Marketing and Comms
Nestlé, Volkswagen, SAP, Air France Named Industry Leaders in 2013 Dow Jones Sustainability Indices

S&P Dow Jones Indices, one of the world’s largest providers of financial market indices, and RobecoSAM, an investment specialist focused on sustainability investing, today announced the results of the annual Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) review. Launched in 1999, the DJSI were the first global indices to track the financial performance of the leading sustainability-driven companies worldwide.

“The DJSI have a double impact," said Guido Giese, Head of Indices at RobecoSAM. "They enable investors to integrate sustainability into their portfolios and at the same time they provide an engagement platform that encourages companies to adopt sustainable best practices. We encourage active participation in our Corporate Sustainability Assessment each year and this year we were happy to see a 31% increase in participation from companies in emerging markets.”

David Blitzer, Managing Director and Chairman of the S&P Dow Jones Index Committee, added: “The market upheavals and high debt levels of the last few years should remind investors that a long-term view of the world and the markets is essential. The Dow Jones Sustainability Indices combine that kind of long-run focus on sustainability with index investing to empower investors.”

The DJSI follow a best-in-class approach, including companies across all industries that outperform their peers in numerous sustainability metrics. RobecoSAM invites over 3,000 publicly traded companies, including 800 companies in emerging markets, to report annually on their sustainability practices.

The Corporate Sustainability Assessment provides an in-depth analysis of financially material economic, environmental and social practices, such as innovation or supply chain management, climate strategy and stakeholder engagement and places a special focus on industry-specific risks and opportunities.

Based on the Global Industry Classification System (GICS), RobecoSAM annually identifies the top company in each of the 24 industry groups. The 2013-2014 Industry Group Leaders are (listed alphabetically by Industry Group):

“At SAP, we are driven by the vision to help the world run better – through our solutions for customers and consumers, our own internal operations and by giving back to society,” said Peter Graf, Chief Sustainability Officer at SAP, voted #1 in the Software & Services category. “For the first time in 2013, we’ve published our progress on this journey in an integrated report, which highlights the connections of our financial and our non-financial performance for the year 2012. We see this week’s public recognition as a worldwide sustainability leader as a consequence of this transparency. Being named the number one software company on Dow Jones Sustainability Index for the 7th consecutive year, and inclusion in the CDP Climate Disclosure and Performance Leaders report is tremendous validation of our efforts to embed sustainability across our business.”

The DJSI provide critical information for a burgeoning segment of investors looking to support companies that are taking the initiative when it comes to various aspects of sustainability. In February, the CDP announced that investors representing a third of the world’s invested capital have asked more than 5,000 public companies to report their carbon emissions and climate change strategies through the CDP.