By Lena Babaeva Coradini

Verizon has been added to the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index, which tracks the "financial performance of the leading sustainability-driven companies worldwide."

Verizon has been added to the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index, which lists North America's leading companies as measured by governance, social and environmental performance. Verizon is the only telecommunications company in the U.S. to be named to the index.

The DJSI North America tracks the financial performance of the top 20 percent, in terms of sustainability, of the 600 biggest North American companies in the Dow Jones Global Total Stock Market Index.  Top performers are evaluated by a variety of criteria including operational eco-efficiency, environmental reporting, codes of conduct, corporate citizenship, standards for suppliers and corporate governance. The annual review accounts for general as well as industry-specific sustainability criteria for each of 58 sectors defined according to the Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB).