Blue chips asked to disclose climate change risks

A group of 284 institutional investors with assets of $41 trillion under management is writing to 2,400 of the largest quoted companies in the world by market capitalisation, asking for disclosure of investment-relevant information concerning the risks and opportunities facing these companies due to climate change.

This is the fifth such request by investors participating in the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). CDP hosts the largest registry of corporate greenhouse gas data in the world at www.cdproject.net.

This fifth request, on behalf of $41 trillion assets under management represents more than one third of total global invested assets and is a marked increase from the $4.5 trillion that participated in the first CDP request in 2002.

Commenting on the latest information request, Paul Dickinson, the project coordinator, said: "The increasing body of evidence confirming climate change is accelerating and is linked to human behaviour, makes it clearer than ever that investors and other stakeholders require standardised information regarding the business risks and opportunities presented to corporations by climate change. Given CDP is the largest source of such information, with 960 corporations answering CDP questions last year, we are delighted to help the investment community once again secure updated information in a comparable format that adds value for them, via a single-request mechanism that is efficient for the corporations."

Corporations that previously provided responses are invited to report progress. Companies that previously did not respond are requested to do so, or to provide a reason why they do not believe the request is relevant to their business. Last year 72 percent of the FT500 answered the CDP information request and these responses along with reports analysing them can be downloaded free of charge at www.cdproject.net

The request focuses upon the following issues that CDP has developed in conjunction with many signatory investors, recipient corporations and other experts:

-Regulatory risk/opportunity (e.g. limits on emissions)
-Physical risk/opportunity (e.g. changes in weather patterns impacting operations)
-Consumer sentiment risk/opportunity (e.g. reputation)
-Total company wide global greenhouse gas emissions
-Steps taken to manage and reduce emissions.

As in previous years the recipient corporations have been asked to respond within four months. The information received will be summarised in various regional and sector reports and distributed to participating institutional investors and responding corporations. These reports will be made publicly available from September 2007.

The request has been sent to the following companies:
-500 of the largest companies globally (FT 500)
-500 of the largest companies in the USA (S&P 500)
-350 of the largest companies in the UK (FTSE 350)
-250 of the largest electric utilities globally
-200 of the largest companies in Germany
-200 of the largest companies in Canada
-150 of the largest companies in Japan
-150 of the largest companies in Australia and New Zealand
-125 of the largest companies in Scandinavia
-120 of the largest companies in France
-100 of the largest companies in the transport sector globally
-100 of the largest companies in India
-80 of the largest companies in Asia ex-Japan
-60 of the largest companies in Brazil
-50 of the largest companies in Switzerland
-40 of the largest companies in South Africa
-40 of the largest companies in Italy (S&P/MIB)
This initiative has been coordinated by the Carbon Disclosure Project, a special project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors in New York.

•Date: 1st February 2007 • Region: World •Type: Article •Topic: Operational risk
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