LONDON, NEW YORK, and ZURICH, Sept. 13, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI), one of the world's leading index providers, and RobecoSAM, the investment specialist that has focused exclusively on Sustainability Investing (SI) for over 23 years, today announced the results of the annual Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) review.

The three largest additions and deletions (by free-float market capitalization) to the DJSI World this year include:

Additions: Salesforce.com, Schlumberger Ltd, Diageo PLC  
Deletions: Samsung Electronics Co¹, Bayer AG, Commonwealth Bank Australia²

The new component lists for all the DJSI are available on the RobecoSAM website. All changes are effective on Monday, September 24, 2018.

Launched in 1999, the DJSI World represents the gold standard for corporate sustainability and is the first global index to track the leading sustainability-driven companies based on RobecoSAM's analysis of financially material Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors and S&P DJI's robust index methodology.

RobecoSAM assesses the world's largest companies via its annual Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA), which uses a consistent, rules-based methodology to convert an average of 600 data points per company into one overall score. This score determines inclusion in the DJSI. As more companies dedicate themselves to sustainable business practices, the number of companies that want their efforts measured and assessed via the CSA continues to rise (+5% in 2018).

RobecoSAM CSA provides increased added value to companies and investors
Every year RobecoSAM makes updates to the CSA methodology to raise the bar and help ensure companies continue to measure and report on current and upcoming material ESG topics. By making significant aspects of the CSA methodology and results public, investors are granted access to RobecoSAM's insights into companies' sustainability practices, the breadth and depth of which remain unmatched and act as an essential compass for investors navigating sustainability investing.

In updating the 2018 scoring methodology, RobecoSAM introduced significant updates to the Media & Stakeholder Analysis (MSA) methodology. The MSA forms an integral part of the CSA and specifically looks at companies' controversies and helps RobecoSAM to measure companies' adherence to the sustainable business principles they advocate and communicate to investors and other stakeholders.

As participation continues to grow and CSA scores improve in tandem with global improvements in corporate sustainability disclosure and performance, RobecoSAM has updated the MSA scoring methodology to better differentiate company sustainability performance for investors and other users of the CSA results.

RobecoSAM's commitment to increasing transparency among company disclosures also extends to its own information sharing practices. Coinciding with this announcement, RobecoSAM has for the first time published detailed information about the MSA process, from what constitutes an MSA case to how confirmed cases are scored. This information is available on the CSA Resource Center.

Furthermore, this year RobecoSAM has expanded its public recognition of leading companies: the 24 Industry Group Leader reports published along with the annual DJSI review, have been replaced with 60 Industry Leader reports also publicly available. The heightened level of publicly available ESG information is designed to ensure all interested parties continue to benefit from RobecoSAM's expertise in assessing corporate sustainability practices.

For additional information on the DJSI and the changes to its components' numbers, please visit: RobecoSAM's DJSI review page and https://eu.spindices.com/index-family/esg/esg-innovations.

For further methodology information, please visit the CSA Resource Center, where you can find criteria weightings, 2018 criteria changes, Measuring Intangibles brochure, key facts, participation benefits, CSA Companion, and more.

For more detailed information on the major methodology changes and observations on the CSA results, download our Annual Methodology & Scoring Review or register for our upcoming webcast.

For more information about RobecoSAM, please visit: www.robecosam.com
For more information about S&P Dow Jones Indices visit: www.spdji.com

ABOUT S&P DOW JONES INDICES
S&P Dow Jones Indices is the largest global resource for essential index-based concepts, data and research, and home to iconic financial market indicators, such as the S&P 500^® and the Dow Jones Industrial Average^®. More assets are invested in products based on our indices than products based on indices from any other provider in the world. Since Charles Dow invented the first index in 1884, S&P DJI has been innovating and developing indices across the spectrum of asset classes helping to define the way investors measure and trade the markets.

S&P Dow Jones Indices is a division of S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI), which provides essential intelligence for individuals, companies, and governments to make decisions with confidence. For more information, visit www.spdji.com.

ABOUT RobecoSAM
Founded in 1995, RobecoSAM is an investment specialist focused exclusively on Sustainability Investing. It offers asset management, indices, impact analysis and investing, sustainability assessments, and benchmarking services. The company's asset management capabilities cater to institutional asset owners and financial intermediaries and cover a range of ESG-integrated investments, featuring a strong track record in resource efficiency-themed strategies. Together with S&P Dow Jones Indices, RobecoSAM publishes the globally recognized Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) as well as the S&P ESG Factor Weighted Index series, the first index family to treat ESG as a standalone performance factor using the RobecoSAM Smart ESG methodology. Based on its Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA), an annual ESG analysis of more than 4,600 listed companies, RobecoSAM has compiled one of the world's most comprehensive databases of financially material sustainability information. The CSA data is also included in USD 117 billion of assets under management at Robeco.

RobecoSAM is a sister company of Robeco, the Dutch investment management firm founded in 1929. Both entities are subsidiaries of ORIX Corporation Europe N.V., the center of asset management expertise for ORIX Corporation. As a reflection of its own commitment to advancing sustainable investment practices, RobecoSAM is a signatory of the PRI, UN Global Compact and Climate Action 100+, a supporter of the Task force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD), as well as a member of Eurosif, Swiss Sustainable Finance, Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), and Portfolio Decarbonization Coalition (PDC). As of June 30, 2018, RobecoSAM had client assets under management, advice and/or license of approximately USD 21.5 billion.

Important legal information:
S&P^® is a registered trademark of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC ("S&P"), a division of S&P Global, Inc. Dow Jones^® is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC ("Dow Jones"). These trademarks have been licensed to S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC ("S&P DJI), a division of S&P Global, Inc. The Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS^®) was developed by, and is the exclusive property and a trademark of, S&P and MSCI Inc.

The details given on these pages do not constitute an offer. They are given for information purposes only. No liability is assumed for the correctness and accuracy of the details given. It is not possible to invest directly in an index. S&P DJI, Dow Jones, S&P and their respective affiliates do not sponsor, endorse, sell or promote any investment fund or other investment product that is offered by third parties and that seeks to provide an investment return based on the performance of any index. S&P DJI does not make investment recommendations, and inclusion of a security within an index, and CSA results, are not recommendations by S&P DJI for the purchase or sale of any security or other asset or to pursue any investment strategy. This document is for information purposes only and does not constitute an offer of services in jurisdictions where S&P DJI does not have the necessary licenses. S&P DJI receives compensation for licensing its indices to third parties.

The securities identified and described may or may not be purchased, sold or recommended for advisory clients of RobecoSAM. It should not be assumed that an investment in these securities was or will be profitable. Copyright^© 2018 RobecoSAM – all rights reserved.

¹ Still member of DJSI World Enlarged and DJSI Korea
² Still member of DJSI World Enlarged and DJSI Asia Pacific

SOURCE S&P Dow Jones Indices