Financial services company Alexforbes has launched the yearly Alexforbes Paragon Impact Awards, which is a new initiative recognising leading sustainability and impact performance among JSE top 100 companies.

The awards aim to highlight businesses demonstrating resilient and future-focused strategies that contribute to South Africa’s economic, social and environmental priorities.

An independent and data-driven assessment of the JSE top 100 companies conducted by environmental, social and governance (ESG) data company Paragon Impact will be used to select the Impact Awards winners.

The awards will also use public data for the JSE top 100 companies at January 1 this year, that will be automatically assessed in the evaluation process.

The evaluation will assess the real-world impacts of company activities and their financial relevance to long-term value creation, resilience and risk management within the context of South Africa’s key economic, social and environmental challenges.

“The awards will recognise leadership across core dimensions of sustainable business performance including climate and environmental stewardship, social and economic inclusion, governance and accountability and impact measurement and integration,” says Paragon Impact head Brett Wallington.

Award categories will include earth and climate stewardship, responsible resource use and innovation, governance, ethics, impact integration and accountability, he says.

Further, Alexforbes intends to create an index based on the top-performing impact companies and develop solutions to track this index over the coming months, in addition to recognising leading impact performers among the JSE top 100 companies.

“Integrated reporting awards are well established in the South African market. These awards largely assess the quality and completeness of ESG disclosures or alignment with reporting frameworks,” says Alexforbes Impact Advisory executive Carina Wessels.

Moving beyond a disclosure-led approach towards a multi-dimensional view that considers an organisation’s impact on people and the planet supports Alexforbes' strategic intent to drive real-world impact and aligns with regulatory direction and evolving stakeholder expectations, she says.

“Companies that demonstrate net positive impact within the South African context deserve recognition,” she adds.

The Alexforbes Paragon Impact Awards will take place in March and invitations will be distributed to the top 100 companies in February, it says.