The company that runs the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes has claimed
so many businesses are now getting to grips with their social and
environmental responsibilities that the difference between good and
not-so-good performers is now more a matter of how they deal with
challenges specific to their sector.
Sustainable Asset Management says its latest annual review of DJSI
constituents shows performance in recent years has ‘advanced across all
sectors’, to the point where it has become much harder to draw
distinctions between businesses on CSR fundamentals. The main
differences now relate to how they are tackling the social impacts
specific to their industry.
‘Companies are converging in first-generation sustainability themes
such as corporate governance and environmental reporting,’ says
Switzerland-based SAM.
‘Corporate focus and the differentiation between leaders and laggards
is [therefore] shifting towards sector-specific issues such as healthy
nutrition in the food industry, business opportunities for consumer
goods in emerging markets, and anti-crime prevention in the
financial sector’, it adds.
