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JCP earns two sustainability honors

-- Home Textiles Today, 10/22/2009 1:36:00 PM

Plano, Texas -- J. C. Penney Company Inc. has earned two eco honors recently -- named to the 2009 Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) of the leading companies in North America for corporate sustainability, and ranked as No. 44 in Newsweek magazine’s inaugural Green Rankings, which selected the 500 “Greenest Big Companies in America.”

“Being named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and included in Newsweek’s first Green Rankings is welcome recognition for the work being done by our associates across the company to incorporate sustainable practices into our business,” said Mike Ullman III, JCP chairman and ceo. “Operating in an environmentally and socially responsible manner benefits our business, our customers and our communities, and it’s integral to achieving our goal to become America’s preferred place to shop.”

The DJSI North America selects the top 20% of companies in sustainability performance from the 600 largest companies in North America. Launched in 1999, the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes are said to be the first global indexes tracking the financial performance of the leading sustainability-driven companies worldwide. They are made to provide asset managers with reliable and objective benchmarks to manage sustainability portfolios. According to Dow Jones, corporate sustainability leaders achieve long-term shareholder value by “gearing their strategies and management to harness the market’s potential for sustainability products and services while successfully reducing and avoiding sustainability costs and risks.”

Newsweek magazine worked with leading environmental researchers KLD Research & Analytics, Trucost, and CorporateRegister.com to rank the 500 largest U.S. companies based on their actual environmental performance, policies, and reputation.

JCP said its sustainability efforts build on the mid-tier department store’s corporate social responsibility platform – JCPenney C.A.R.E.S., which stands for “Community, Associates, Responsible Sourcing, Environment and Sustainable Products.” Central to these efforts, the retailer noted, is the involvement of JCP’s150,000 associates in carrying out a wide range of initiatives that deliver both environmental and business benefits, including energy management, transportation, recycling, renewable energy and building greener structures.

In related news, JCPenney is one of several companies selected to participate in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Net-Zero Energy Commercial Building Initiative to achieve cost-effective energy savings through innovation.

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