ITC's Sustainability Efforts Recognized

Source from:  Tobacco Reporter 12/15/2009

ITC Ltd said on Friday that it had been ranked second in India and seventh in Asia in the Asian Sustainability Rating (ASR) released by CSR Asia recently. The ASR ranks the sustainability disclosures of 200 of the largest, listed companies in 10 markets: Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. This, the first such analysis in the region, used 51 indicators to assess the companies under six broad categories: Governance and Policy; Strategy and Communication; Marketplace and Supply Chain; Workplace and People; Environment; and Community and Development. ITC said that its strategy of achieving triple bottom line performance had enabled it to become the only company in the world of its size to be carbon positive, sequestering twice the carbon it emits; water positive, harvesting two times more rainwater than its net consumption; and solid waste recycling positive. At the same time, its extensive sustainability initiatives had contributed to creating jobs for more than five million people. It said its supplementary education program had benefited many children and its women's empowerment initiative had helped in creating more than 20,000 rural women entrepreneurs. Enditem