METRO maintains listing in Dow Jones Sustainability Index despite increasing competition
15 November 2021
Seeking external proof for their sustainability efforts a total of 1,834 companies participated in the Corporate Sustainability Assessment of S&P Global CSA, resulting in the renowned Dow Jones Sustainability Index ranking. According to S&P Global CSA, the participating companies represent 45% of the global market cap. With an increase of more than 30% compared to last year, the participation in the DJSI proves that the objective evaluation of sustainability efforts of companies becomes increasingly important for shareholders, investors and the capital market.
With more than 2 decades experience and ambitious efforts to trailblaze sustainability in the wholesale sector, METRO AG defends its listing in the ranking. Scoring 5th of 10 listed companies in the category “Food & Staples Retailing” of the DJSI World ranking and 2nd in Europe after the only other index member Ahold Delhaize, an expert in the field of supermarkets and e-commerce. This is the result of this year's DJSI ranking published in the USA on 12 November after the close of the New York stock market.
In this year’s ranking, METRO showed its strongest performance with more than 90% of the respective score in the areas of:
“METRO is a wholesale company with special expertise in the field of food. Our more than 16 million customers worldwide are the face to the society. On a daily basis they serve billions of people in their restaurants, cafés, bars and independent retail stores, experiencing first-hand the growing demand for more sustainable products and solutions. Being their partner with our sustainability strategy we aim at empowering them, providing them with products and knowledge, while at the same time engaging the upstream value chain as well,” said Veronika Pountcheva, Global Director Corporate Responsibility METRO AG, commenting on this year’s DJSI ranking. “Sustainable business is one of our company’s guiding principles. We are living up to this.”
The internationally renowned Dow Jones Sustainability Index, established in 1999, evaluates the sustainability work of stock-listed companies worldwide on an annual basis. The index family was developed jointly by S&P Dow Jones Indices and RobecoSAM, with S&P Global CSA conducting the analysis. The list of questions for the sustainability assessment is continuously updated. This year, for example, including for the first time the criterion “Living Wages” as part of the Human Rights track. Despite new question categories and rising competition, METRO achieved a total score of 77 points after 81 points in the previous year.
METRO is a leading international wholesale company with food and non-food assortments that specialises in serving the needs of hotels, restaurants and caterers (HoReCa) as well as independent traders. Around the world, METRO has some 16 million customers, who can choose whether to shop in one of the large-format stores, order online and collect their purchases at the store or have them delivered. METRO also supports the competitiveness of entrepreneurs and independent businesses with digital solutions and thereby contributes to cultural diversity in retail and hospitality. Sustainability is a key pillar of METRO’s business. METRO has been listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for 7 8 consecutive years. The company operates in 34 countries and employs more than 97,000 people worldwide. In financial year 2019/20, METRO generated sales of €25.6 billion. In addition, in our online magazine MPULSE.de, we also report on the things that affect our customers, employees, partners and suppliers – and the things that we do for them.