Watchdogs of Socially Responsible Investments

Just who is keeping an eye on the corporate world and making a list of what is naughty and nice? Well one innovative organisation has set up an index to monitor Socially Responsible Investments (SRI) – FTSE4Good!

That’s pronounced Footsee-for-Good and it’s the creation of the global index group FTSE and lists companies worldwide that have meet its strict corporate social responsibility criteria.

The FTSE4Good ranks eligible companies by market capitalisation.

FTSE Chief Executive Mark Makepeace says the overwhelming interest from companies to be included in the FTSE4Good series is proof of a growing corporate commitment to corporate social responsibility.

Makepeace says the index has acted as a catalyst to promote best practice and raise awareness of SRI.

The index is divided into FTSE4Good European, UK, US and global and is managed by the global index provider FTSE which is jointly owned by the London Stock Exchange and the Financial Times but operates as a wholly autonomous company.

FTSE4Good is made up of four tradeable and four benchmark indices. A committee of independent practitioners in SRI and CSR review indices to ensure that they are an accurate reflection of current CSR best practice.

FTSE donates license fee income and other revenue from FTSE to UNICEF, the global charity dedicated to improving the lives of children, their families and communities.

For a look at the top 100 and more information go to www.ftse4good.com.

The US indices group Dow Jones has also set up the a Sustainability Group Index.

The Sustainability Index seeks to meet the financial markets demands for an investable index to benchmark the performance of investments in companies which are striving to become more sustainable.

It includes around 200 companies said to represent the top 10% of leading companies committed to sustainable practices.

The Index recognises the importance of integrating economic, environmental and social factors in business strategy and places particular stress on innovative technology, corporate governance, the interests of shareholders, industry leadership and corporate responses to changes in society.

For more information on the Dow Jones Sustainability Group Index go to www.sustainability-indexes.com..