Ratings & Rankings

ESG Ratings & Rankings

K+S presents sustainability performance transparently through environmental, social and governance (ESG) rating/ranking enquiries.

Our Sustainability Management

Ratings & Rankings

ESG ratings and rankings are a useful tool for us, allowing external bodies to assess the sustainability goals, KPIs, and measures developed, as well as the improvements achieved. ESG ratings and rankings help to:

Identify and review current trends for the complex requirements in the area of sustainability;
Define a common quality grade for sustainability requirements;
Update investment decisions made by investors with a long-term focus;
Supply content for external stakeholder communication to enhance the company’s reputation;
Intensify dialogue between the Group’s departments and optimize improvement processes in sustainability management.

As a sustainably minded company, K+S is represented in several ESG ratings / rankings:

K+S Minerals and Agriculture GmbH scores successfully in in the EcoVadis rating procedure. The four categories environment, labour and human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement were part of the assessment. With 58 out of possible 100 points and the silver recognition level, our company highlights the importance of sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in its activities. All achieved scores are well above the industry average - both in the overall rating and in the individual categories.

ISS ESG ratings are weighted according to an industry classification. As ESG industry relevance increases, the performance requirements rise. K+S achieved an improvement from C- to C in 2022.

The MSCI ESG rating measures a company's resilience to long-term, industry-related, environmental, social and governance risks relative to the reference group. In 2022, K+S achieved an upgrade in the rating from A to AA.

The CDP rating is based on a questionnaire designed to transparently identify the impact of the company's activities on climate change and measures to mitigate its environmental impact. The rating in the area of climate is stable at C, whereas the rating for the resource water has improved from B- to B in the rating history.

In a scale from 0 to 40+, Sustainalytics measures the extent of a company's unmanaged ESG risks in its Rating. In 2022, K+S achieved its best result to date of 36.3, following on from the positive development of the past four years.

FTSE's ESG ratings consist of an integrated rating, which is made up of more than 300 individual indicator ratings. On a rating scale of 0 to 5, K+S achieved a significant, positive increase from 2.8 to 3.2 for the 2021 fiscal year.

Moodys (previously Virgeo Iris) measures the integration of sustainability criteria into corporate strategy, risk management and the operating business. During the last few years, a positive trend can be identified here as well, so that K+S achieves a value of 46 for the year 2021.

Rating History

Further information on the rating history can be found here

The answers to the CDP questionnaire of K+S AG can be found at:

CDP K+S AG

Engagement

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

For achieving the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), companies are an important partner. K+S is actively committed to these goals. This involves the “Transformation of our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. Companies can contribute to the achievement of the SDGs, on the one hand, through the value contribution of their products and, on the other hand, through the Company’s own processes.

Boundaries of the K+S Field of Activity along the value chain

EU principles for sustainable raw materials

We strive for sustainability and are committed to our responsibility towards community, economy, and environment in all the regions in which we operate. Sustainability is firmly anchored in our mission statement. We are pioneers in environmentally friendly and sustainable mining. Attention to the EU principles for sustainable extraction and processing of raw materials confirms our commitment. The principles were developed and agreed by the Raw Materials Supply Group (RMSG ), the EU Commission, as well as other authorities and institutions. These principles provide a better understanding of the conditions under which sustainable raw material extraction and processing takes place in Europe.

Further information can be found here

TCFD

We support the TCFD recommendations

The Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) pursues climate-related disclosure of information in the areas of governance, startegy, risk management, and metrics and targets.

We support the recommendations of the TCFD and already report the following information as part of the CDP questionnaire:

TCFD core elements	Required information	CDP questionnaire 2020 reference	reference to the Annual report 2021 of K+S
Governance Disclosure of the organization’s governance around climate-related risks and opportunities	A. Executive Board’s oversight of climate-related risks and opportunities	C1.1a. C1.1b, C1.2	p. 146 ff. (LTI relevant) p. 105 f.
	B. Management's role in assessing and managing climate-related risks and opportunities	C1.2a	p. 105 f.
Strategy Disclosure of the actual and potential impacts of climate-related risks and opportunities on the organization’s businesses, strategy, and financial planning where such information is material	A. Description of climate-related opportunities and risks	C 2.1, C2.1a, C2.2, C2.2a, C2.3, C2.3a	p. 117 ff. p. 42 f.
	B. Impact of climate-related risks on the organization’s businesses, strategy, and financial planning	C2.3a, C2.4, C3.1	p. 42 p. 82 ff.
	C. Resilience of the organizational strategy	C3.1b	p. 41 ff.
Risk Management Disclosure of how the organization identifies, assesses, and manages climate-related risks	A. Organization’s processes for identifying and assessing climate-related risks	C2.2, C2.2a	p. 105 ff. p. 117 ff.
	B. Organization’s processes for managing climate-related risks	C2.2	p. 105 f. p. 109
	C. Integration of processes for identifying, assessing, and managing climate-related risks are integrated into the organization’s overall risk management	C2.2	p. 119 f.
Metrics & Targets Disclosure the metrics and targets used to assess and manage relevant climate-related risks and opportunities where such information is material	A. Metrics used by the organization to assess climate-related risks and opportunities	C4.1, C4.1b	p. 245 ff.
	B. Disclosure of Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions	C6.1, C6.3, C6.5	p. 248
	C. Targets used by the organization to manage climate-related risks and opportunities	C4.1, C4.1b	p. 42 f.