What is a sustainability index?

A sustainability index is an instrument used to measure the sustainability of a business across environmental and social factors. It provides non-financial data that can tell investors and stakeholders how a company is managed in a day-to-day setting and the importance that they place on environmental stewardship and social responsibility. There are dozens of different indexes that businesses can disclose to, each providing their own parameters and levels of credibility amongst the public. The Dow Jones Sustainability Index and FTSE4Good are the most popular in Europe, whilst the MSCI KLD 400 Social Index has a large representation in the US. Sustainability indexes are becoming increasingly important, not only as a measure of risk for investors, but also as a measure of environmental impact. In the face of aggravating climate change, it is paramount that businesses place sustainability at the forefront of their management. Being able to benchmark your company against others as well as being subject to pressures from the public is also a valuable driver of sustainability in business.

What is a sustainability index used for?

Sustainability indexes are primarily used by investors who are interested in introducing sustainable investments to their portfolios. The rise in this interest is in part due to the fact that a business’ sustainability performance is a strong indicator of future performance. A study by HEC Paris titled “Do Investors Actually Value Sustainability Indices?” analysed the impact on companies that are listed on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. Their findings showed that the listed businesses had a higher percentage of shares held by long-term investors, as well as higher visibility amongst financial analysts.

How do sustainability indexes work?

Each sustainability index works slightly differently, all having a unique assessment criteria and methodology. The general procedure, however, involves a yearly disclosure cycle. This begins with an invitation for companies to participate in the disclosure process, which is often completed through a questionnaire. Participating businesses will have several weeks to several months to complete the questionnaire – depending on the sustainability index – and their answers will be analysed and scored according to each index’s methodology. Once all companies have been given a score, the results are made public and the cycle will begin again for the following year.

What are the benefits of having a sustainability index?

The benefits of having a sustainable index range from financial to non-financial, and benefit businesses, investors, and the public alike. Businesses: Sustainability indexes are useful tools in benchmarking your businesses’ non-financial performance. Measuring your impact is the first step in improving it, and disclosing to a sustainability index allows your business to track progress and make credible plans for improvement. Investors: Sustainability indexes provide non-financial information on companies that give indications of future financial performance. This data is incredibly useful to investors who are looking for long-term, sustainable portfolios. Public: Sustainability indexes make business sustainability data publicly available. With sustainability being of increasing importance to consumers, this helps members of the public to easily decide where they should spend their money, ultimately driving the market in a more sustainable direction.

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Metrikus joins forces with ServiceNow to drive the efficiency and sustainability of global real estate

Smart Buildings, Technology, Workplace

September 25, 2023

Emily Vernon

We’re very excited to have announced our integration with ServiceNow to drive the efficiency and sustainability of global real estate

This is a huge opportunity for us to expand our customer base, and it’s safe to say that we’re very excited to see where this partnership takes us.

To celebrate the good news, we thought we’d write a quick blog post explaining what the integration actually involves, and why we’re so excited about it.

Why are we integrating with ServiceNow?

When we first started talking with ServiceNow, we knew our solutions would be a match made in heaven.

ServiceNow works with a lot of customers who want to reduce real estate costs and drive workplace efficiency, and our SaaS platform and APIs help companies to do exactly that!

Now, our building efficiency software will provide ServiceNow with a single point of aggregated data, so that they can give their customers the tools they need to save time and money while they manage their real estate.

As Michael Grant, our COO and co-founder, explains “ServiceNow and their clients need an easy, scalable and cost-effective solution to aggregate siloed data sources within buildings and accelerate digital transformation and time to ROI. This is Metrikus."

What are the benefits for ServiceNow’s customers?

Long story short, ServiceNow’s thousands of customers will get all the benefits that come with accessing your building data in a single place, including:

In the words of Scott Fuller, Vice President and General Manager of ServiceNow’s Workplace Service, “We have been looking to add this type of functionality and information into our platform for a while. Metrikus is a complementary and additive solution for ServiceNow, and will be a great value-add to our clients and partners, saving them time and money as they manage their buildings.”

This is such an exciting step for us, and we can’t wait to help more companies than ever before to create workplaces that are productive, cost-effective and sustainable.

If you want to find out more about this game-changing integration, check out the press release here.

Metrikus joins forces with ServiceNow to drive the efficiency and sustainability of global real estate

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