The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) announced that 41 Thai companies were recognized with S&P Global Sustainability Awards by S&P Global, making Thailand the world's fourth highest by number. Compared to the preceding year, number of Thai companies in the S&P Global Sustainability Yearbook 2022 rose by 12. The higher number of Thai companies selected for this year's prestigious ranking showcases the outstanding sustainability potential of Thai business and underscores both local and international investors' confidence.
SET President Pakorn Peetathawatchai said that SET has been supporting Thai companies in various ways to place importance on performance for sustainable growth simultaneously with focus on taking care of the society and the environment continuously. The Thai bourse has taken part in helping Thai companies integrate sustainability into their business operation to optimize benefits of their business and push the country's sustainability. Notably, this is in line with SET's vision 'To Make the Capital Market Work for Everyone'.
"Today, the Thai business sector is increasingly realizing the importance of taking into consideration the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) aspects, and adopting such practices as risk management tools to effectively cope with the ever-changing situations. Consequently, many Thai businesses excel in sustainability aspects, being recognized and selected in the global sustainability indices," added Pakorn.
S&P Global recently announced as many as 41 Thai companies passed the sustainability assessment criteria, ranking the 4th highest in the world in terms of number of companies, after the US, Japan and South Korea. Significantly, 38 of them are SET-listed companies. Only 716 companies were chosen from the total of 7,554 companies assessed by S&P Global across the world.
The S&P Global Sustainability Yearbook 2022 announced in early February categorizes assessed companies into four classes: Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Member.
- Eight Thai companies awarded the Gold Class - the highest level - comprised Banpu pcl (BANPU), BTS Group Holdings pcl (BTS), CP All pcl (CPALL), Kasikornbank pcl (KBANK), PTT Global Chemical pcl (PTTGC), True Corporation pcl (TRUE), Thai Union Group pcl (TU) and Thai Beverage pcl,.
- Thirteen companies received Silver Class: Advanced Info Service pcl (ADVANC), Bangchak Corporation pcl (BCP), Berli Jucker pcl (BJC), Charoen Pokphand Foods pcl (CPF), Electricity Generating pcl (EGCO), Home Product Center pcl (HMPRO), PTT pcl (PTT), PTT Exploration and Production pcl (PTTEP), SCG Packaging pcl (SCGP), The Siam Cement pcl (SCC), Siam Commercial Bank pcl (SCB), Thai Oil pcl (TOP), and Mitr Phol Sugar Co., Ltd.
- Five companies earned Bronze Class: Airports of Thailand pcl (AOT), Delta Electronics (Thailand) pcl (DELTA), Global Power Synergy pcl (GPSC), IRPC pcl (IRPC) and Charoen Pokphand Group Co., Ltd.
- Fifteen companies were selected as Member Class: Asset World Corporation pcl (AWC), Bangkok Bank pcl (BBL), Bangkok Dusit Medical Services pcl (BDMS),
B.Grimm Power pcl (BGRIM), Banpu Power pcl (BPP), Central Pattana pcl (CPN), CPN Retail Growth Leasehold REIT (CPNREIT), Central Retail Corporation pcl (CRC), Energy Absolute pcl (EA), Gulf Energy Development pcl (GULF), Indorama Ventures pcl (IVL), Krungthai Card pcl ( KTC), Minor International pcl (MINT), TMBThanachart Bank pcl (TTB), and VGI pcl (VGI).
S&P Global sustainability assessment is an important information that global investors use for their analysis and investment decision making. In addition, S&P Global has summarized essential sustainability issues and development for companies to provide priorities in order to ensure that their sustainability implementation and activities gain more success. This year, S&P Global emphasizes global warming crisis which needs to be solved urgently, especially the reduction target of greenhouse gas emission, which many companies have not set clearly, causing a slow progress in addressing the problem.