Honouring sustainable businesses in Vietnam in 2023

2023 is the eighth year in a row that the Programme on Benchmarking and Announcing Sustainable Businesses in Vietnam (CSI) is organised by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the Vietnam Business Council for Sustainable Development (VBCSD).

Typical CSI 100 businesses 2023

Pham Tan Cong, chairman of the VCCI, head of the steering committee of the CSI 2023 programme, said that this year’s programme innovations include improvements to the Corporate Sustainability Index (CSI) - a tool to support businesses to implement sustainable corporate governance very scientifically and effectively; improvements to the evaluation and appraisal process and the expansion of participation of representatives of press agencies in the CSI Evaluation Council.

Of the 130 indicators of CSI 2023, up to 63 per cent of indicators are related to legal compliance requirements, while 37 per cent are sustainability indicators.

“These new points have contributed to affirming that the Top 100 Businesses honoured at the announcement ceremony for the CSI 2023 Programme have been evaluated, appraised, and considered carefully and transparently,” Cong said.

From nearly 500 business applications registered to participate – of which nearly 25 per cent were new businesses participating for the first time, 146 qualified applications were selected for independent scoring on online software, ensuring a transparent appraisal process.

In the Top 10 most sustainable enterprises in trade - services and production, foreign invested enterprises account for 40 per cent, Vietnamese enterprises account for 60 per cent, and 25 per cent of them are state-owned enterprises.

The typical businesses honoured are all businesses that have successfully implemented programme related to sustainability and made great contributions to society for many consecutive years, including Nestlé Vietnam, AEON Vietnam, Vinamilk, Unilever Vietnam, and Heineken.

According to the organising committee, the Top 10 enterprises in trade and services have contributed nearly VND12 billion ($506,000) to the state budget, equal to 0.64 per cent of the state budget revenue in 2022. With a total of more than 46,000 employees, the top 10 also achieved a total revenue of nearly $10.8 billion.

Similarly, the 10 honoured manufacturing enterprises also generated revenue of nearly $7.6 billion and contributed more than $1.9 billion to the state budget, equivalent to 2.51 per cent of state budget revenue in 2022.

In addition to praising the main category of sustainable enterprise, the scheme also evaluates and selects pioneering enterprises that perform well in two thematic categories: Implementing a circular economy, cutting carbon emissions, and building diverse, equitable and inclusive values, notably C.P. Group, Masan High-Tech Materials, URC Vietnam, and Thien Long Group.

Cong added that stability and sustainable growth in production and business activities of the enterprises honoured at the CSI 2023 Announcement Ceremony was a testament to the choices they have committed and pioneered in applying sustainable criteria in all three aspects of environment, society, and governance for the long-term.

“Only commitment and action according to a sustainable strategy will help businesses overcome difficulties to develop, prosper and create lasting happiness,” Cong said.

Nguyen Quang Vinh, vice chairman of the VCCI, chairman of the VBCSD, deputy head of the steering committee of the CSI 2023 Programme said that VCCI would continue to upgrade the CSI set to become more contemporary and updated, and work with the ASEAN Business Advisory Council to spread the set internationally.

“In addition, the VCCI will make the CSI one of the national standards for widespread application in the nationwide business community," Vinh said.

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