Sustainable Investment and Analysis

Abstract

As sustainability becomes increasingly more important to large, multi-national corporations, it has become just has significant to investors and their investment strategies. As both students and investors for the University of Arizona Foundation, we believe that sustainability -- like most financial data -- is extremely important when making an investment decision. Our research showed that sustainability is very different from corporate social responsibility in that the sustainability approach does not focus solely on fixing environmental or social problems. Rather, sustainable companies have a keen eye for keeping these issues in mind while delivering sustainable products that ultimately add to shareholder value. With such a wide range of issues in mind, sustainable companies consistently proved to have management teams that effectively and successfully dealt with these problems simultaneously. In order to understand why companies are considered "sustainable", we found it necessary to examine the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI), what qualifies a company for the DJSI, and how companies are ranked within the index. Finally, we used the sustainability criteria recommended by fellow classmate Long Hoang Diep to evaluate the financial impact that sustainability aspects have had on Intel Corporation.