Kinder, Lydenberg, Domini and Russell/Mellon Analytical Services jointly will market a new family of KLD social indexes based on those developed by Frank Russell. KLD’s index family now consists of three benchmarks: KLD Large Cap Social index, based on the Russell 1000; KLD Broad Market Social index, based on the Russell 3000; and the Domini 400 Social index. KLD soon will introduce a screened Russell 2000 index and several custom indexes. All are available for licensing.
KLD will apply two social screens to companies within the index. An exclusionary screen eliminates companies involved in gambling, alcohol, nuclear power, tobacco and military contracting. A qualitative screen judges a company’s strength or weakness on matters of the environment, community involvement, work force diversity, non-U.S. working conditions and product safety and quality.
Russell/Mellon will provide performance analytics on the socially screened portfolios.
