WELL DONE NASDAQ

Nasdaq have caught up with other leading indices and collaaborated with CRD Analytics to produce a Nasdaq OMX CRD Global Sustainability 50 Index. Quoting from BusinessGreen.com
CRD Analytics president Michael Muyot said the index would help make " sustainability more investable", providing investors with an independent assessment of how firms that have taken a leadership position in environmental reporting are performing against their peer group.

Elligibility criteria to be included inthe index are:

• a publicly available corporate sustainability/responsibility report;
• disclosure of compatible sustainability data according to (GRI) G2/G3 guidelines;
• reporting of at least 20% of total core environmental performance indicators;
• reporting of at least 20% of the total core social performance indicators;
• reporting of at least 70% of the total financial performance indicators.

this is GREAT news.

The companies in the Global 50 include :
Heinz, Cisco, Johnson and Johnson, Vodafone, Baxter, Allianz, Westpac, Nokia, Exxon, Motorola, 3M, P&G, Oracle etc.........

I wonder if this move will give rise to more competition in the CSR arena - more disclosure usually leads to more performance. Also interesting to note that NASDAQ endorses GRI guidelines as a disclosure tool and a factor in the ranking. Well done, Nasdaq.

Guess we all ought to be prepared for a flurry of CSR reports from all Nasdaq Companies who haven't yet boarded the train .......

elaine cohen is the joint CEO of BeyondBusiness, a leading reporting and social-environmental consulting firm based in Israel. Visit our website at: www.b-yond.biz/en