Sodexo's commitment to sustainability has been recognised for efforts and results in social, environmental and economic performance at the World Economic Forum 2013 in Davos with three awards: Sector Leader, Gold Class, and Sector Mover.

The RobecoSAM Sustainability Yearbook is regarded as the world's most comprehensive publication on corporate sustainability performance. These three distinctions recognise Sodexo's strong performance in social, and environmental practices.

Sodexo earned the highest overall score in its business sector, 82 percent (compared to a sector average of 47). Sodexo was the only company in its sector to attain Gold Class status and was named Sector Mover, having achieved the largest improvement in its sustainability performance compared to last year. Sodexo earned the best score in economic and social elements and was highly ranked in the environment category.

Since its founding, Sodexo has recognised its opportunity and responsibility to contribute to the economic, social and environmental development of the cities, regions and countries where it operates. From this fundamental, the company created 'The Better Tomorrow Plan,' a set of measured, actionable objectives that span a wide range of efforts ranging from reduction in waste and energy use to building a massive global supply chain that sources locally whenever possible.

“Earning the top rank in our sector is particularly gratifying because of our strong achievements in each of the three areas, social, environment and economic, that makes up this recognition,” said Damien Verdier, Sodexo Executive Committee member for Sustainable Development. “For Sodexo, sustainable development is more than what we do; it is who we are and how we engage with our clients, customers, suppliers and communities.”

To create the rankings, sustainability factors are weighted based on particulars of the business sector. For Sodexo, the social pillar represents the majority of the total score. Sodexo's industry leading performance in this area, particularly in light of its large number of employees (420,000) and the decentralised nature of its business (34,000 client sites in 80 countries) is particularly impressive.

The most recent employee survey from 2012, covering 130,000 people working in 60 countries and carried out by an independent consultancy, showed that 85 percent reported a preference to work for Sodexo over its competitors, and overall employee engagement has increased nine percentage points in the last four years. For more about Sodexo's commitments as an employer, visit http://onlinereportsfy2012.sodexo.com/better-tomorrow-plan-report/.

Methodology
This yearbook is published by RobecoSAM (http://www.robecosam.com), a leading asset management company focusing on sustainability funds and the international accounting firm KPMG. Each year more than 2,000 companies are evaluated for inclusion in the yearbook, using up to 120 financial, environmental, social and economic indicators to evaluate companies in eight sectors.

For more information on RobecoSAM's Sustainability Yearbook visit: http://www.robecosam.com/yearbook.

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