Castan Centre for Human Rights Law

Multinational Corporations and Human Rights

Ethical Investment Indices

Dow Jones Sustainability Index

The Dow Jones Sustainability Group Index aims to provide a benchmark by which to assess the performance of investments in companies which are committed to sustainable practices. The Index includes around 200 companies. Each participating company is subject to a sustainability assessment which includes general sustainability criteria and industry group specific criteria. The criteria relate to strategy, policy and management. The Index is reviewed annually by an advisory committee which consists of experts from both the financial sector and the corporate sustainability sector.

http://www.sustainability-indexes.com/default.html

Ethibel Sustainability Index

An index developed in Belgium which screens companies on internal and external social policy, environmental policy and ethical economic policy. All items carry the same weight in the final assessment and companies are assessed in relation to their sectoral or regional competitors.

http://www.ethibel.be/subs_e/4_index/main.html

FTSE4Good Index Series

Launched in July 2001, FTSE4Good is designed to measure the performance of companies that meet globally recognised corporate responsibility standards and to facilitate investment in those companies. Companies are regularly added to the indices - which cover the UK, European, US and global markets. To be eligible, businesses must meet specified corporate social responsibility criteria and are subject to review every six months by an independent committee. Those that subsequently under-perform are deleted from the Index.

http://www.ftse.com/ftse4good/index.jsp

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s Socially Responsible Investment Index

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE)'s Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) Index, the first of its kind in an emerging market, was launched on 19 May 2004, and started trading live from Thursday 20 May 2004. This Index represents a departure from the FTSE4Good methodology in that it focuses primarily on sustainable development performance and does have any outright exclusions (e.g. tobacco companies).

http://www.jse.co.za/sri/index.htm