Owens Corning, a building materials producer, has been named to the S&P's Dow Jones Sustainability Index for North America for a series of sustainability initiatives, including reducing emissions in its leased corporate sales fleet.

Owns Corning, which is based in Toledo, Ohio, develops and produces insulation, roofing, and fiberglass composites. The Fortune 500 company employs about 19,000 associates around the world. The company has previously appeared on the World sustainability index.

"We are honored to be recognized on the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for the ninth straight year and as the industry leader for the sixth year," said Mike Thaman, chairman and chief executive. "Our 19,000 employees continue to take action and drive real impact for the betterment of our business, employees, customers, partners, and the world around us."

In its most recent sustainability report, Owens Corning reported that it lowered emissions in its leased corporate fleet by 9.21% to 2,967 metric tons. The company reduced its overall emissions from five sources including leased corporate aircraft, process emissions, fossil fuel combustion, and foam blowing agent emissions by 3.29% to 2.49 million metric tons.

The company has also increased efforts to reduce business travel, including encouraging employees to take intermediate or compact cars to limit emissions.

This year, Owens Corning was one of 14 new companies added to the North American index. Other new additions include Alcoa Corp., Allstate Corp., Anthem Inc., Bank of Nova Scotia, General Mills Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Kohl's Corp., Las Vegas Sands Corp., MasterCard Inc., ON Semiconductor Corp., Salesforce.com, Schlumberger Ltd., and Waste Management Inc.

"Alcoa continually strives to create sustainable value in the communities where we operate, enhance the value of our products, and improve the environmental footprint of our operations," said Michelle O'Neill, senior vice president of global government affairs and sustainability. "Our inclusion in these distinctive indices is an important recognition for the work we complete across our global operations."

Each year, Dow Jones releases nine sustainability indices for various parts of the world that list corporations. The indices began in 1999 as a global benchmark to track the performance of the world's leading sustainability-driven companies based on financial, environmental, social, and governance factors.