Economy

Metric launched to help investors compare sustainability of firms

Published

12 years ago

March 20, 2013

Blue & Green Tomorrow

A collaborative project by sustainable investment specialists RobecoSAM and climate change reporting platform the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) is set to make it easier for investors to compare information about different companies’ sustainability.

RobecoSAM, which recently co-developed the Dow Jones Sustainability Emerging Markets Index, will be asking businesses about climate change and their environmental impact, in order to rank their sustainability data.

This strategy is similar to that of CDP, which aims to measure and disclose environmental information, particularly regarding greenhouse gas emissions.

CDP’s CEO Paul Simpson said, “This is an important response to market demand. Both the business and investment communities have called for a more harmonised approach to sustainability reporting and for more comparable data.

“It will now be easier to incorporate climate risk, opportunity and governance into evaluations of corporate progress on sustainability.”

The partnership will also provide new tools to develop more areas of environmental assessment.

Currently, more than 1,400 companies report their environmental strategies to CDP, while RobecoSAM has assessed over 2,000 about their sustainability.

Daniel Wild, head of research at RobecoSAM, commented on the alliance: “We are natural partners given our mutual focus on sustainability issues that are financially material for investors who are focused on identifying innovative companies that are well-positioned for the long-term.

“In aligning our environmental data collection approaches we hope to lessen the burden on companies that currently have to submit similar data to both CDP and RobecoSAM.”