Sustainability Yearbooks 2009 And 2010

The Sustainability Yearbook 2010

Summarized by

Paulus Karremans

The Sustainability Yearbook 2009

&

by SAM and PriceWaterhouseCoopers

2010 Sustainability Yearbooks 2009/10 summarized by Paulus Karremans

Note that

• This presentation represents my personal view.

• It may not necessarily reflect the ideas of the author(s) of the document that’s been summarized in this presentation.


Table of Contents

• About both Yearbooks and SAM• Yearbook 2009• Yearbook 2010• Personal Reflections• References• Thank you


About Both Yearbooks and SAM

• On a frequent basis Sustainable Asset Management (SAM) assesses corporate sustainability practices for the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI).

• SAM’s sustainability assessment was primarily designed as a “tool”to make better investment decisions, whereas it has also appeared to work as a catalyst to improve corporate sustainability.

• Yearbook 2009 looks back at the assessment results of the past decade.

• Yearbook 2010 focuses more on SAM’s business and its assessment practices.


Yearbook 2009 Introduction

• On a frequent basis Sustainable Asset Management (SAM) assesses corporate sustainability practices for the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI).

• In this 99-page yearbook [2] SAM together with PriceWaterhouseCoopers presents the outcome of an analysis they´ve performed with the help of Robeco´s Quantitative Strategy Dpt. on SAM´s data of the past decade.

• SAM has noticed an increased awareness from companies towards sustainability as participation in their assessment has almost doubled over the decade.


Key Findings Yearbook 2009

• “There is a positive relationship between corporate sustainability and the financial performance as measured by stock returns”. This applies to US, Europe and Japan.

• “Firms adhering to sustainability are not contradicting their primary function, which is to maximize the profits of their shareholders”.

• Further integration of sustainability concepts in stock selection is foreseen, as these concepts can help identify stocks that are less vulnerable to crises.

• “Corporate sustainability … emphasizes a long-term business perspective” hence it’s a good financial viability indicator.


Sustainability Can Outperform

• Statistical analysis results graphically represented:


Graph explanatory info

•


Yearbook 2010 Introduction

• In this 116-page yearbook [1] SAM:– Introduces the rise of the United Nations Principles for

Responsible Investment (PRI); a set of investment principles that bear sustainability in mind (Environmental, Social and corporate Governance criteria).

– Emphasizes that status and development of the intangible assets (such as human capital and environmental approach) of a company can be measured and should be part of a financial performance evaluation.

– Explains how it uses its sustainability assessment to determine the sustainability performance (focus on the intangible assets) of a company and how that impacts the financial value of that company.

– Short interviews with AkzoNobel and Unilever are presented


Key Findings Yearbook 2010• Although not stated explicitly, the report hints several times at

a positive relation between corporate sustainability and the financial performance of a company.

• And: “By adopting an investment strategy that systematically invests in the top 20% of the most sustainable companies in each business sector, it is possible to achieve a better performance”.

• “the reverse argument was also found to be true: the share price of the bottom 20% with the poorest sustainability ratings in each sector underperformed the comparison group”.


Sector Leaders and Movers

• The Yearbooks also present:– A list of firms that SAM considers sector leaders

and movers (firms that noticeably improved their rating) wrt corporate sustainability

– An overview of various sectors, including distinct sector specific criteria, and the sector leaders and movers applicable to that sector

– A table that lists in which DJSI the assessed firms appear


Personal Reflections

• The historical analysis findings are presented in a concise and crystal clear manner (yearbook 2009).

• It is interesting to see that SAM may indeed act as a catalyst; motivating corporations to embrace and develop corporate sustainability (yearbook 2010). This thought is reinforced by the two interviews.

• I would be interested in learning about other organizations that perform/have performed analyses similar to SAM’s to be able to compare findings.


References

1. http://www.sam-group.com/yearbook/2. http

://www.pwc.com/gx/en/sustainability/sustainability-yearbook-2009.jhtml

http://www.sam-group.com/yearbook/





http://www.pwc.com/gx/en/sustainability/sustainability-yearbook-2009.jhtml

http://www.pwc.com/gx/en/sustainability/sustainability-yearbook-2009.jhtml


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Contact

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http://nl.linkedin.com/in/pkarremans

Documents

Sustainability Yearbooks 2009 And 2010