green portfolio investing Brazil


 

 

AES Tietê, Cesp, Eletrobrás, Light, Sabesp, Sadia and Weg. These companies joined in the Corporate Sustainability Index (ISE) of the Bovespa, produced in partnership with the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Sao Paulo. Created in 2005, the index rose for the third review.  Being part of the portfolio is a privilege for a few: this time we are only 40 shares of 32 companies (see table).  Few and good: the market value of these companies reaches $ 927 billion, equivalent to 37% of the total capitalization of the Bovespa.

 

The complex questionnaire is the final step for a company to be recognized as sustainable and be part of the ISE.  They are 150 questions on environmental, social, economic-financial, corporate governance, general characteristics of the company and the nature of the product. The questions were sent to companies whose shares are among the 150 most traded on Bovespa. Of the 62 who responded, only 32 passed the test.  "It is not enough to state that adopts socially responsible policies. It has to submit the documents that prove these policies, "says Mario Monzoni, coordinator of the Center for Studies in Sustainability of the FGV.  If the company say that strategy has formally committed to sustainable development, must prove. How?  Displaying, for example, their codes of conduct and their goals of social performance.

 

This year, eight companies were excluded from the index. Out of this list were; ALL Logistics, Celesc, Gol, Itaúsa, Finds, Tam, Ultrapar and Unibanco.  Itaúsa, curiously, remained in the Dow Jones index.  The reasons for disapproval of the ISE were not disclosed, or the Bovespa, or the companies themselves.  Has gone through profound crisis (if the air) and no longer sustainable?  "Not necessarily," says Roberto Gonzalez, representative of the Association of Professional Investment Analysts and the Capital Markets (Apimec) Deliberative Council on the ISE.  "To stay in the ISE, it is not enough to maintain the standard.    It has to evolve.  Some companies leaving because the other improve and notes averages go up, "he explains.