SustainabilityHQ.com Weekly Highlights September 16, 2014

DJSI -– Celebrating 15 Years As Leading SRI Index Review/Rebalance for Coming Year

It was a decade-and-a-half ago that S&P Dow Jones Indices teamed with Robeco SAM Group to create a family of sustainable & responsible benchmarks/indices for asset owners and managers, and their clients.  The “DJSI” was the first to track the financial performance of sustainability-focused companies.  Today the DJSI family includes [Sustainability] World; Asia Pacific; Australia; Emerging Markets; Europe; Korea; and North America.

Every year the funds are re balanced with companies moving in and out.  The 10 largest additions for the DJSI World Index hi s year are Amgen, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, GlaxoSmithKline PLC., Toronto-Dominion Bnk, AbbVie Inc, Caterpillar, Beckitt Benkiser Group PLC, Lockeed Martin Corp, Bank of New York Mellon, and Deutsche Post AG.  And being moved out of the DJSI World:  Bank of America, General Electric, Schlumberger Ltd, BHP Billiton PLC, McDonald's Corp, Telefonica SA, Starbucks Crp, NIKE, Colgate Palmolive Co.   

The Index managers have a best-in-class approach; seeking companies that outperform their peers…these leaders are invited to take part in the RobecoSAM Corporate Sustainability Assessment, which is designed to provide an in-depth analysis of financially material economic, environmental and social practices.  There are 59  industry groups and 2,500 companies in the S&P Global Board MarketIndx are invited to respondto he Assesment.

We know from our conversations with company managers that the DJSI benchmars are taken seriously at board and executive level, and considerable effort is devoted to answering the Assessment.

Read the top line of the changes and other background in the Top Story; click the attachment for more information from S&P Dow Jones Indices and RobecoSAM.

Top Story of the Week

Results Announced for 2014 Dow Jones Sustainability Indices Review; DJSI Celebrates 15 Year Anniversary
(Thursday - September 11, 2014)
Source: Indices S&P Dow Jones - S&P Dow Jones Indices, one of the world’s leading providers of financial market indices, and RobecoSAM, the investment specialist focused exclusively on Sustainability Investing, today announced the results of the annual Dow...

Sustainability in Focus

Chief Sustainability Officers: Who Are They and What Do They Do?
(Friday - September 12, 2014)
Source: Working Knowledge - Harvard Business School - A number of studies document how organizations go through numerous stages as they increase their commitment to sustainability over time. However, we still know little about the role of the Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) in...

This is just a sample of some of the articles from this weeks SustainabilityHQ Highlights.  You can view the full Highlights by using the following links. Sustainability | ESG, Highlights for the Week of September 16, 2014