The results of the annual evaluation of 2,500 companies were announced on September 7 by Dow Jones Indexes, STOXX Limited and SAM Group.
In both the global and European indexes, Novozymes is ranked as number one in the biotechnology sector.
While it may sound like a given that Novozymes gets the number one ranking, in fact this status must be re-earned each year against steadily stiffer competition. This can be seen in the overturn of 16% or more of the companies in the two Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI). 57 companies were added to the global index and 54 firms deleted following this year's evaluation, out of a total of 317 companies. The pan-European index added 25 new companies and deleted 29 firms this year out of a total 156 companies.
Novozymes was compared this year to 23 other biotech companies. Of the group of 24 that were evaluated, only one other company in addition to Novozymes was included in the DJSI this year - the US-based Genzyme Corp.
The DJSI indexes are used by asset managers in 14 countries as reliable and objective benchmarks to manage sustainability portfolios. Total assets under management in DJSI-based investment vehicles currently amount to 3.3 billion Euro (4.1 billion USD), according to Dow Jones.
Why Novozymes
The annual review of the DJSI family is based on an assessment of corporate economic, environmental and social performance, and examines issues such as corporate governance, employee development, climate change, supply chain standards, and labor practices.
Novozymes received high rankings overall, but particularly high in the following areas: investor relations, R&D, environmental policy/management, environmental and social reporting, animal test ing, bioethics.
More about the indexes
The Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes consist of a global and a European set of indexes. The global indexes, the Dow Jones Sustainability World Indexes (DJSI World), consist of a broad composite index and five narrower, subset indexes.
To be included in the DJSI World index, a company is evaluated in terms of economic, environmental and social criteria against the top 10% of the biggest 2,500 companies in the Dow Jones World Index.
The evaluation used to create the indexes reveals not only a great deal about individual companies, but also about overall trends in corporate sustainability development, an area that is constantly evolving.
Read more at Dow Jones website 