Unilever and Siemens among companies named sustainability leaders

Unilever, Siemens and BT have all been named as sustainability leaders in their respective industries in this year’s Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) review, which is celebrating its 15th anniversary.

Blue & Green Tomorrow is currently running a crowdfunder to ensure its survival. Please pledge.

The DJSI takes a best-in-class approach and includes companies across all industries that outperform their peers across numerous sustainability metrics. Over 3,000 companies are invited to participate in the assessment. The index tracks the financial performance of leading sustainability-driven companies worldwide, analysing their financially material economic, environmental and social factors.

Guido Giese, head of indices at RobecoSAM, which is involved in the assessment process, said, “We are proud to celebrate 15 years of providing investors with sophisticated benchmarks for corporate sustainability.

“Since 1999, we have helped investors realise the financial materiality of sustainability and companies continue to tell us that the DJSI provides an excellent tool to measure the effectiveness of their sustainability strategies.

“In 15 years, the total number of companies we assess has more than quadrupled. We have also developed new sustainability benchmarks for investors such as country and regional indices.”

Across each of the 24 categories a group leader is named, including Unilever in the food, beverages & tobacco sector and Siemens AG in capital goods. Both these companies along with 16 others, including BT, Diageo, J Sainsbury, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank, were recognised by RobeccoSAM for being in the DJSI world since its inception 15 years ago.

Additions to this year’s index include Amgen Inc, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and GlaxoSmithKline, whilst the Bank of America and General Electric were removed.

David Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the S&P Dow Jones Index Committee, commented, ”Both the importance and the understanding of sustainability has grown dramatically over the past decades and a half. During that time Dow Jones Sustainability Indices have been established as the leading benchmark in the field.”

Photo: danist07 via Flickr  

Further reading:

Sustainable business is simply ‘doing business in a better way’

Nothing ‘soft and fluffy’ about sustainable business

Ethical Corporation’s Responsible Business Awards: celebrating sustainable success

Unep: corporates and investors should join forces for sustainable business