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JSE Deputy CEO, Nicky Newton-King said: “The last few years have seen an increasing awareness of and need to measure sustainable business practices. In South Africa, in particular, the Second King Report on Corporate Governance urges companies to embrace the triple bottom line as a method of doing business. The JSE has been working with people across society’s spectrum as well as the JSE SRI Advisory Committee to create the SRI Index as a means of helping to focus the debate on triple bottom line practices, in addition to recognising the tremendous efforts already made by South African companies in this area.”
The SRI Index measures companies’ policies, performance and reporting in relation to the three pillars of the triple bottom line (environmental, economic and social sustainability), as well as corporate governance practice.
All the companies in the FTSE/JSE All Share Index were invited to participate in the process which lead to the JSE SRI Index on a voluntary basis. 74 listed companies participated and 51 companies met the criteria. Their names are attached to this release in alphabetical order. The SRI Index is the first index of this nature in an emerging market and the first in the world to be launched by an exchange. Newton-King said that “the JSE is delighted that so many listed companies participated in the process and that 51 companies are now part of the first SRI Index. A notable aspect of the constituents of the SRI Index is that 17 of the constituents are part of our MidCap Index and 3 are part of the SmallCap Index which reflects the fact that sustainability is a business issue for companies of all sizes.”
Data collection and analysis was done by Sustainability Research & Intelligence, and KPMG performed independent assurance of the analysis process.
In launching the SRI Index, the JSE announced that Graca Machel and Reuel Khoza had agreed to be the Patrons of the SRI Index. Newton-King said the JSE was honoured by their involvement which was very important for the JSE.
