Thomson Reuters has launched a Diversity & Inclusion index that ranks 100 listed companies globally on measures of diversity and inclusion in the workplace, as part of its work supplying ESG data to investors measuring risk around ESG factors.
The D&I index measures 24 metrics across four categories: Diversity, Inclusion, People Development and News Controversies. Some 5,000 companies are measured, but only those with scores across all four categories achieve an overall score that helps set their ranking in the D&I index.
Debra Walton, chief product & content officer, Financial & Risk, Thomson Reuters, said that research pointed to companies with focus on ESG “can have a stronger stock performance and better long term profitability.”
Top 25 Index ranking and their corresponding overall D&I percentage score (%)
| Roche Holding AG | 82.50 |
| Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin SCA | 81.50 |
| Novartis AG | 81.00 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 79.75 |
| Astellas Pharma Inc | 79.00 |
| Contact Energy Ltd | 79.00 |
| Eli Lilly and Co | 78.75 |
| Colgate-Palmolive Co | 78.00 |
| Cisco Systems Inc | 77.75 |
| Fletcher Building Ltd | 77.25 |
| Diageo PLC | 77.00 |
| EDP Energias de Portugal SA | 77.00 |
| Kathmandu Holdings Ltd | 76.75 |
| Medtronic PLC | 76.75 |
| Nestle SA | 76.75 |
| Samsung Electronics Co Ltd | 76.50 |
| Allianz SE | 76.25 |
| Accenture PLC | 75.75 |
| L’Oreal SA | 75.75 |
| Natura Cosmeticos SA | 75.75 |
| Procter & Gamble Co | 75.50 |
| Kering SA | 75.25 |
| Microsoft Corp | 75.25 |
| LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE | 75.00 |
| BASF SE | 74.75 |
Europe’s biggest equity investor, Norway’s Pension Fund Global, reported a NOK return on equity investments of -6.11%, or -2.26% measured in international currency over the first six months of the year to 30 June, from its 9,000 investments in companies.
The fund is steered by a bias towards responsible investing from the starting point of using the FTSE Global All Cap index. Recently, in September 2016, the fund announced the exclusion of Duke Energy Corp, and the wholly-owned subsidiaries Duke Energy Carolinas LLC, Duke Energy Progress LLC, and Progress Energy Inc from the fund.
“The companies are excluded based on an assessment of the risk of severe environmental damage,” the fund said in a statement.
Last year the manager stated when it published its second annual responsible investment report that “We expect companies to address a broad set of long-term risks in their strategies, investment plans, risk management and reporting.”
“We updated our expectations with regard to children’s rights, water management and climate change in 2015, and today we are also publishing our expectations for how companies manage human rights. Monitoring environmental, social and governance risks in the portfolio is an important part of Norges Bank Investment Management’s work on responsible investment.”
