The Vedanta has made significant improvements in environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance with its Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) ranking in the metals and mining sector having risen to #12 this year, as against #21 in 2019.

The company’s sustainability ranking shows a three-year trend of continuous improvement. The percentile improvement is 86 per cent this year compared to 70 per cent in 2019 and 60 per cent in 2018.

Vedanta is ranked #2 in the metals and mining category in the Asia Pacific region this year, as compared to #7 last year. Reflecting the Group’s strong commitment to do business in the most sustainable way, Hindustan Zinc topped the sustainability rankings in the Asia Pacific region, while its overall DJSI ranking this year stood at #8.

The DJSI are float-adjusted market capitalization weighted indices that measure the performance of companies selected with ESG criteria.Vedanta’s DJSI score this year has improved to #66, compared to #51 last year. The company has reported big improvements in its ratings in critical areas, including human rights, social impact on communities and water-related risks. The company’s DJSI score on human rights has risen sharply from 20 to 73 since last year, while on the social impacts on communities, the company’s score has improved from 47 to 89.

In biodiversity, Vedanta’s score increased from 38 to 79, while in case of risk and crisis management, the company’s score improved from 32 to 66. In climate strategy, the DJSI score rose to 73 this year as against 40 in 2019.

Meanwhile, in a major step to lower greenhouse gas emissions, Vedanta has joined hands with the Government to sign a declaration on climate change by voluntarily pledging to move towards Rs carbon-neutrality.’