Moscow – PhosAgro (the “Company”, the “Group”, MOEX, LSE: PHOR), one of the world’s leading vertically-integrated phosphate-based fertilizer producers, announces that its MSCI ESG rating has been raised from BB to BBB (on a scale of AAA to CCC where AAA denotes “leader”) as part of a regular review.
MSCI ESG Research assigns MSCI ESG ratings to global public and a number of privately held companies. The ratings aim to measure a company’s resilience to environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks, as well as the company’s ability to manage those risks compared to peers. More information on MSCI ESG ratings can be found
here.
PhosAgro’s updated rating is one of the highest awarded by the agency to a major Russian corporate.
“We are pleased that our company’s responsible approach to sustainable development issues and PhosAgro’s ongoing efforts on this front have received a high rating from a leading ratings agency. Sustainable development is a strategic priority for the Company, and our approach to complying with ESG principles is constantly evolving to become better organised and more structured. This is a topic that is of interest not only to our investors, but to a wide range of other stakeholders.
“An important driver of our environmental responsibility as a company is working to achieve goals and obligations that we have voluntarily taken on as part of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In the context of our Strategy-2025, which we are currently implementing, PhosAgro has ambitions, potential and the ability to achieve even greater progress in terms of further improvements to our sustainable development activities and our contribution to global food security. We will continue to move towards meeting international best practices in this area,” said PhosAgro CEO Andrey Guryev.
PhosAgro has traditionally invested heavily in modernizing and expanding its production capabilities and leveraging the best available technologies that meet the highest international environmental standards. PhosAgro has reduced its environmental footprint across a number of metrics to Russian and European reference levels for best available technology. On this criteria, PhosAgro enterprises can be classified as “green” or environmentally responsible producers. In 2019, the Company spent more than RUB 9 billion on measures to protect the environment.
In November 2019 PhosAgro was awarded the Gold Medal from the International Fertilizer Association (IFA) for its responsible approach to production, for which a significant criterion is a responsible and active corporate position in terms of reducing GHG emissions.