Big improvements for Downer

27/11/2020

Downer understands that the sustainability performance of our organisation is key to our future success.

We proactively participate in investor surveys and use these insights to inform our understanding and improve our sustainability performance.

Over the past 12 months, Downer has improved our ratings in a number of important ESG analyst assessments, including the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) and Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). These rating tools are used by institutional investors to inform investment decisions based on a company’s sustainability performance, whereby the theory is the higher the sustainability performance the better the medium-term to long-term returns.

Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) SAM Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA) is an annual evaluation of companies’ sustainability practices. 

In FY19, Downer’s performance ranked us in the top 62 percentile in the world. In FY20, we improved significantly to sit in the top 82 percentile according to the DJSI assessment and are now recognised as a market leader in aspects of social and environmental reporting.

Downer also joins 9,600 companies around the world demonstrating commitment to environmental transparency by disclosing climate change related performance through CDP, a global non-profit that runs one of the world’s leading environment disclosure platforms.

CDP drives companies and governments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, safeguard water resources and protect forests. Over 9,600 companies with over 50 per cent of global market capitalisation disclosed environmental data through CDP in 2020. This is in addition to over 920 cities, states and regions who disclosed in 2019, making CDP’s platform one of the richest sources of information globally on how companies and governments are driving environmental change.

In FY20, achieved a grading of B for Climate Change which improved from a C in FY19, and is ahead of the global average, C. We also achieved a grading of B for Supplier Engagement, which was also ahead of the global average, C.

Read more about Downer’s sustainability performance in our 2020 Sustainability Report here.