The Dow Jones Sustainability Index is the most trusted international sustainability evaluation index in the world. It is developed by the Swiss sustainability evaluation institution, RobecoSAM, and the U.S. financial information provider, the Dow Jones.

POSCO is one of only 42 steel companies included in the DJSI. POSCO received the highest scores in areas including risk management, supplier management, contribution to society and environment and participation of interested parties. POSCO has been included in the DJSI longer than any Korean company.

“We will share the results with the related departments and further improve POSCO Group’s sustainable growth in shared growth, labor and human rights and safety and hygiene, with the expectation to promote social empathy for sustainability among a range of interested parties, including investors,” said a representative from POSCO.

The Dow Jones Sustainability Index selects the top ten percent of companies in each industry among the 2,500 companies total listed in the Indices as leaders of sustainability, based on media polls, corporate monitoring and surveys.

The Dow Jones Sustainability Index is also used by a number of socially responsible investment (SRI) funds and financial services providers. Companies with a high level of sustainable growth can dominate the business climate by fulfilling social and environmental responsibilities while achieving stable growth and sustainable development through risk management in economic, environmental and social areas.

SAM-DJSI is an international sustainability evaluation index developed by the Swiss sustainability evaluation institution RobecoSAM and U.S. financial information provider Dow Jones, and includes financial results as well as non-financial results in the evaluation criteria of global companies.

2,500 companies selected by Sam-Dow Jones based on highest sales are evaluated and analyzed by RobecoSAM based on the three categories of sustainability—profitability, environmental soundness, and social responsibility—where the top 10% in each industry are selected and announced.

Evaluation results are used all around the world by international institutional investors’ social responsibility investment funds and financial product management when considering a company’s current management results as well as future potential value.

In the 2013 SAM-DJSI evaluation results, POSCO, Taiwan’s China Steel (CSC), and Finland’s Outokumpu were selected as leading companies of the 31 companies in the steel category.  POSCO received 77 points in 2013, 3 points higher than last year, and was selected as a leading company for the 9^th consecutive year, a first in the steel industry.

POSCO particularly received 90 points in the environment criteria, the highest among global steel companies, and was recognized as an environmentally friendly steel company based on a management philosophy of environmental management.

In addition, by carrying out leading sustainable management in the global steel industry as well as overseas social contributions, its shared growth activities received high evaluations.

Its contribution to spreading sustainable management in the steel industry by providing sustainable management case studies to the World Steel Association to develop steel industry sustainable management practices also received good scores.

Based on these results, POSCO plans to continue to solidify its sustainable management system while also spreading it to and settling it within POSCO Family companies, growing future competitiveness of the entire POSCO Family.

It sounds like an impressive achievement. But one may ask, “What is SAM-DJSI?” Offered cooperatively by SAM and S&P Dow Jones Indexes, SAM-DJSI is a global sustainability benchmark that provides indexes. The index looks at both financial and non-financial accomplishments of the firm, which thereby measures a company’s current economic achievements and future prospects as well.

In addition, SAM tracks the stock performance of the world’s leading companies—the top 2,500 firms chosen by Dow Jones—in terms of economic, environmental, and social criteria. Then, the result of top 10% of all firms from each industry classifications is announced. The result of this assessment is served as benchmarks for investors and provides an effective engagement platform for companies who want to adopt sustainable best practices.

 For POSCO, it was a positive outcome, as our hard work so far perhaps deserves it. The results announced for 2012 SAM-DJSI review have selected four companies, out of total 40 evaluated subjects, as the top of steel industry category, where POSCO scored 74 points. Furthermore, POSCO scored the highest in the environmental area, being credited as an eco-friendly steel industry with green-growth as their base.

This was an important and notable accomplishment that showed POSCO’s international status. Today, POSCO has already established itself as an excellent example of propelling and expanding a sustainable growth and management amongst other international firms by World Steel Association.