Zurich / New York – The 2012 results of the annual Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI) Review have been announced by SAM, the investment boutique focused exclusively on Sustainability Investing, and S&P Dow Jones Indices, the leading global index provider.
Following SAM’s Corporate Sustainability Assessment, the largest additions (by free-float market capitalization) to the DJSI World 2012/2013 include Microsoft Corp, Canadian National Railway Co, and Target Corp, while the largest deletions (by free-float market capitalization) are International Business Machines Corp, GlaxoSmithKline PLC, and United Technologies Corp.
The DJSI World 2012/2013 will have 340 components as 41 companies will be added to, and 41 firms will be deleted from the index. All changes will become effective with the opening of the stock markets on September 24, 2012.
The 2012 DJSI review also yielded the following regional index component changes:
Guido Giese, Head of Indexes, SAM: “The participation rate for this year’s Corporate Sustainability Assessment was 8.4% higher than last year. We see this as a strong signal of the increasing recognition that integrating sustainability into corporate strategies is essential to the bottom line. The companies that participate in our assessment really grasp the financial materiality of incorporating sustainability into their strategies.”
David Blitzer, Managing Director and Chairman of the S&P Dow Jones Index Committee, S&P Dow Jones Indices: “Over the last several years, we have witnessed a continued and growing interest in long-term oriented investment strategies that include sustainability investing. In this environment, the DJSI, with its long track record of evaluating the sustainability performance of some of the world’s largest companies, has become an important reference in the industry, for investors as well as for companies included in the indices.”
The DJSI follow a best-in-class approach, including companies across all industries that outperform their peers in numerous sustainability metrics. SAM invites the world’s 2,500 largest companies (by free-float market capitalization) from the 58 sectors to report annually on their sustainability performance. The result of the Corporate Sustainability Assessment provides an in-depth analysis of economic, environmental and social criteria, such as corporate governance, water-related risks and stakeholder relations, with a special focus on industry-specific risks and opportunities.
SAM annually identifies the top company in each of the 19 supersectors derived from the 58 sectors. The 2012-2013 Supersector Leaders are (listed alphabetically by supersector):
Launched in 1999, the DJSI are the first global indexes tracking the financial performance of the leading sustainability-driven companies worldwide. The DJSI enable investors to integrate sustainability considerations into their portfolios while providing an effective engagement platform for encouraging companies to adopt sustainable best practices.
Today, the index family has approximately USD 6 billion in assets under management in a variety of financial products including mutual funds, separate accounts, structured products and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Approximately 55 products are based on the indexes serving asset managers and banks in 15 countries.
Source: S&P Dow Jones Indices.
