Coca-Cola, Samsung, Johnson and Johnson join sustainability index

Leading brands including Coca Cola, Johnson & Johnson and Samsung Electronics have been added to a series of indices which track the sustainability of the world's largest corporations.

In a statement released this week, it was revealed that 33 new companies have been added to the Dow Jones Sustainability and Dow Jones STOXX Sustainability Indexes, while a further 33 companies including National Grid, Mitsubishi Estate and SABMiller have been deleted from the league tables.

Market index specialist Dow Jones, together with another index provider STOXX and sustainable investment company SAM, coordinate a range of tables ranking companies according to criteria including code of conduct, environmental reporting and philanthropic efforts.

"The annual review of the DJSI family is based on a thorough analysis of corporate economic, environmental and social performance, assessing issues such as corporate governance, risk management, branding, climate change mitigation, supply chain standards and labor practices," the companies said in a statement.

François Vetri, head of communications for SAM, refused to comment on the specific reasons for deleting National Grid, Mitsubishi Estate and others but said there were many factors at play.

Sustainability performance obviously plays a significant part in the process, added Vetri, and companies that don't improve their performance every year could be deleted if their competitors have more aggressive targets.

"You have to be in the top 10 percent of each sector," he said. "Thus, a company that is dropped from the index hasn't necessarily performed badly but rather its peers performed better. In fact, a lot of companies that are deleted have not performed worse than last year, but just haven't advanced in terms of sustainability as fast as their peers."

But the decision to delete a company also depends on the size and financial performance of the organisation. "In terms of market capitalisation it might be that a company is too little as we invite the 2500 biggest companies to be in the index. So if you are no longer in the 2500 biggest companies you may be excluded," said Vetri.

Air France also released a statement today on its continued inclusion in the sustainability indices where it heads up the air transport category.

“Despite the difficult business climate, Air France-KLM continues to honour its social and environmental responsibilities. Our commitment to sustainability is deeply rooted in our corporate strategy. Our acknowledged leadership position encourages us to continue down this path,” said Air France-KLM chief executive Pierre-Henri Gourgeon.

Air France is a member of the Aviation Global Deal (AGD) Group which aims to develop a global policy for tackling aviation emissions.