SINGAPORE: Regional broadcaster Channel NewsAsia, in partnership with CSR Asia and Sustainalytics, has launched the region's first Sustainability index for Asia's top corporations.

India's Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) tops the ranking for its focus on water conservation. TCS has installed rainwater harvesting systems across its buildings to replace the surrounding groundwater supply. By 2020, TCS says it aims to be 100 percent groundwater neutral. City Developments in Singapore and Unilever Indonesia made up the top three on the index.

The list identifies leading firms in corporate sustainability across 10 key economies and highlights the top 20 companies and the top three businesses per economy. Territories covered are China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.

Companies included in the index are determined by investment research firm Sustainalytics that addressed three themes: environment, social, and governance. Between 75 and 120 indicators were used to assess each company.

Debra Soon, managing director of Channel NewsAsia commented: "This is the Asian century, and businesses in the region need to be spot on with their processes to be more effective on the global field."

Sustainalytics director of Research Loic Dujardin added: "Consumers and investors are growing increasingly savvy and they do not just want to buy a product or service, they want to know a lot more about the companies they deal with, like their culture on ethics and responsibility."

Another media company, the U.K.'s Virgin Media, says it has achieved a goal of eliminating landfill waste from its supply chain ahead of schedule.

The company's 2013 sustainability report notes it has met a target to send zero waste to landfill from its supply chain 12 months ahead of schedule. Katie Buchanan, head of Sustainability at Virgin Media said: "We're very proud with the progress our teams have made, particularly in waste from our logistics supply chain and cutting the energy consumption of our hugely popular TiVo boxes by a third."