Does the market really need another sustainability index? Numerous approaches and products promise investors sustainable investments. No question, proactive communication has illuminated the vast opportunities in the market for sustainable investments that – according to Eurosif, the European Sustainable Investment Forum – reached €5 trillion in Europe at the end of 2009. However, so far investors looking for a transparent, objective and flexible opportunity that reflects their own perspective on sustainability have had a hard job of finding an acceptable equivalent benchmark or sustainable fund.

For this reason STOXX introduced its new STOXX Global ESG Leaders indices in April 2011. The STOXX Global ESG Leaders Index and its three sub-indices for environmental, social and governance leaders make the rating of each company fully transparent. By mapping the rating model to the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for the ESG 3.0 standard as defined by the DVFA, the German association for financial analysts and asset managers, and the European Federation of Financial Analysts Societies (EFFAS), these new indices ensure the highest standards of objectivity. The collaboration with the sustainability research expert, Sustainalytics, in sourcing all relevant data for evaluating the various companies, additionally supports the objective assessment process. Moreover, investors for the first time have the opportunity to weight environmental, social and governance criteria individually to follow their personal guidelines for sustainable investments.

Read more: Transparency and flexibility stand out in the flood of "sustainable" products