CJ CheilJedang gets Dow Jones Sustainability nod for third consecutive year

03 Nov 2017 --- CJ CheilJedang has become the first South Korean company in the food Industry to be listed in Asia-Pacific Dow Jones Sustainability Indices three years in a row.

The Seoul-based food ingredients manufacturer has been assessed as one of the top 13 percent companies in the food industry, automatically securing a ranking in Asian-Pacific and Korea Indices. 

According to the company, this is the first time a South Korean food industry firm has been listed for three consecutive years.

CJ CheilJedang brands include Haechandle fermented sauces, Beksu and CJ Hat Kimchi.

"As we aim to be a global leader in the food industry, it is vital for us to work on sustainable economic and social development," said Suk Hwan Im, Head of CSV Management at CJ CheilJedang. 

"CSV, or Creating Social Value, is the most fundamental management principle of CJ CheilJedang for achieving our company's vision and mission. We will strive to contribute a positive impact on society through our business activities."

In the evaluation overall, CJ CheilJedang scored highly in most of the 25 of the total criteria, which are largely grouped into three categories; economic, environmental and social dimensions. 

In the company-wide environmental evaluation that was newly added to the 2017 DJSI assessment, CJ CheilJedang ranked high for establishing a water efficiency program. 

As a food and beverage manufacturing company that operates a cleaning and sterilization process using water, CJ CheilJedang avoids increasing water consumption by expanding the reuse of water resources. This can potentially prevent the contamination of groundwater in Korea, a water-scarce country while enhancing the level of food safety in the nation.

In addition, CJ CheilJedang has been highly lauded for stressing internally the importance of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the past year. SDGs are the most crucial common goals that UN and the international community pledged to achieve from 2016 to 2030. 

As part of this, CJ CheilJedang also announced a 'Partners Code of Conduct' in an effort to improve ethics and human rights. The social dimension to the DJSI was also newly added this year.

DJSI was created jointly by S&P Dow Jones and the international sustainability index provider Swiss RobecoSam in 1999, providing a global assessment of sustainability performance. The analysis is a comprehensive evaluation based on the company's economic, environmental and social dimensions.