On December 10, Hyundai Steel was listed in the DJSI World Index, for the third consecutive year, through the 2020 Dow Jones Sustainability Indices assessment.
It was also named an “Industry Leader” in the iron and steel industry, for the second year in a row. Due to COVID-19 social distancing policies, this year the awards were presented to companies individually.
In 2020, following the DJSI assessment, only 17 Korean companies across all industry sectors were listed in the DJSI World Index. Only companies in the top 10% in each industry are considered for inclusion in the index, and Hyundai Steel was the only Korean company included in the index from the iron and steel sector. Additionally, the company holds the commendable record of being listed in both the DJSI Asia Pacific, for 12 consecutive years, and in the DJSI Korea, for 3 consecutive years.
In particular, Hyundai Steel was recognized for making improvements in the areas of supply chain management, information security, biodiversity, and human rights. In the area of information security, which was added to the index evaluation for the first time this year, the company was acknowledged for consistently conducting thorough security education and security risk response training. These security measures resulted in the company gaining higher scores than the industry average.
Hyundai Steel was also recently recognized for its CSV (Creating Shared Value). activities. On January 2, Hyundai was awarded the “7th Porter Prize for Excellence in CSV” in the “Effectiveness” category for its Coffee Bak Recycling Project. The Porter Prize is presented by Professor Michael Porter, a renowned master of business strategy from Harvard University, to companies and organizations that have taken the lead in CSV. Hyundai Steel received the Porter Prize in recognition of its contributions to effectively solving social problems through its recycling project. After receiving the award, Hyundai Steel representatives also gave a presentation on exemplary CSV case studies.
“Coffee bak” is the Korean term for coffee grounds that are left over after making coffee. They are classified as “useless household waste” and are either sent to landfills or incinerated. However, in collaboration with the central government, local governments, and NGOs, Hyundai Steel started a program to upcycle “coffee bak” into eco-friendly, innovative products such as flower pots, bricks, and road paving materials. For this project, initiated in 2018, Hyundai Steel applied its resource circulation business structure, typically used to melt discarded scrap metal and recreate it into new products, to the byproducts of coffee, which has become a daily commodity for many Koreans. The project not only reduces waste in local communities, but also creates jobs for socially vulnerable people.