The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), a coalition of nearly 300 faith-based institutional investors representing over $100 billion in invested capital announced today that they have used data from Trucost, an independent environmental data company with offices in London, New York, and Boston, to compile independent “climate risk profiles” on more than 150 corporations- from Abbott Laboratories to Yum!
Brands – that are the subjects of 2009 shareholder resolutions filed by faith-based investors, public pension funds and other responsible investors. The shareholder resolutions cover a wide range of issues, including climate change, and were filed with companies in all sectors of the economy.
The climate change indicators for the companies were developed using data from Trucost, which maintains the world’s largest record of greenhouse gas emissions, as well as over 700 environmental indicators including water use, waste disposal and pollutants that cause smog and acid rain.
Each of the “climate risk profiles” takes into account whether or not a company discloses the greenhouse gas emissions from its operations and the percentage of the company’s deviation in GHG emissions from the sector average compared to its closest industry peers. For companies that do not disclose GHG emissions, Trucost calculates their emissions based on its research and methodology.
Examples of the top and bottom performers in three sectors are highlighted below:
– Chemicals – Chemtura Corp. (top) and Dow Chemical Company (bottom).
– Financial Services – Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (top) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (bottom).
– Technology – Google Inc. (top) and Intel Corporation (bottom).
The basic “climate risk profile” provides information on more than 150 companies and is available online at ICCR’s web-site.
“We are very excited to launch these climate risk profiles with the ICCR based on Trucost’s leading environmental research,” says James Salo, vice president of Strategy and Research, Trucost. “The profiles provide an essential starting point for investors to learn about the climate risks and opportunities that exist within their portfolios.”
“We believe that every company has an obligation to reduce its GHG emissions and the risk they pose to investors, society and the Creation,” says Leslie Lowe, director, Energy and the Environment program, ICCR. “ICCR’S goals in publishing the climate risk profiles are to: increase awareness among institutional and individual investors of climate risk in their portfolios and identify companies that are “best in sector” and the available options for investors to reduce their carbon exposure without changing sector diversification strategies.”
“We also hope to provide an empirical basis for assessing corporate efforts to reduce climate risk and to end ‘greenwashing’ about global warming. Investors need greater transparency from corporations about their GHG footprint and what they are doing to reduce climate risk and to enhance investor value by becoming cleaner and greener. Identifying companies that lag their sector peers may generate pressure on those companies from investors,consumers and policy makers to reduce GHG emissions.”
“As institutional investors representing faith-based organizations, ICCR’s members have consistently been at the vanguard of the corporate social responsibility movement,” says Laura Berry, executive director, ICCR. “For nearly 40 years, ICCR members have worked to transform the corporate world. By identifying areas where changes in corporate behavior are necessary, ICCR works with partners like Trucost to develop practical approaches to monitor improvement.”
“These tools can be used to demonstrate that progress is — or is not — being made. By holding corporations accountable through sophisticated yet easy-to-use tools such as these climate risk profiles based on Trucost data, ICCR members continue to make significant contributions to global justice and sustainability.”
L.D.