DS Smith has confirmed ‘strong progress’ in five corporate ESG ratings this year, after the company was placed on the ‘A List’ for protecting water resources by global charity CDP, which runs disclosure systems to help organisations manage their environmental impacts.
The packaging specialist revealed it was acknowledged as a leader on corporate environmental ambition and action through CDP’s annual environmental disclosure and scoring process. DS Smith also increased its CDP Climate Change score from B to A-.
Earlier this year, DS Smith gained an AA score from MSCI, a lower risk score from Sustainalytics, a Platinum score from EcoVadis, and a score of 67 points on the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment.
In the five ESG ratings DS Smith has identified as being most relevant to its investors and customers, the firm has been recognised for achievements such as environmental reporting, performance in sustainable procurement, and use of recycled and sustainably sourced materials.
Wouter van Tol, head of sustainability, community and government affairs at DS Smith, said, “These five ESG ratings are very important indicators for our customers, investors and other stakeholders. DS Smith has made substantial gains across all of them this year, which can only mean that we are on the right track.
“We will continue to focus on our sustainability targets, making our business more circular and taking ambitious climate action. Most importantly, we will help our customers do the same.”
Oliver Bradley, sustainability reporting manager at DS Smith, added, “Over the past year we focused on increasing disclosures in our sustainability reporting to help ESG analysts better understand our business and ensure that we are recognised for the work that we are doing to accelerate the transition to the circular economy. We continue to use the insights provided by ESG ratings to inform our strategy and reporting.”
