On February 21, 2013 RobecoSAM and S&P Dow Jones Indices announced the launch of the Dow Jones Sustainability Emerging Markets Index(DJSI Emerging Markets).
Similar to the process with other Dow Jones Sustainability Indices, the constituent companies in the DJSI Emerging Markets are selected according to a ‘best in class” process. Each company’s sustainability performance is evaluated by the RobecoSAM annual Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA) of economic, environmental and social criteria. A company whose Total Sustainability Score ranks in the top 10% of its sector is eligible for inclusion in the index.
According to the media release distributed by RobecoSAM, “Out of a total of 800 emerging market companies that were eligible to participate in the 2012 CSA, 69 were identified as sustainability leaders in their respective sector and selected for index membership. As a result, the DJSI Emerging Marketstracks the performance of those leading companies from 20 developing economies. Like the existing DJSI Family, the new index can be customised to meet investor requirements with regard to value or faith based motivated exclusions or specific geographical subsets.”
As of the launch date of January 21, 3013 the largest holdings are in an industrial company in Taiwan, a bank and a telecommunications company in China, and a bank as well as an oil company in Brazil.
You may read the release on the press releases page of the RobecoSAM internet site.