Cisco Named to Dow Jones Sustainability Index for Its Economic, Social, and Environmental Performance

Yesterday Cisco was named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) World and the DJSI North America for the 8th year in a row. This annual review is based on a thorough analysis of Cisco’s economic, social, and environmental performance.

We value our inclusion on the DJSI for a number of reasons. First, it allows us to benchmark our year-over-year performance measurements such as corporate governance, risk management, climate change strategy, supply chain standards, labor practices, and corporate citizenship. Through the DJSI, we can monitor how we are doing in these areas compared to previous years, and also compare our performance to peer companies.

Each year, the DJSI also helps us identify emerging issues and define those that are increasingly material to our company and our industry. By carefully analyzing any new section topics or questions – as well as any changes to the weightings – we then reach out to the relevant internal and external stakeholders to implement our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) business process to adjust programs, goals/objectives, and resourcing appropriately.

And finally, being included in the DJSI demonstrates our commitment to and investment in CSR. At Cisco, we are committed to making a positive impact on society and the planet. The Sustainable Business Practices team works with subject matter experts from across the company to create social and environmental best practices.  That is what enables us to earn such distinctions as being named one of the “World’s Most Ethical Companies,” one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For,” or among the “Global 100” of most sustainable corporations in the world. (Please see csr.cisco.com to learn more about Cisco’s other CSR and values-based awards.)

Some of our key accomplishments from FY12 are:

Our climate change strategy, which includes aggressive goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and energy use. For example, we fulfilled a commitment to reduce Scope 1, 2 and business-air-travel-related Scope 3* GHG emissions worldwide 25 percent by 2012 compared to our FY07 baseline. We have new goals to reduce these emissions further by 2017.

100 percent of eligible employees completed our Code of Business Conduct.

More than 80 percent of employees consider Cisco a great place to work.

Cisco employees volunteered nearly 107,000 hours, and Cisco and the Cisco Foundation made more than US$294 million in cash and in-kind contributions.

Only 0.43 percent of the products that were traded in or returned to us were sent to a landfill.**

* Scope 1 is all direct GHG emissions. Scope 2 is indirect GHG emissions from consumption of purchased electricity, heat, or steam. Scope 3 is other indirect emissions, such as transport-related activities in vehicles not owned or controlled by the reporting entity. Source: U.S. EPA

**Landfilled material consists only of non-electronic waste materials, such as broken pallets, wet cardboard, and shrink wrap, accompanying Cisco product returned by customers for recycling.

Guido Giese, head of indices at RobecoSAM, the investment specialist focused exclusively on sustainability investing, put it well when he said, “the DJSI have a double impact. They enable investors to integrate sustainability into their portfolios and at the same time they provide an engagement platform that encourages companies to adopt sustainable best practices.”

The DJSI World Index tracks the financial performance of the top 10 percent of the 2,500 largest companies in the Dow Jones Global Index, and the DJSI North America Index includes the top 20 percent of the 600 largest North American companies in the Dow Jones Global Index.

Please read more about our commitment to sustainability and corporate social responsibility in the Cisco 2012 CSR Report.