The alliance leverages the expertise and sustainability benchmarking capability of SAM, the official partner with Dow Jones Indexes for the publication of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes, and KPMG’s Climate Change and Sustainability consulting services, to provide CFOs and ultimately investors with a tangible, results-focused roadmap to help enhance a company’s sustainability strategy.
Ted Senko, KPMG’s Global CEO of Climate Change and Sustainability, said the alliance provides a milestone for the globally recognized benchmarking and consulting offering in the sustainability arena.
“The alliance is invaluable for CFOs and Heads of Sustainability wishing to truly understand where they rate today; and the most effective way to maximize sustainability performance and investor appeal tomorrow,” said Mr Senko.
Under the alliance, specialist investment boutique SAM, will independently analyze a company’s sustainability performance against benchmarks established by global leaders in its sector. KPMG Climate Change and Sustainability professionals will independently review, assess and enhance a company’s sustainability strategy using the benchmark analysis compiled by SAM.
Michael Baldinger, SAM’s CEO, said companies that can effectively manage risks and seize opportunities related to sustainability trends exhibit better capacity to prosper in the long run.
“Today, more than ever, sustainability trends such as climate change, resource scarcity or demographic change shape the competitive environment and have become a significant factor for investors, particularly when making longer term investment decisions. With our impartial company benchmarking reports, we help companies to understand their sustainability performance against their peers.”
“CFOs and investors alike recognize that effective sustainability strategies are evidence of sound management. Such strategies demonstrate an increased readiness to adapt to changing markets and respond to customer needs. Similarly, investment professionals can no longer afford to underestimate the value of intangibles such as the quality of management, intellectual and human capital when performing fundamental analysis,“ said Mr Baldinger.
Jose Luis Blasco, a partner with KPMG’s Climate Change and Sustainability practice in Spain said the outcome of this process is a way for CFOs to understand whether they are getting a return on their sustainability investment.
“KPMG’s services can help companies improve performance by identifying leadership characteristics, gaps and opportunities in their sustainability strategy.
Companies often introduce a variety of initiatives to incorporate sustainability into the business. For CFOs and investors, the crucial strategies are those which directly impact bottom-line performance by strengthening skills, increasing efficiency, attracting the best talent or opening new avenues of revenue. The challenge is in understanding the competitive environment in order to implement their strategy in the most effective way,” said Mr Blasco.
Contact
Caroline Baldwin
KPMG Media Relations Director
+31 20 656 2946
François Vetri
SAM’s Head of Corporate Communications
+41 44 653 10 02
About SAM
Sustainable Asset Management (SAM) is an investment boutique focused exclusively on Sustainability Investing. The firm’s offering comprises asset management, indexes, clean tech private equity, and benchmarking services. SAM partners with Dow Jones Indexes in the publication and development of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI). Founded in 1995, SAM today has more than 100 employees and belongs to Robeco, a subsidiary of the Dutch Rabobank Group. As of June 30, 2011, SAM’s total assets amount to EUR 11.3 billion.
About KPMG’s Global Climate Change & Sustainability Practice
KPMG’s Climate Change and Sustainability Services (CC&S) professionals provide sustainability and climate change Assurance, Tax and Advisory services to organizations to help them apply sustainability as a strategic lens to their business operations. We have more than 25 years experience working with leading businesses and public sector organizations which has enabled us to develop extensive relationships with the world's leading companies and to contribute to shaping the sustainability agenda.
About KPMG
KPMG is a global network of professional firms providing Audit, Tax and Advisory services. We operate in 150 countries and have 138,000 people working in member firms around the world. The independent member firms of the KPMG network are affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. Each KPMG firm is a legally distinct and separate entity and describes itself as such.