DIC Is Selected for Inclusion in the SNAM Sustainability Index for the Third Consecutive Year

Tokyo, Japan–DIC Corporation announced that it has been selected for inclusion in the SNAM Sustainability Index, managed by Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Asset Management Co., Ltd. (SNAM), for the third consecutive year. The SNAM Sustainability Index is used by SNAM for its SNAM Sustainable Investment Fund.

The SNAM Sustainable Investment Fund, launched by SNAM in August 2012, is a socially responsible investment product for pension trusts and institutional investors that invests in a broad range of companies rated highly for their environment, social and governance (ESG) performance. Unlike ordinary active funds—investment decisions for which depend on the judgment of fund managers—the SNAM Sustainable Investment Fund employs a buy-and-hold strategy and determines weightings based the SNAM Sustainability Index, a proprietary active index the constituents of which are selected with an emphasis on ESG evaluations by research organizations*. By providing insights into management quality and hidden risks not discernable from financial statements and assessing corporate value from a long-term perspective, the index seeks to contribute to wealth accumulation for long-term investors. Companies are reviewed annually for inclusion. Underscoring the solid marks given its ESG performance, DIC has been selected for inclusion in the index for three consecutive years.

At the UN Sustainable Development Summit in 2015, held at United Nations Headquarters, the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (formally called “Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”) were adopted, providing a global framework for companies to step up ESG-relate initiatives. Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) is a signatory to the UN Principles of Responsible Investment (PRI), evidence of a growing trend among long-term investors to attach importance to the ESG performance of the companies in which they invest.

Underscoring the priority, it places on ESG initiatives, in January 2018 DIC established the ESG Unit. The DIC Group will continue to strengthen its ESG initiatives while working to ensure an accurate grasp of related social imperatives with the goal of delivering the value that it stakeholders—including its customers, business partners, local communities, shareholders and investors, and employees—expect.

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* Evaluations by Sompo Risk Management & Health Care Inc. based on responses to its Buna no Mori (Beech Forest) Environment Questionnaire and by IntegreX Inc. based on responses to its IntegreX Survey.