year and has been named the world’s most competitive steelmaker by World Steel Dynamics for seven consecutive years. 



By Park Ga-young (gypark@heraldcorp.com)