External benchmarking

External benchmarking is an important means of evaluating our performance and understanding better the demands of sustainable development.

We continue to use the insights we gain from external surveys to develop our approach in line with best practice on a global basis.

DOW JONES SUSTAINABILITY INDEXES (DJSI)

A member of the DJSI since 2001, we are currently ranked amongst the sustainability leaders in the pharmaceuticals sector and are members of both the DJSI World (the top 10% of the biggest 2,500 companies) and the DJSI STOXX (European).

This year we regained the place we lost in 2005 in the European Index (where competition for places is increasingly fierce) and significantly improved our overall score in the social dimension. However, we lost ground in some environmental and economic dimensions and these areas are a focus of our 2009 improvement planning.

The DJSI is a performance indicator used by our Board and SET to assess progress against our strategic objective of promoting a culture of responsibility and accountability and remains an important measurement tool for us for 2009 onwards.

About DJSI  

DJSI defines corporate sustainability as a business approach to create long-term shareholder value by embracing opportunities and managing risks deriving from economic, environmental and social developments. The selection of companies for the indexes is based on a best in class approach and the aim of the assessment is to identify the best companies in each industry in terms of economic, environmental and social criteria (a total of 25 criteria). The index family covers a set of global benchmarks comprising the world's leading companies (the DJSI World index) as well as a set of European (the DJSI STOXX / European index) and North American benchmarks.  Find out more about DJSI.

FTSE4GOOD

AstraZenecacontinues to be included in the FTSE4Good Index - an index series for socially responsible investment designed by FTSE, one of the world's leading global index providers. FTSE4Good is a series of benchmark and tradable indices facilitating investment in companies with good records of corporate social responsibility. Find out more about FTSE4GOOD.

The content above was externally assured by Bureau Veritas, February 2009.

SOME EXAMPLES OF EXTERNAL RECOGNITION

Here are some examples of the ways in which our stakeholders have chosen to recognise our commitment and performance in areas that are important to them and to us.

2009

AstraZeneca ranked among 2009 "world’s most ethical companies"

AstraZeneca named one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies by the Ethisphere Institute, in recognition of the company's commitment to ethical leadership and corporate responsibility. This is the third year that Ethisphere - a think-tank dedicated to the creation, advancement and sharing of best practices in business ethics, corporate responsibility, anti-corruption and sustainability - has published the World’s Most Ethical (WME) rankings. Through a detailed, multi-step evaluation process, Ethisphere’s researchers and analysts reviewed more than 10,000 companies in order to determine the finalists. Find out more.

AstraZeneca leads pharma sector in fight against climate change

AstraZeneca was the best performing company in a survey of sustainability practices in the pharmaceutical sector. The survey, carried out by non-profit organisation Climate Counts, evaluates the commitment of companies in four areas:

• Whether they have measured their carbon footprint
• If they have reduced their impact on global warming
• If they have supported or blocked climate legislation or policy
• To what level they have publicly disclosed their climate actions

We scored 76 out of 100 – one of only two pharmaceutical companies to rate above 70 in the survey, reflecting our commitment to minimising our impact on climate change.

AstraZeneca recognised for environmental stewardship by US government and Alliance for Workplace Excellence

AstraZeneca in the US has been recognised for its environmental stewardship by the US government and a national workplace organisation. First, the EPA (US Environmental Protection Agency) awarded Energy Star certification to our Newark and Westborough supply sites, making them among the first manufacturing facilities in the US to achieve a newly developed designation for pharmaceutical manufacturing. Then, the Alliance for Workplace Excellence named us as one of the winners of its prestigious EcoLeadership Award.

AstraZeneca up three places in 2009 Fortune World's Most Admired Companies listing

Each year Fortune Magazine publishes its "World’s Most Admired Companies" listing, which identifies those companies with the strongest reputations, according to the perceptions of financial analysts and the most senior executives and directors of Fortune 500 companies.
AstraZeneca performed strongly in the 2009 list, moving up three places in the pharmaceutical industry sector ranking to 7th place versus 10th place in 2008. Reflecting the improved overall ranking, we also ranked on average three places higher than last year on each of the individual dimensions.

AstraZeneca receives ‘commended’ for Global Coalition Business Excellence Awards

AstraZeneca was commended for its partnership effort with African Medical and Research Foundation. AstraZeneca and AMREF have partnered to develop and pilot a ground breaking model for integrated disease management in Uganda. The model builds the capacity of rural healthcare systems to effectively target HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria together. The partnership is improving healthcare infrastructure and training healthcare workers at all levels-from medical records assistants to lab technicians. Nearly 950 volunteer health workers are now active in 139 villages in central Uganda.