Hyundai Motor ranks No. 1 socially responsible company in China

South Korea’s leading automaker Hyundai Motor Group announced on Monday that it has topped the corporate social responsibility (CSR) index among all companies in China. The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences is a prestigious CSR assessment agency that eval‎uates how well companies perform their social responsibility and what programs they do to contribute to society. Every year, it eval‎uates 300 companies running in China including state-run, private and foreign invested enterprises, and reports their scores and rankings.

This is the first time a foreign invested company has been recognized as the most socially responsible company in China, beating Chinese state-owned or private companies since the index was first introduced in 2014. The South Korean automaker has continued to rank No. 1 in the index among automotive companies since the index’s inaugural year. Its overall ranking has risen to the first place last year, from 17th in 2014, 5th in 2015 and 3rd in 2016.

Hyundai Motor Group has been running a social program called Hyundai Green Zone project to prevent desertification in Inner Mongolia for 10 years. It has been also operating a reconstruction program to rebuild disadvantaged areas by disaster and poverty for nine years.

Among various social programs are Kia’s Kids Auto Park, a project to promote traffic safety awareness by Hyundai Motor Group’s affiliate Kia, a program to protect Chinese world cultural heritage, and a program to protect and help children whose parents are away so need social attention. “We will do our best to be a company that can be continuously recognized and loved by Chinese people,” a Hyundai Motor Group official said.

Woo-Shin Han hanwshin@donga.com