Being rewarded for its continuous improvement approach to its social, societal, environmental and governance practices, ESI Group is once again at the top of the ranking in its category this year – also achieved between 2016 and 2018.

The year 2020 has shaken up agendas, expectations and practices of both consumers and industrial players. This has accelerated the importance of companies’ commitment to a responsible approach to their employees, the environment and all stakeholders. Since its creation, ESI has been committed to supporting strong social and environmental topics such as safety and the reduction of the industry’s environmental footprint. In the current particular year, ESI has strengthened its various commitments.

"This achievement comes as a reward for all our teams. It is the fruit of the work we have been doing for many years with and for all our stakeholders. By putting technology at the service of sustainable performance, we offer results-oriented solutions with a people-centric approach, while creating value for civil-society, the planet and industries in general. This ranking is an objective recognition of ESI’s commitments and values. The year 2020 has been marked by the creation of our CSR Steering Committee – composed of various profiles, this structure ensures the alignment of our commitments with our strategy and our offer, through the implementation and monitoring of social, societal and environmental initiatives with and for our stakeholders." – Corinne Romefort-Régnier, Corporate Governance Director

The Gaïa Index was created in 2009 as the benchmark sustainable development index for listed French mid-caps (ETI). Developed by EthiFinance, the Index selects SMEs based on their CSR performance. The Gaïa Index has outperformed the CAC 40 and CAC Mid & Small indexes every year. The methodology uses CSR data to evaluate companies’ transparency and maturity in terms of CSR policies, best practices and performance. The 2020 reference framework includes more than 150 evaluation criteria related to governance, social practices, environment and external stakeholders.

Due to the global health context, the results were announced – on December 18th, 2020 – during a 100% digital event.