S&P Global awards Converge a better ESG Score in 2023.

Converge President and Co-Founder (fifth from Left), Maria Grace Y. Uy and Chief Sustainability Officer Benjamin Azada (fourth from Left) are behind initiatives to reduce waste to landfill output, such as the Countdown to Zero waste program. 

Converge ICT Solutions Inc. (PSE:CNVRG), a prominent fiber broadband provider, has once again received an improved Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) rating. This improvement was noted in S&P Global's annual examination of companies’ handling of ESG impacts, opportunities, and risks.

The company's ESG score improved from 40 in 2022 to 53 out of 100.

“In 2023, we have put in place significant guardrails to ensure our sustainability practice remains aligned with the organization's values and goals, as well as with international standards. This is a testament to responsible business practice that will create long-term positive impact,” said Benjamin B. Azada, Converge Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Sustainability Officer.

Financial information and analytics firm S&P Global has given a score of 50 to Converge on its Corporate Sustainability Assessment or CSA. The CSA aims to capture emerging trends and the most financially material topics in each industry. 

Converge improved by 10 points from the previous year's CSA score of 40 to a score of 50 in the Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA) in 2023. The ESG score, which uses a modeling technique to solve disclosure gaps and improve information coverage, was established by S&P Global in the same year. Converge obtained a final ESG Score of 53 using this revised criteria, demonstrating its dedication to sustainability and ethical business practices.

Based on the CSA, Converge saw the most improvement in the Environmental and Social Dimensions, increasing by 14 and 18 points respectively. Under the Social Dimension, Converge ranked high on the criteria of Privacy Protection and Occupational Health and Safety. In the Environment Dimension, the criteria of Climate Strategy received a boost of 32 points.

Converge scored higher than the industry average on all three Dimensions of Governance and Economy, Environment, and Social.

Under the guidance of Chief Sustainability Officer (and concurrently, Chief Strategy Officer) Benjamin Azada, Converge has received back-to-back ESG upgrades in 2023. 

Converge supports climate-related financial disclosure and has shifted to 100 percent clean energy for its Pasig and Pampanga data centers, while investments continue to be made to remain resilient to natural disasters. Moreover, the Converge has put in place a Personal Data Privacy Policy to guide the handling of employees and stakeholders’ personal data, and inform data subjects of their rights. The company has set a yearly objective of having zero customer data breaches.

“In an uncertain economic landscape, Converge navigates with a compass of strategic risk management, steering through challenges to remain resilient and build towards future-proofing the company,” said Converge VP and Head of Enterprise Risk Management Jerome Mario Orfano.

Just this October, Converge also gained a ‘low-risk’ assessment from Sustainalytics, an ESG and corporate governance analytics firm.