Citation
(2004), "New corporation sustainability ranking", International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 5 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijshe.2004.24905aab.002
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2004, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
New corporation sustainability ranking
The latest annual league table of most sustainable large companies, globally and in Europe, has been released by index makers Dow Jones, Stoxx and Sam. The partners claim that over 2.2 billion in funds and other “sustainability-driven” financial products are now influenced by the indexes.
Dow Jones’ world sustainability index was launched in 1999 and comprises over 300 firms, rated the most sustainable 10 percent of the world’s largest 2,500 corporations. Its’ European sibling first appeared in 2001 and comprises 178 companies, rated the most sustainable 20 percent of the continent’s 600 largest companies. In the most recent world sustainability index, Toyota of Japan displaces Volkswagen of Germany as the leading – or most sustainable – firm in the automotive sector. Ireland-based CRH takes over from Lafarge of France as construction sector leader. Philips Electronics replaces Teijin of Japan in cyclical goods, BP replaces Royal Dutch Shell in energy and British Land replaces Lend Lease of Australia.
In the European index, there are new sector leaders in seven out of 18 categories. In banking, ABN Amro has displaced UBS, while DSM has replaced Degussa in chemicals, Nokia has replaced Siemens in technology and Sainsbury has replaced Henkel in non-cyclical goods and services. CRH has replaced Lafarge in construction, BP has replaced Shell in energy and British Land has replaced Land Securities in financial services.
Firms newly added to the European index include Fortum of Finland, Aventis of France, Norsk Hydro of Norway, Holcim of Switzerland and Reckitt Benckiser of the UK. Deletions include Agfa Gevaert of Belgium, Alstom of France, DaimlerChrysler of Germany, Unicredito Italiano of Italy, Heineken of the Netherlands, Ciba Speciality Chemicals of Switzerland and Smiths Industries of Britain.