Are US companies among the world's most sustainable firms?

Sustainability is in the eye of the beholder.  And while well-meaning investors may disagree on which factors are most important in a corporate sustainability assessment, we are not without sufficient data to make informed decisions.  In this edition of The Sustainable Investor, we hope to highlight just how accessible a responsible portfolio is to each one of us.  We can customize an investment program to meet our unique criteria and track our progress over time.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average may be the world's best known index of common stock levels.  However, few have heard of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes.   The bottom line for investors is that these indexes are meticulously constructed with robust research from Sustainable Asset Management USA (SAM).  And the bar is set high to be included in the index, at all.  In fact, no United States-headquartered companies are considered "Global SuperSector Leaders" from a sustainability perspective.  Still, household names such as BMW Group, Unilever and Nokia are prominently represented as the best in their respective sectors.

The lack of US firms as sector leaders hardly means that we should abandon this family of indexes.  Quite the contrary.  Dow Jones and SAM have made it easy for investors to benchmark their portfolios to very specific criteria.  In fact, separate regional indexes track the "most sustainable" companies by geographical area.  One can even exclude particularly controversial industries, such as tobacco, gambling, adult entertainment or armaments. 

Any investor can customize their investment criteria to meet their unique values.  Now, there is a decent chance that you can track your investment manager's progress versus appropriate benchmarks.  For more information on Dow Jones Sustainable Indexes, click here.