Nineteen South Korean companies have made the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) World, the list of world’s most sustainable companies, this year.

DSJI, which is co-operated by global index providers S&P Dow Jones Indices and RobecoSAM (Sustainable Asset Management), tracks the stock performance of the world`s leading companies in terms of economic, environmental and social criteria. It serves as a benchmark for evaluating a company’s sustainability.

DJSI World evaluates the financial, environmental and social influence of the world`s top 2,500 companies in market capitalization. DJSI Asia Pacific analyzes the region’s 600 largest companies, and DJSI Korea the country’s top 200 companies.

This year’s DJSI World list included 318 global names out of the total 2,526 companies, with nineteen Korean companies making the list, according to the Korea Productivity Center on Sunday. The average score of the Korean companies stood at 68.7, compared with 76.1 of global leading companies.

Posco, Korea’s leading steel company, newly joined DJSI World this year, while KT and DB Insurance were dropped out. SK Telecom and Samsung Electro-Mechanics made the global list for the 12th and 11th year in a row. Other Korean names on the list included Samsung Securities, S Oil, Hyundai Engineering & Construction, Mirae Asset Daewoo, SK, LG Electronics, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, Samsung SDI, Woongjin Coway, KB Financial Group, Hankook Tire & Technology, Samsung C&T, SK Innovation, and Hyundai Steel.

A total of 148 out of 612 companies made the DJSI Asia Pacific this year. The number of Korean companies making the list this year was 30, five less compared to the previous year. Eight companies including Samsung SDI, SK Telecom, and LG Chem were named in the regional list for the 11th year in a row. Mirae Asset Daewoo and nine other Korean companies were included for the 10th straight year.

For the DJSI Korea this year, total 204 companies were evaluated with 40 names picked, one less from the previous year. Hana Financial Group and Hyundai Motor were newly listed this year while Kangwon Land and Korea Electric Power were removed.

By Noh Hyun and Cho Jeehyun

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