Mumbai: ESGRisk.ai, India’s first ESG rating agency and an Acuité Group company, felicitated companies that achieved excellence in the sustainability space. The much-awaited ‘ESG India Leadership Awards’ ceremony was held virtually on Thursday, and winners presented in 21 categories were announced after rigorous research that included collecting and analysing disclosures, stock exchange releases, annual reports, news and controversies.
Infosys Limited not only won the Overall ESG Leadership award, it was also crowned winner in Leadership in Equal Opportunities category. The ceremony acknowledged Infosys Limited’s excellent practices in diversity and inclusion based on age, gender, race, sexual orientation, disability, qualification, nationality and ethnicity of employees.
Hindustan Zinc Limited was declared Environment leader for initiatives in reducing carbon footprint, managing waste effectively, minimising air pollution and managing environmental impact. In GHG Emissions Reduction too, Hindustan Zinc Limited was an outright winner for excellent practices in reducing carbon footprint. Page Industries Limited won the leadership award in Green Supply Chain.
Among others, Axis Bank scored the most on Social Impact. It stood out in community services, product quality and safety, employee development and data privacy. Not just that, Axis Bank emerged winner in transparency in disclosures and reporting standards.
Godrej Consumer Products Limited was crowned champion for strong Governance practices. Blue Star Limited won the award in Board Diversity. Mindtree won the leadership award in Board Independence. Vedanta Limited won the Waste Management award and ACC Limited emerged winner in the Water Efficiency category.
NTPC Limited demonstrated excellent practices in monitoring air pollutant emissions to win the award in the Air Pollution Management category. And at a time when homes are increasingly going green, Brigade Enterprises Limited was acclaimed for its energy-efficient real estate portfolio and was declared victor in Green Product and Service. UltraTech Cement Limited won the leadership in Energy Efficiency award while Reliance Industries Limited clinched the best leadership title in Biodiversity Impact Reduction.
Awards were also bestowed on Gujarat Pipavav Port Limited in Community Support and Development, Vakrangee Limited in Data Privacy and Security and Bajaj Electricals Limited in Product Quality.
Tata Consultancy Services Limited, keeping up with the tag of being a people’s organisation, topped the scores in Leadership in Employment Quality. HDFC Limited too deserve applause for winning the Employee Development award for providing training, reskilling and upskilling opportunities and performance appraisals.
Mr. Sankar Chakraborti, chairman, ESGRisk.ai and Group CEO, Acuité, said, “These ESG champions deserve a standing ovation. Not too long ago, ESG was an idea that was expected to take shape sometime in the not-so-near future. And now, ESG is not only here with us, it has reached a tipping point, courtesy the enterprise and vigour shown by these companies to make sustainability a way of businesses.”
