I am off to the Philippines today to be involved in a workshop to launch our Asian Sustainability Rating (ASR) there. There has already been a lot of local publicity about our new tool with Philippine companies, Petron Corp. and Ayala Land Inc., making it to the top 30 in the 2009 assessment. The Asian Sustainability Rating is anchored on CSR Asia’s proprietary research. Based on sustainability disclosure, it ranks about 200 largest listed companies in 10 key markets operating across Asia-Pacific. The covered countries are Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Petron Corp., which ranked 26th, was the highest-scoring Philippine company, with a score of 70.6 percent. Ayala Land Inc. ranked 29th, receiving a mark of 65.7 percent. Other Filipino firms that made it to the top 100 are Manila Electric Co., ranking 72nd with a score of 45.1 percent; San Miguel Corp., ranked 77th with 44.1 percent; Ayala Corporation, ranked 85th with a score of 41.2 percent; Energy Development Corp. ranked 91st and scoring 39.2 percent, followed closely by SM Investment Corp. at 95th with 38.2 percent and by Globe Telecom at 97th with 37.3 percent.

We are seeing a lot of press coverage today about our new Asian Sustainability Rating that we launched yesterday at the CSR Asia Summit. It includes this piece from the local press here in Malaysia and other stories across the region including this one in Thailand. Our rating covers 200 of the largest companies in ten countries in the region. You can see the full results here.

Today sees the launch of a major new initiative from CSR Asia: The Asian Sustainability Rating, which provides an indepth assessment of CSR related disclosure of 200 of the largest companies across ten countries in Asia. In a world where transparency and accountability are increasingly important this is the first Asian based analysis of the largest companies in the region, allowing investors and other stakeholders to make a judgement about the economic, social and governance activities of listed companies. You can go to our new dedicated wesite to see analysis by country, by company and by indicator area.

From the most recent edition of Access Asia's Weekly Update:

Here's that bastion of socialist state power McDonald's contribution - a free postcard for all customers celebrating 60 years of the PRC. Of course, ethically-lite corporations like McDonald's will thank anyone who'll let them do business (they'd be sending Christmas cards to Kim Jong-il if he'd let them open a branch in Pyongyang).

What can we say...?