Johannesburg Stock Exchange partners with EIRIS to develop enhanced SRI Index
EIRIS | Research Firm
| Date | Nov 29, 2007 |
| Contact | Stephen Hine |
| Telephone | +44 207 840 5716 |
| stephen.hine@eiris.org | |
| Website Link | http://www.eiris.org/files/press%20releases/jsenov07.pdf |
Press Release
London, 28 November 2007
Johannesburg Stock Exchange partners with EIRIS to develop enhanced SRI Index
Constituents of the 2007 South African SRI Index announced
The JSE has partnered with EIRIS, a world renowned expert in the field of sustainability research, to introduce enhancements to its Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) Index.
Now in its fourth year, the Index assesses the environmental, social and economic sustainability and corporate governance practices of South African listed companies.
JSE has worked with EIRIS on a review of Index criteria and construction, to ensure that the Index maintains its leading role in both encouraging broad based sustainability practice by companies and fostering consensus on what this means in the context of South Africa.
The review employs a triple-bottom-line and governance approach, but adds new indicators to the Index reflecting the environmental, social and governance (ESG) approach promoted by the United Nation’s Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). Environmental criteria are now aligned with FTSE4Good Environmental Criteria. Additional social, governance and related sustainability concerns are dealt with in a thematic matter, with a specific emphasis on local issues such as black economic empowerment, skills development and HIV/Aids.
For the 2007 review, EIRIS assessed all companies in the FTSE/JSE (Top 40), and all those in the 2006 SRI Index, against JSE’s revised SRI Index criteria using publicly available company information. Additionally, the remaining constituents in the FTSE/JSE All share Index were invited to participate on a voluntary basis. In total, 72 companies were assessed of which 65 formed part of the automatic universe. In the end, 57 companies successfully made it on to the 2007 index.
“The JSE’s Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) Index offers investors a unique tool to respond to the burgeoning debate around responsible investment in South Africa. It offers companies an aspirational benchmark for doing business in a sustainable manner in an emerging market context” said Corli le Roux, Head of SRI Index at JSE. “The research and criteria development support provided by EIRIS for the 2007 review of the SRI Index has not only added value through simplified processes and global alignment, but also facilitates increased global access to information regarding the quality of those listed companies included in the SRI Index” she continued.
Mairead Hancock, Head of Client Services at EIRIS said: “We are delighted to have supported JSE in the development of its enhanced SRI Index for 2007. This work has provided an invaluable insight into local sustainable issues in South Africa. JSE’s SRI Index criteria have proved themselves as a useful framework to assess and manage business risk. We look forward to expanding our research to help more investors identify companies in emerging markets which are suitable to their responsible investment approach”.
More information on JSE SRI Index 2007 constituents is available at http://www.jse.co.za/sri
Press contacts:
Mark Robertson, +44(0) 20 7840 5741, +44 (0) 7950 931313,
Note to editors:
1 Ethical Investment Research Services (EIRIS), established in 1983, provides the independent research into corporate social, environmental and ethical performance that is needed by investors to make informed and responsible investment decisions. EIRIS does not promote any one particular view on ethical or socially responsible issues.
2 EIRIS is the leading global analyst of corporate social, environmental and ethical performance with the following overseas research partners: Centre for Australian Ethical Research (CAER), Fundacion Ecologia y Desarrollo (Ecodes) of Spain, Imug – Institut fur Markt-Umwelt-Gesellschaft of Germany and EthiFinance of France.