Introduced in 1999, the DJSI family measures the financial performance of the world’s sustainability leaders. Published cooperatively by Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, STOXX Limited, the leading European index provider and a joint venture of Dow Jones & Company, Deutsche Boerse and SWX Swiss Exchange AG, and SAM, the indexes provide reliable and objective benchmarks to measure and manage sustainability portfolios.
Companies participating in the annual review for the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes will need to submit the answers to the SAM questionnaire as well as further documents by 4 June. The resulting changes to the DJSI family will be announced on 4 September. Companies that take part in the annual assessment can qualify for DJSI inclusion. They will also receive a SAM benchmarking report free of charge and thus a detailed feedback on their sustainability performance compared to the industry average and the sector’s best-in-class company on a global scale for each criteria.
While in previous years the largest 2’500 companies were chosen from the Dow Jones Global Index, this year’s list of invited firms was selected from the Dow Jones Wilshire Global Index – a benchmark that provides significantly wider geographical coverage. As a result and for the first time, the 2008 starting universe for the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes also comprises companies from additional markets such as China, India and Russia. Companies from these countries could thus be potentially included in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index after this year’s review in September. As of the same month, the launch of a separate new index – the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index ex Emerging Markets – will provide investors with an exclusive focus on developed countries.
“Moving towards the tenth anniversary of the indexes is clearly an exciting milestone. We are delighted to make this move coincide with an expansion of our geographical coverage. China, India and Russia are obviously important markets for global investors. Bringing these and further emerging countries into our research universe allows us to reflect growing investor interest in these markets and to gauge sustainability leadership on a truly global scale,” says Alexander Barkawi, Managing Director, SAM Indexes. “