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ZURICH/FRANKFURT – STOXX Limited, a leading provider of innovative, tradable and global index concepts, and Sustainalytics, a leading provider of ESG and corporate governance ratings and research, today presented the research report “Global ESG Leaders (?) – Nachhaltigkeit im DAX” at a media breakfast and awards ceremony in Frankfurt. This report evaluates companies that are part of the German blue-chip index DAX from a sustainability perspective, and ranks them according to their overall sustainability profile as a group on a global level and within Germany.

The results placed Munich RE at the top with the best overall rating, and the company received the “STOXX / Sustainalytics German ESG Award 2015” at the event. In the report and at the event, Munich Re was praised in particular for the way it fully incorporated sustainability and ESG criteria into their core business areas, from primary insurance and reinsurance to their investment arm. Based on total scores, Allianz and Deutsche Telekom were ranked second and third, respectively. In addition, Continental, Henkel and Merck showed a particularly strong performance not only from an absolute perspective, but also relative to their global sector peers.

“Deutsche Börse Group – as a global index provider with its STOXX- and DAX-families is strongly strongly committed to neutrality, objectivity and transparency. By publishing the Global ESG Leaders (?) – Nachhaltigkeit im DAX report in cooperation with Sustainalytics, we want to contribute to a greater public awareness for ESG topics, but also provide an added layer of transparency for end- investors,” said Hartmut Graf, chief executive officer, STOXX Limited.

Michael Jantzi, chief executive officer, Sustainalytics, commented: “Over the past few years, global investors have shown significant interest in sustainable investments, and STOXX, in particular, has contributed to this positive development by taking a strong market leadership role to raise awareness for global sustainability issues. We are proud of our relationship with STOXX and that our ESG Research and Data underpins their series of ESG Indexes and this new report. We hope investors find value in the report findings and that they serve as a catalyst to drive more growth in the responsible investing field in Germany.”

Report details

The “Global ESG Leaders (?) – Nachhaltigkeit im DAX” report is based on data underlying the STOXX Global ESG Leaders Indices. These indices are fully transparent with component selection driven by comprehensive set of sustainability ratings. Based on data provided by Sustainalytics, this index model allows investors to fully understand which factors determine a company’s ESG rating and their respective importance. The model, which has been mapped to the “KPIs for ESG 3.0” standard defined by Deutsche Vereinigung für Finanzanalyse und Asset Management (DVFA) and The European Federation of Financial Analysts Societies (EFFAS), has been fully approved by both organizations.

From 30 DAX components, 13 are part of the STOXX Global ESG Leaders Index, which in total comprises 348 components. This means that only 19% of components from the index universe, the broad STOXX Global 1800 Index, have qualified for inclusion in the ESG index. Amongst them are a total of 22 German companies, and from those 13 are part of the German blue-chip index DAX.

On a global comparison, the quota of German companies that qualified for inclusion in the STOXX Global ESG Leaders Index is higher than the rest: 22 out of a total of 65 companies made the cut, which equals 34%.

Recently, the STOXX Global ESG Leaders Index underwent its regular annual index review in September 2015, which resulted with deletion of 62 companies, amongst them DAX components Deutsche Post, Beiersdorf, BASF and Daimler, which no longer met the selection criteria. In addition, following the emissions testing scandal Volkswagen was deleted from the index on Sep. 28 in accordance with the “fast exit” rule. Amongst the 79 companies that were added at the review were two German companies which are also part of MDAX: Osram Licht and Hugo Boss.

The 13 DAX companies that are part of the STOXX Global ESG Leaders Index are referred to as “DAX ESG Leaders” in the study. Nine of them lie above the average ESG score of index components, which is 87 points. All of them are part of the top quartile of index components.

A full version of the report, in German language, can be obtained from STOXX or Sustainalytics.

Note to Editors:

About STOXX Limited
STOXX Ltd. is a global index provider, currently calculating a global, comprehensive index family of over 7,000 strictly rules-based and transparent indices. Best known for the leading European equity indices EURO STOXX 50, STOXX Europe 50 and STOXX Europe 600, STOXX Ltd. maintains and calculates the STOXX Global index family which consists of total market, broad and blue-chip indices for the regions Americas, Europe, Asia/Pacific and sub-regions Latin America and BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) as well as global markets.

To provide market participants with optimal transparency, STOXX indices are classified into three categories. Regular “STOXX” indices include all standard, theme and strategy indices that are part of STOXX’s integrated index family and follow a strict rules-based methodology. The “iSTOXX” brand typically comprises less standardized index concepts that are not integrated in the STOXX Global index family, but are nevertheless strictly rules-based. While indices that are branded “STOXX” and “iSTOXX” are developed by STOXX for a broad range of market participants, the “STOXX Customized” brand covers indices that are specifically developed for clients and do not carry the STOXX brand in the index name.

STOXX indices are licensed to more than 500 companies around the world as underlyings for Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), futures and options, structured products and passively managed investment funds. Three of the top ETFs in Europe and approximately 25% of all assets under management are based on STOXX indices. STOXX Ltd. holds Europe’s number one and the world’s number two position in the derivatives segment.

STOXX is part of Deutsche Börse Group, and markets the DAX indices. www.stoxx.com

About Sustainalytics

Headquartered in Amsterdam, Sustainalytics is an independent ESG and corporate governance research, ratings, and analysis firm supporting investors around the world with the development and implementation of responsible investment strategies. With 13 offices globally, Sustainalytics partners with institutional investors who integrate environmental, social, and governance information and assessments into their investment processes. Today, the firm has 230 staff members, including more than 120 analysts with varied multidisciplinary expertise across more than 40 sectors. For the past three years, Sustainalytics has been named the best independent responsible investment research firm in Extel’s IRRI survey of institutional investors. For more information, visit www.sustainalytics.com.

STOXX, Deutsche Börse Group and their licensors, research partners or data providers do not make any warranties or representations, express or implied, with respect to the timeliness, sequence, accuracy, completeness, currentness, merchantability, quality or fitness