Recently, POSCO has received applause at the ‘Next Society CSR Summit 2014’ for earning the grand prize in iron & steel sector. Such distinguished performance is not limited to Korean domestic communities but reaches beyond the national boundary. That is, POSCO-China has been ardently assisting the Chinese local communities in which they operate. In fact, their outstanding performance in CSR activities has been illustrated in numbers. Let’s learn more about POSCO-China’s improved scores and ranks in the field of CSR.
2014 Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Conference
On November 13, 2014, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) held a press conference to issue Blue Book on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Year 2014 and CSR development index of 300 enterprises in China. CASS publishes the CSR-termed ranking of 300 state-owned, civilian-run and foreign-invested enterprises in China. They analyze and evaluate standing lists of various enterprise and industrial categories.
With the joint efforts of its subsidiaries in China, POSCO Family, presented by POSCO China, improves its ranking from No. 46 in 2013 by virtue of outstanding achievements to No. 42 this time on the list of top 100 Chinese enterprises. In fact, POSCO-China has won the annual total score of 70.5, which is 11.6 point increase from last year. In iron & steel industrial category, POSCO ranks No. 6, following Baosteel and WISCO, and is still the only foreign-invested iron & steel enterprise on the list, according to this evaluation.
POSCO-China’s CSR Report
The CSR Report of POSCO Family in China(2013) lists its 26 subsidiaries in China, including ZPSS, QPSS, POSCO-Guangdong, POSCO-CSPC and POSCO-CCPC, and publishes CSR performance data on four aspects respectively in responsibility management (score 82.1), market responsibility (score 62.5), social responsibility (score 81.8) and environmental responsibility (score 56.6), among which responsibility management has a year-on-year growth of 35.6 score. This proves that the specific improvement measures such as CSR management system for Chinese market, CSR business trainings & meetings have gained recognition in substantive evaluation.
Annual CSR Workshop in Beijing
The report went through an extensive process which took five months to complete. Since March 14 this year, POSCO-China held annual CSR Workshop for the first time in Beijing, where experts of Research Center for CSR CASS were invited to give a professional training and case studies to leaders of subsidiaries. CSR business leader also shared sustainable approaches to business and case studies of POSCO headquarters. After entering the reporting stage, Cooperation & Communication Dept. of POSCO-China sent the project leaders to start in-depth speaking tour in the subsidiaries for six times. With active cooperation of subsidiaries, specific explanations and Q & A session were made for 203 index. In the writing phase, CSR TF team of POSCO-China integrated the data and reporting results of 26 subsidiaries, which realized the professional writing. Despite the fact that this is the very first time to apply for certification to a third-party, the Chinese CSR Report Rating Expert Committee, POSCO’s report received four-star evaluation with five-star being the highest rating.
Now and the Future of POSCO-China’s CSR
POSCO-China was persistent to its responsibilities; all staff provided sufficient information by many and group leaders offered sincere attention and support. With their cooperation and support behind, the ranking of 2013 POSCO’s CSR Report was improved among that of top 100 Chinese enterprises. A series of innovative management measures implemented in 2014 also marks that CSR work of POSCO Family in China has reached a new stage.
Recently, POSCO-China is planning to cooperate with CASS to formulate CSR Handbook 3.0 for metal smelting and metal extension industries. Hence, CASS specialists and enterprise representatives are expected to visit South Korea by the end of this year to make a survey and adapt POSCO’s valuable experience.
In addition, in the ranking of CSR development index, China Southern Power Grid takes its No. 1 ranking with the score of 89.5, and Samsung (China) continues to keep No.1 among foreign-invested enterprise category. Other Korean enterprises on the list in terms of foreign-invested enterprises are LG China (No.3), Hyundai Motor Group (No.7), and SK (No.90).
POSCO-China’s CSR at a Glance
Here is a short overview of CSR activties by POSCO-China.
Even listed in the Guinness World Records, the largest ensemble of the gayageum, a Korean traditional string instrument, was achieved by People’s Government of Longjing City and was sponsored by POSCO-China.
During POSCO-China CSR Workshop in Beijing, POSCO CSR Team Manager shared her vast experiences with leaders form other global branches.
At the POSCO-China CSR Workshop, Hongwu Zhong, an expert of Research Center for CSR CASS, was invited to give a professional training session.
POSCO-China’s volunteers spent their spare time on removing stickers on the street nearby the company’s office to preserve the community environment.
POSCO held POSCO Asia Fellowship Awarding Ceremony at Beijing University on December, 2014. POSCO has been providing 320 thousand dollar amount of scholarship to 480 students for the past 10 years.
POSCO-China donated 2 million RMB for post-disaster reconstruction of Ludian County, Yunnan Province in China. The county was struck by 6.5 magnitude earthquake in August 3, 2014.
