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FTSE4Good
FTSE Group has launched a public consultation on the criteria for its FTSE4Good index series, to help it to decide on what improvements should be made.
Since the FTSE4Good series was launched in July 2001, the firm has gradually tightened the environmental and human rights standards that companies have to meet in order to be included, and has developed new criteria on supply chain labour standards and breast milk substitutes. It is also working on criteria for the uranium mining sector, and bribery and corruption.
Following the advice of a consultation group made up of experts from the socially responsible investment and corporate social responsibility fields, FTSE has chosen three topics to concentrate on over the next five years ‘climate change and environmental performance’, ‘stakeholder corporate responsibility’ and ‘governance of corporate responsibility’.
Via a web-based survey, FTSE is asking people which issues within these topics they regard as the most important, and what kind of performance indicators might be appropriate.
FTSE is also considering dropping its policy of automatically excluding companies that have nuclear power, weapons manufacture or tobacco interests from the index, if suitable criteria can be put in place instead, and the survey also calls for comment on this possibility.
The survey will probably close at the end of January, but the exact date depends on the level of interest, says a spokeswoman. The results will be announced in the spring.
The FTSE4Good family consists of four tradeable and four benchmark indexes, drawn from the FTSE All-Share or the global FTSE All-World Developed indexes, and aimed at socially responsible investors. The series currently includes 900 companies and has 23 licensees.
