Mobile telecom Giants, MTN, has disclosed in a statement that the Group’s commitment to improve the environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance has led to a significant upgrade in the Group’s ESG rating by FTSE Russell, and the inclusion of MTN in the FTSE/JSE Responsible Investment Top 30 Index.

The Group attributed the recent upgrade, an improvement across each of the ESG pillars, to its strategic priority to create shared value.

FTSE Russell, a subsidiary of the London Stock Exchange Group, upgraded MTN’s overall rating to 4.3 at End-December 2021 from 2.9 previously. The ratings are scored out of 5.0. In the telecoms sector, MTN moved from the 34th percentile in December 2019 – the last time such a ranking was performed – to the 97th percentile in December 2021.

MTN Group received the maximum 5.0 points as a social score compared to 3.2 previously and a governance score of 4.5 points, up from 4.0 points previously. The Group’s environmental score also rose to 3.6 from the previous score of 1.9.

MTN Group President and Chief Executive Officer, Ralph Mupita, who was impressed with the re-ratings, stated that the group will continue to work harder going forward as part of its strategy.

“We are encouraged by this re-rating, and as part of our Ambition 2025 strategy, we will continue with the work to create shared value, with ESG at the core. It reflects the step change we have taken in our approach to sustainability and improving the risk profile of the group”.
Ralph Mupita

Within the mobile telecoms sub-sector, MTN scored the highest across all social categories – human rights & community; labour standards; social supply chain – as well as across both governance categories – corporate governance and anti-corruption. With regards environmental themes, the Group scored substantially higher than the sub-sector average for climate change and environmental supply chain.

High expectations for 2022

Nompilo Morafo, who will assume the role of MTN Group Chief Sustainability and Corporate Affairs Officer on February 1, 2022, highlighted that “as a provider of essential communications services, we take very seriously the social and governance aspects of our work”.

“MTN’s approach to human rights & community, labour standards and social supply chain all showed improvements, and these remain critically important. Similarly, our work around anti-corruption and sound corporate governance was recognized, and we look forward to more progress in 2022”.
Nompilo Morafo

MTN Group disclosed in the statement that announced the upgrade that it is now in FTSE/JSE Responsible Investment Top 30 Index, which identifies South African companies with leading ESG practices.

Last year, MTN Group was recognized as the leading African company on the Forbes World’s Best Employers list. As part of the survey, employees from across 58 countries were asked to rate multi-national employers on aspects such as image, economic footprint, talent development, gender equality and social responsibility.

The complete list features 750 companies. For MTN, last year’s rankings represent a significant improvement in various areas. Overall, the company improved from position 419 in 2020, to 132 in 2021. The Group also moved up nine places in the global telco rankings, to the second spot last year.