Johannesburg, South Africa - MTN
Group says its commitment to improving its environmental, social, and
governance (ESG) performance has led to a significant upgrade in the Group’s
ESG rating by FTSE Russell, and the inclusion of MTN in the FTSE/JSE Responsible
Investment Top 30 Index.
Noting an improvement across each of the ESG
pillars, according to a statement issued on Monday by the Group FTSE upgraded
MTN’s overall rating to 4.3 at the end-December 2021 from 2.9 previously. The
ratings are scored out of 5.0. In the telecoms sector, MTN moved from the 34th percentile
in December 2019 – the last time such a ranking was performed – to the 97th percentile
in December 2021.
“MTN Group received the maximum 5.0 points as
a social score (compared to 3.2 previously), 4.5 points (from 4.0) as a
governance score, and 3.6 (from 1.9) as an environment score,” it stated.
The statement quoted MTN Group President
and Chief Executive Officer Ralph Mupita as saying “We are encouraged by this re-rating, and as part of our Ambition 2025 strategy, we will
continue with the work to create shared value, with ESG at the core.”
“It reflects
the step change we have taken in our approach to sustainability and improving
the risk profile of the group,” he added
It further noted that compared to the mobile
telecoms sub-sector, MTN scored the highest across all social categories –
human rights & community; labour standards; social supply chain – as well
as across both governance categories – corporate governance and
anti-corruption. With regards to environmental themes, the Group scored
substantially higher than the sub-sector average for climate change and
environmental supply chain.
Commenting on the feat, the newly appointed MTN
Group Chief Sustainability and Corporate Affairs Officer, Nompilo Morafo
confirmed that “As a provider of
essential communications services, we take very seriously the social and
governance aspects of our work.”
“MTN’s
approach to human rights & community, labour standards, and social supply
chain all showed improvements, and these remain critically important.
Similarly, our work around anti-corruption and sound corporate governance was recognized,
and we look forward to more progress in 2022,” she emphasized.
MTN Group is now in FTSE/JSE Responsible
Investment Top 30 Index, which identifies South African companies
with leading ESG practices.
By: Kanto Okanta
