Firms join to make socially conscious indexes

KLD Research & Analytics Inc. and FTSE Group today announced a strategic partnership designed to offer a comprehensive offering of environmental, social and governance research and indexes. Under the partnership, London-based FTSE will collaborate with Boston-based KLD on the conception, design and worldwide marketing of co-branded ESG indexes, which screen companies around the world to determine their stances on social and environmental issues. “Our partnership with FTSE is a milestone for the practice of [socially conscious] and ESG investment worldwide,” KLD president Peter D. Kinder said in a statement. “FTSE’s global reach and expertise will enable more investors and managers to integrate KLD’s indexes into their strategies — both as benchmarks and as the basis for investment products.” “This partnership demonstrates FTSE’s commitment to expand its responsible investment offering for investors,” Jerry Moskowitz, president of San Francisco-based FTSE Americas, said in a statement.