2Sustain

Earlier this month, SAM, the investment boutique focused exclusively on sustainability investing, and Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, launched the Dow Jones Sustainability Japan 40 Index (DJSI Japan 40). The index is selected and weighted based on the SAM sustainability scores, and it is designed to measure the performance of the largest 40 sustainability leaders in Japan, providing stakeholders with a sustainability benchmark for Japanese equities.

The DJSI Japan 40 complements the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes, which were launched in 1999 to help track the financial performance of leading sustainability-driven companies worldwide. Over the past decade, these indexes have become a key reference point in sustainability investing and corporate sustainability performance.

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I often post here about CSR reports and other corporate social responsibility initiatives, but have you ever wondered how well information like this trickles down to the average consumer?

We know that there’s growing –and well-warranted –skepticism among consumers regarding greenwashing, but what about public perception on the flip-side? Are companies getting the recognition they deserve for genuine achievement in environmental stewardship, human rights, philanthropy, and the like?
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I would expect no less from Seventh Generation, the nation’s top provider of environmentally preferable non-toxic household products and a pioneer in the corporate responsibility movement.

The company’s newly released 2008 Corporate Consciousness Report, titled “Crossroads: Reinventing the purpose and possibility of business,” pushes the envelope, exploring how companies today must reinvent CSR in a way that merges social justice and environmental stewardship with economic growth.

In short, Seventh Generation is ready “to take corporate responsibility to the next level,” says Jeffrey Hollender, the company’s chairman and Chief Inspired Protagonist.
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On Monday, Kraft Foods announced that over the past three years, it has reduced water used in manufacturing processes by more than three billion gallons. That’s enough water to fill nearly 5,000 Olympic swimming pools and a 21% reduction since 2005, exceeding the company’s water reduction goal two years early.

Here is a sampling of the many different projects that contributed to Kraft Foods’ water savings:

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Wal-Mart’s recent announcement to begin work on a universal Sustainable Product Index inspired Deloitte’s Enterprise Sustainability group to develop a new whitepaper that explores lifecycle assessment.

The paper, “Lifecycle Assessment: Where is it on your sustainability agenda?” points out that even though the concept of lifecycle assessment (LCA) has been around since the 1980s, it’s only now that U.S. companies are embracing it on a large scale.

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