The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., has announced that its stock has again been selected for inclusion in two stock indexes focused on companies with strong Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) practices—the FTSE4Good Index Series and the FTSE Blossom Japan Index. Yokohama’s inclusion in the global FTSE4Good Index Series for a 16th consecutive year reconfirms that the company’s ESG activities and disclosure practices meet the highest global standards. The company was selected to the FTSE Blossom Japan Index for the fourth straight year.
In recent years, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) declared by the United Nations have assumed growing weight in corporate management and equity investment. The ESG commitment, which does not necessarily appear on corporate balance sheets, shows increasingly in investors’ appraisals of companies. Thus ESG-linked stock indexes are increasingly influential in shaping equity investment.
The FTSE4Good Index Series and FTSE Blossom Japan Index are two of the many indexes developed and maintained by FTSE Russell*. The former is used by investors around the world as a benchmark index for their ESG-focused investments. The FTSE Blossom Japan Index was established as an industry-neutral index that reflects the performance of Japanese companies that demonstrate strong ESG practices. It is one of four indexes selected by Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) to guide its ESG investments.
A commitment to addressing ESG issues is central to management strategy at Yokohama. The company will continue striving to fulfil that commitment by working to achieve sustainable growth and to maximise corporate value over the medium and long terms.
*FTSE Russell, a wholly owned subsidiary of the London Stock Exchange Group, is a major global index provider engaged in the creation and administration of investment-oriented indexes.