Banks top overall latest JSE super sector disclosure rankings

…Risk Insights and Instinctif Partners release JSE Sector ESG Disclosure Rankings...

21 April 2021, Johannesburg: ESG (environmental, social and governance) data analytics company, Risk Insights, and ESG business communications firm, Instinctif Partners, today released the latest JSE Sector ESG disclosure ranking and scores for all sectors. The ranking evaluates every company on the JSE, but for the purposes of this report, discloses ESG performance of each of the 18 JSE super sectors as a whole.

Anashrin Pillay, CEO of Risk Insights says, “Our research using unstructured data has established, through statistical methods, a strong correlation between company disclosure and sustainability. Therefore, we believe that it is important for South Africa’s economy - and the national agenda - that companies continue improving their disclosure to take into account the requirements of all their respective stakeholders. This will ensure that transparency is driving accountability and sustainability, enabling corporates to attract capital and lower the cost of funds. Sustainability disclosure and ESG strategies will result in deeper capital markets through impact investing thereby building resilience into the South African economy.”

The ratings are based on TF-IDF2 scores that are completely independent and can be used by investors, corporates and other stakeholders to identify key ESG risks and opportunities for listed JSE counters. The Risk Insights ESG database and platform is enriched with data for all listed companies on the JSE from 2016 to date, rated by sector for a particular financial year. As companies integrated reports are published together with other voluntary and mandatory reports, ESG GPS uses algorithm to gather and rate institutions. The retrospective rating provides a forward view of the companies’ sustainability. ESG rating and disclosure reporting are embedded into strategy and not a point in time statistic.

Kim Polley, Managing Partner, Instinctif Partners comments, “In my 20+ year career I don’t think I’ve ever seen or felt disruption quite like 2021. Before the pandemic, we were already seeing segments of society taking action – led by characters such as Wangari Maathai and Greta Thunberg – but the awakening to the inter-connection of all the worlds systems was highlighted starkly by Covid-19. Investors took notice, and expectations have shifted from ticking the right boxes to having a clear and authentic purpose. Stakeholders are expecting to see measurable impact, driven by meaningful action. Words are no longer enough.”

The JSE is in the top 20 listed exchanges globally, with its own market capitalisation of approximately R9.9bn. The research was conducted across the 18 super JSE sectors shares which were specifically rated according to total ESG (environmental, social and governance) disclosure.

Environment

In terms of the environmental factors the basic resources sector comes out on top followed by chemicals and the banking sector. The laggards are the technology, media and investment instruments sectors.

Kim Polley adds, “Over the past decade, the resources sector – most especially mining - has been under increasing scrutiny regarding transparency around ESG responsibilities. This is particularly important as both stakeholder pressure and the ability to attract investment have become key commercial drivers for miners to implement stronger ESG measures. However, for many in the mining sector, especially for junior companies, slow or inadequate progress may threaten their ability to access capital in an increasingly tight market. The good news is, it’s never too late to do better!”

Environmental Company Name Average ESG - TF-IDF*score Ranking

Social

Sectors that perform well in terms of social disclosure are the basic resources, chemicals and banks. Employee diversity and inclusiveness, wellness, training, health and safety protocols and community development are some of the key metrics under the “S”, that the top performing companies are paying attention to. Social factors in ESG management are a risk mitigation variable to create inclusive societies in the capital markets.

“Companies in the top performing sectors are recognising the importance of brand and reputation management in their pursuit of operating resilience. However, at core, it is important to remember that ESG is no longer just about reputation, it is about the bottom line and effective risk management too. In today's rapidly changing business climate, attention to ESG issues is becoming critical to long-term competitive success,” notes Polley.

Social Company Name S- average TF-IDF score Ranking

Governance

Governance dominates disclosure in all sectors, with board governance in terms of gender diversity and inclusivity bearing more significance. The sectors that have the best disclosure in terms of governance are the banking, basic resources and insurance sectors. The financial services and investment instrument sectors are the laggards in this regard.

Anashrin Pillay remarks, “Governance is not a standalone factor, when companies report well on governance it should be natural that other ESG factors such as Social and Environmental would be given significant attention as well. These risks have risen drastically globally. South African companies need to invest in their social and environmental reporting disclosure.”

Governance Company Name G – average TF-IDF* score Ranking

Overall Ranking

Based on relativity, the banking and resources sectors have the best disclosure in terms of overall disclosure ranking, with media and investment instruments being the laggards.

Total ESG Company Name ESG – average TF-IDF score Ranking

“While it is not surprising that banks and resources come out tops, it is concerning that the media sector fares so poorly. It should be acknowledged that the media landscape is changing rapidly, and that a lack of homogeneity across the board means that it is difficult to define material issues that are relevant to all companies in the sector. However, there is some opportunity to rally around key tenets of media accountability, social impact, governance and investment in people,” Pillay concludes.

-ends-

1 Findings for this report are derived from Risk Insights’ proprietary ESG GPS rating tool that uses AI and machine learning algorithms to transform disclosure reporting both voluntary and mandatory reporting into ratings for environmental, social and governance metrics. The ESG GPS Rating Tool uses disclosure as part of its rating methodology.

2 Term-Frequency Inverse-Document-Frequency. This represents the relevance of each B’word 3 as a numerical value.

3 A variable generated from the laws of the land and the policies that govern a particular sector. These are used to measure the relevance of the disclosure on ESG factors by searching for the term in the company reports

About the Risk Insights ESG GPS Rating Model

The Risk Insights ESG GPS rating model uses publicly available data to produce an ESG Rating for each company listed on the JSE. Sustainability frameworks (CDP, GRI etc) together with the laws of South Africa are considered when curating the list of B’words2 which forms the basis of the ESG-GPS rating model. Artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms are applied to transform the data collected into a TF-IDF score which represents the level of company disclosure on Environmental, Social and Governance factors. For more information regarding disclosure ratings of listed companies please visit us as www.riskinsights.co.za

About Risk Insights

Risk Insights is a professional data analytics company that delivers sustainable solutions and products to its clients that is part of the World Economic Forum (WEF) New Champions Community. In November 2020, the company was awarded Excellence in Agile Business Governance award by the World Economic Forum. The singular focus of Risk Insights is to serve its clients with distinction and to support organizational transformation in order to unlock sustainable value creation for an organization. Risk Insights was founded in 2009 with the primary goal to assist in the improvement of risk management practices in South Africa and on the African continent. Risk Insights is an accredited Level 1 BEE Company.

About Instinctif Partners

Instinctif Partners is an international business communications consultancy, partnering with its clients to build reputation, combat risk and deliver value. Instinctif works with clients to engage multiple and complex audiences through deep insight, expert storytelling and creative delivery. For 25 years the company has used its local and global knowledge to address specific market issues across public relations, investor relations, ESG communications, reputation management and digital. Instinctif connects audiences, insights and creative to drive impact through real and measurable commercial value. It is an accredited Level 1 BEE Company.