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Akzo Nobel NV (AMS:AKZA) AkzoNobel has been ranked as one of the chemicals industry leaders on the prestigious Dow Jones Sustainability World Indexes (DJSI), underlining the company's ongoing commitment to improving its sustainability performance. The latest rankings - published today - reveal that AkzoNobel has achieved a leading position on the influential index having scored 86 percent, just 1 percent behind new sector leaders BASF. AkzoNobel topped the index in 2007 and has now been listed for the last four years.
"We congratulate BASF and are pleased to see that other companies are taking sustainability as seriously as ourselves," said AkzoNobel CEO Hans Wijers. "It's important to point out, however, that while being ranked as one of the industry leaders provides welcome recognition for our efforts, the continual improvement of our sustainability performance is not driven by the desire to top rankings or win awards.
"We are committed to doing business in a sustainable way because it is crucial to our economic future and the success of our customers. So we will continue striving for excellence and will keep improving, knowing that as one of the industry leaders we are certainly on the right track."
Earlier this year, the company carried out a sustainability assessment of its entire product portfolio, which revealed that 18 percent of AkzoNobel's turnover was generated by so-called eco-premium solutions (competitively priced premium products offering superior performance, with greater environmental benefits than current mainstream alternatives). The company intends to increase this figure to 30 percent by 2015.
Regarded as one of the world's foremost sustainability indices, the DJSI World Index benchmarks the sustainability performance of leading companies based on environmental, social and economic performance, including forward-looking indicators. ---- Note to editors - not for publication AkzoNobel is proud to be one of the world's leading industrial companies. Based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, we make and supply a wide range of paints, coatings and specialty chemicals - pro forma 2007 revenue totaled €14.4 billion. In fact, we are the largest global paints and coatings company. As a major producer of specialty chemicals we supply industries worldwide with quality ingredients for life's essentials. We think about the future, but act in the present. We're passionate about introducing new ideas and developing sustainable answers for our customers. That's why our 60,000 employees - who are based in more than 80 countries - are committed to excellence and delivering Tomorrow's Answers Today(TM).
Not for publication - for more information AkzoNobel Corporate Media Relations, tel. +31 20 502 7833 Contact: Holger Ebbighausen
