Novo Nordisk in very close race for supersector leader position in DOW Jones sustainability indices
September 2008
This year’s global benchmark for the DOW Jones family of sustainability investment indices proved to be tighter than ever. With a score of 84 points out of 100, Novo Nordisk achieved the same high score as in 2007 which awarded Novo Nordisk the top ranking supersector leader in Healthcare. The results were announced by SAM in early September.
However, in the 2008 analysis, Novo Nordisk was surpassed by just 0.4 point by Novartis.
“We are proud to be consistently among the top performers in the healthcare sector as measured by sustainability profile, just as we are in regards to company reputation and financial performance,” says Susanne Stormer, vice president for Global Triple Bottom Line Management in Novo Nordisk.
This year, the bar was raised. With the introduction of new categories such as ‘innovation management’, ’health outcome contribution’ and ‘addressing cost burden’, SAM clearly sets a high standard against which companies can be assessed on their performance and quality of reporting.
“We fully support this development and we are prepared to take up the challenge. Sustainability is well embedded in the way we do business, and we pursue ambitious targets to track our performance on the Triple Bottom Line – always seeking to weigh financial, environmental and social considerations in business decisions. The score indicates that we are doing very well on all accounts – but we can, and will, do even better,” notes Susanne Stormer.
Some statistics
SAM’s analysis measures performance on three dimensions: Economic, environmental and social. Novo Nordisk’s total scores in each category is:
• Economic dimension - 80 compared to a sector best score at 89
• Environmental dimension - 85 compared to a sector best score at 91
• Social dimension – 86, which is the sector best score.
In four categories Novo Nordisk achieves a maximum score of 100:
• Environmental Policy/Management System
• Social Reporting
• Animal Testing
• Bioethics.
Novo Nordisk also achieves best score in the categories ‘Labour Practice Indicators’ (87), ‘Human Capital Development’ (94), ‘Corporate Citizenship/Philanthropy’ (85) and ‘Health Outcome Contribution’ (87). This latter is one of three new categories. In the other two new categories, ‘Innovation Management’ and ‘Addressing Cost Burden’, Novo Nordisk scores 58 and 83, respectively, compared to sector averages of 83 and 93.
See Novo Nordisk’s complete DJSI score here
