KT tops sustainability index

Mobile service provider KT said Thursday that it was named one of the world’s most sustainable telecommunications companies for three consecutive years in a review by Dow Jones Sustainability Indices.

S&P Dow Jones Indices, one of the world’s largest providers of financial market indices, and RobecoSAM, an investment company focusing on sustainable investment, announce the review every year that evaluates 2,500 global firms on their financial and non-financial performance including supply chain management, transparency, efforts for co-prosperity and innovation.

“Around 80 of the world’s leading mobile carriers tried to put their names on the list, but only 10 telecommunications firms including KT, BT and Telecom Italia made it,” Kim Dong-soo, director of the sustainability management center at the Korea Productivity Center, which is in charge of conducting the review in Korea.

The Korean mobile carrier picks a group of 200 employees every year who are only devoted to corporate social responsibility in the IT sector.

It also runs programs that give IT lectures for retirees or share talent to help the underprivileged.

Around 400,000 people receive such help each year, according to the firm.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)