Wolters Kluwer receives award in Sustainability Yearbook 2009

For the second year in a row, Wolters Kluwer has been recognized for its achievements in the Sustainability Yearbook, a leading annual publication by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Sustainable Asset Management (SAM) Group.

Wolters Kluwer has won the SAM 2009 Bronze Class in the media sector, making it the third best performing company in its category, outperforming peers like Reed Elsevier and Thomson Reuters.

Ranking economic, environmental and social performance
within the media sector, the book identifies factors such as non-discrimination of the workforce, cultural sensitivity towards clients and communities, accountability, as well as intellectual content management, piracy and copyright protection as key aspects of sustainability. Broken down into the economic, environmental and social dimension companies were assessed on the following criteria:

Economic

• Brand Management
• Customer Relationship Management
• Lobbying Activities
• Product Piracy

Environmental

• Environmental Policy/Management System
• Hazardous Substances
• Operational eco-efficinecy
• Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)

Social

• Code of Ethics for Advertising
• Editorial Policy
• Ethical Conduct
• Protection of Children
• Stakeholder Engagement

SAM Sustainability Yearbook 2009
The Sustainability Yearbook 2009 includes 367 companies in 57 sectors. Each year, the 2,500 largest companies in the world are invited to participate in SAM’s Corporate Sustainability Assessment. Only the top-scoring 15% of companies in each of the 57 sectors assessed are eligible for inclusion in the Sustainability Yearbook.

SAM sustainability assessment seeks to identify companies that both demonstrate a core ability to manage sustainability issues and also represent an attractive investment opportunity. As such the assessment provides valuable guidance for the sustainable and socially responsible investment community.

View the full 2009 Sustainability Yearbook.