Aussie Corporates Lead in Global Sustainability Index

Two Australian corporations, Westpac Group and Stockland, were named the Industry Group Leaders for banking and real estate in the 2015 Dow Jones Sustainability Index.

The Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) is a ranking of the world’s largest 2,500 companies across 24 sectors, reviewed annually by the RobecoSAM Corporate Sustainability Assessment on economic, environmental and social criteria.

Westpac was the leader in banking for the second year in a row, and this year increased its DJSI score to 94 out of 100.

Westpac CEO, Brian Hartzer, said he was pleased the Group had been recognised in the global benchmark.  

“This recognition goes to show that our approach of embedding sustainability in everything we do – business processes, culture and strategy alike – is working for us,” Hartzer said.

“It’s also a tribute to the incredible efforts of our 40,000 people who are committed to building a better future for the people who bank with us, work with us, invest in us, or are part of our wider community. It’s this kind of thinking that is helping Westpac become one of the world’s great service companies.

“We’ve performed well, but we know we can always do more to ensure we keep operating in the most sustainable way.”

This year Stockland outranked the previous real estate industry leader, GPT Group, with a score of 87 out of 100.

“We have been a member of the DJSI for the past nine years and this recognition reflects our unwavering commitment to sustainability. We work closely with our stakeholders to embed environmental and social sustainability practices into our business,” Stockland Managing Director and CEO, Mark Steinert, said.

“We continue to find innovative ways to improve our sustainability performance to deliver both monetary returns to our shareholders and long-term shared value benefits to our customers and other stakeholders in the communities we help to create and grow.”

In addition to Australia, corporations from Germany, Switzerland, the United States, South Korea, France, the Netherlands and Japan also led in two or more Industry Groups.

The DJSI RobecoSAM assessment is the most widely accepted global evaluation of how companies manage and perform in the sustainability sphere.

It assesses business management practices, including corporate governance, risk management, customer relations, brand management, human resources, corporate community investment, climate change mitigation and environmental performance.