issues . please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages this article relies too much on references to primary sources . please improve this by adding secondary or tertiary sources . november 2011 learn how and when to remove this template message this article relies largely or entirely upon a single source . relevant discussion may be found on the talk page . please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources . november 2011 this article contains content that is written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . november 2011 learn how and when to remove this template message learn how and when to remove this template message robecosam ag sustainability investing type subsidiary industry financial services founded 1995 headquarters zurich switzerland products asset management indices private equity number of employees 120 parent robeco website www.robecosam.com robecosam is an international investment company with a specific focus on sustainability investments . 1 the company is based in zurich switzerland and considers economic environmental and social criteria in its investment strategies . in addition to asset management the company has an indexes and private equity portion of the business . 2 robecosam has a series of products based on themes such as water energy climate agriculture and healthy living . 3 in 2006 robecosam introduced a division called sustainability services that provides sustainability benchmarking reports to companies . 4 in 2001 robecosam became the first carbon neutral company in switzerland . 5 contents 1 history 1.1 timeline 2 operations 3 asset management 4 clean tech private equity 5 sustainability services 6 sam research 7 corporate sustainability assessment 8 awards 9 memberships 10 sustainability leadership awards 11 see also 12 references 13 external links history edit the company was founded by reto ringger in 1995 as the world s first investment company focused solely on sustainability themes . 6 the headquarters are in zurich switzerland and robecosam has approximately 100 employees . 7 its parent company is the dutch based robeco which is a subsidiary of rabobank . timeline edit 1995 reto ringger founds sam 1999 sam and dow jones launch the dow jones sustainability indexes 2001 first global sustainable water fund launched sam sustainable water fund 2001 sam becomes first carbon neutral company in switzerland 2003 sam smart energy fund launched 8 2006 acquired by robeco 2009 integration of sam clean tech private equity at sam s headquarters 2010 sam named sri sustainable investment manager of the year 9 by financial news 2010 robeco switzerland merges with sam 10 2011 sam smart energy fund named best clean energy fund by investment week 11 2011 sam manages sam sustainable agribusiness equities fund and sam sustainable european equities fund 12 2012 sam named sustainable investor of the year by the financial times and the international finance corporation 13 2013 sam becomes robecosam operations edit the company s assets under management and advice amount to about usd 11.5 billion as of june 30 2012 . 14 the main areas of business are asset management indexes private equity and sustainability services company benchmarking reports . 15 in 1999 robecosamand dow jones indexes came together to produce the world s first family of sustainability indexes called the dow jones sustainability indexes djsi . 16 in 2012 s & p indices and dow jones indexes merged to form s & p dow jones indices . 17 sam now works with s & p dow jones indices to produce the djsi . the djsi are constructed according to the best in class approach and track the performance of global leaders in sustainability . companies are chosen for the index based on an assessment of their economic environmental and social practices . 18 the dow jones sustainability index family includes 14 dow jones sustainability world index dow jones sustainability europe index dow jones sustainability north america index dow jones sustainability asia pacific index dow jones sustainability korea index asset management edit the asset management business is based purely on investing in sustainable companies . although sam refers to it as sustainability investing this is often referred to in the mainstream as socially responsible investing sri . sustainable investing is based on the assumption that financial markets represent a powerful mechanism to promote sustainable business practices . proponents of sustainable investing say that integrating sustainability considerations into investment decisions can lead to superior risk adjusted returns over the long term . 19 sam has theme strategies based on major sustainability trends such as water energy materials agribusiness and climate . it also has core regional products such as a sustainable global active fund and a sustainable european equities fund . 20 the sam sustainable water fund received a lot of recognition as it was one of the first of its kind to be launched in 2001 . 21 in 2011 it celebrated its 10th anniversary . 22 clean tech private equity edit sam houses the clean tech private equity team of its parent company robeco which is a member of orix . 23 the concept of clean tech investing is based on a world that is characterized by rapid population growth finite natural resources high prices and material shortages ; all of which call for more efficient production processes . investments include products services and processes across industry verticals that are designed to improve the productive and responsible use of natural resources greatly reduce or eliminate environmental damage and provide superior performance at lower costs . 24 sam clean tech private equity invests in sustainable private equity through co investments in unlisted companies or through private equity fund of funds . since 2004 they have been integrating the esg framework into investment process . the united nations principles for responsible investment indicated that sam clean tech private equity is a leader in integrating esg into the investment process as well as into its ownership policies and practices . 25 26 in 2010 investment & pensions europe ipe named sam private equity as the most responsible european private equity investor . 27 the table below demonstrates some examples of clean tech sectors and technologies sectors clean technology examples energy generation wind solar hydro marine biofuels geothermal clean coal technologies coal bed methane energy storage fuel cells advanced batteries hybrid systems energy infrastructure management smart grids transmission energy efficiency lighting buildings glass escos combined heat & power transportation structures fuels hydrogen highways biofuel distribution electric vehicles vehicle sharing water & wastewater water treatment water conservation wastewater treatment desalination air & environment cleanup safety emissions control monitoring compliance carbon capture sox nox removal materials nano bio chemical manufacturing industrial advanced packaging monitoring & control smart production agriculture natural pesticides land management aquaculture recycling & waste recycling waste treatment sustainability services edit in 2006 sam founded a sustainability services division . sustainability services provides company benchmarking reports 28 that provide companies with details about their individual sustainability performance as well as a peer group comparison . 29 companies can see their strengths and weaknesses mapped against sustainability criterion and compared to best practice examples . 30 sam research edit sam s asset management index and sustainability services are all rooted in its proprietary in house research division . the financial analysts generate stock recommendations based on a combination of financial sustainability criteria . the research team develops the methodology for the annual corporate sustainability assessment that is used to determine the dow jones sustainability index . 31 sam research has been analyzing companies along sustainability metrics since 1995 and has developed one of the largest global corporate sustainability databases . the research department often collaborates with academia to share the valuable data from this proprietary database . ongoing collaborations include projects with eth and iese business school . corporate sustainability assessment edit the corporate sustainability assessment is an industry specific questionnaire that is sent out to the 2 500 largest corporations . accordingly sam annually assesses around 2 000 of the world s largest companies over 58 market sectors and determines their respective sustainability rating . 32 the assessment examines companies based on environmental social and corporate governance factors esg factors which serve as the primary basis for determining a company s level of sustainability and subsequent global impact . 33 the questionnaire has a focus on long term sustainability topics that are relevant to each industry including human capital brands and innovation . some of the sectors they look at include airlines communication technology beverages auto parts & tires waste & disposal services and electricity . 34 after the assessment each participating company receives a peer benchmarking analysis . 35 the family of dow jones sustainability index are based on the results of the corporate sustainability assessment . 31 much of the data derived from the corporate sustainability assessment is used in sam s financial analysis . the data is integrated into the valuation models . full integration of sustainability into valuation analysis is a differing approach to using data as a sustainability overlay . advocates of the integration approach state that it is a more accurate reflection of the companies value as it takes into account the various ways in which sustainability factors affect different business models and cost structures . 36 37 also from the results of the corporate sustainability assessment sam produces a sustainability yearbook 34 in which they announce the companies that have been ranked as sustainability sector leaders and or sector movers . they also give a small number of companies a classification of gold silver or bronze to recognize their added commitment to sustainability issues . 38 sector leaders in the past have included adidas bmw nokia panasonic pepsico pirelli and rolls royce group plc. sector movers in the past have included air france fiat hormel ibm mitsubishi and starbucks . awards edit best climate change fund 2010 the sam sustainable climate fund was awarded the best climate change fund by investment week 39 sri sustainable investment manager of the year award 2010 awarded by financial news in october 2010 . 40 tbli best asset manager investing in esg 2008 2009 awarded by ipe tbli group esg leaders awards 41 memberships edit sam is a member of the following organizations 42 pri principles for responsible investment 43 eurosif european social investment forum 44 ceres investors and environmentalists for sustainable prosperity asria the association for sustainable & responsible investment in asia 45 sustainability leadership awards edit in 2001 sam and sustainable performance group spg 46 founded the sustainability leadership award . the award ran from 2001 2010 and was presented annually to a chosen sustainability leader and pioneer . 47 it was founded under the belief that individuals who place a great importance and effort to promote sustainability in the workplace should be publicly recognized . 48 previous award winners include 2001 ray anderson founder and ceo interface inc. 2002 dr. michael otto chairman of the board of directors otto and jos maria figueres olsen former president of costa rica founder of costa rica foundation for sustainable development 2003 tessa tennant executive chair asria 2004 antony burgmans chairman unilever and robin cornelius founder and ceo of switcher sa 2005 lars rebien s rensen chairman and ceo of novo nordisk and bob welsh ceo vicsuper 2006 travis engen alcan and jeremy leggett solarcentury 2007 yogesh chander deveshwar chairman of itc ltd. and david johnston founder and president of what s working inc. 2008 yvon chouinard patagonia inc. and l. hunter lovins natural capitalism inc. natural capitalism solutions 2009 peter bakker ceo of tnt and dr. ashok gadgil professor for environmental technology at the university of california berkeley see also edit dow jones sustainability index dow jones indexes references edit who are robecosam . retrieved march 13 2012 . sam founding voting member asria association for sustainable and responsible investment in asia