Climate change has become a major concern among leading US financial institutions and companies, according to a report to be issued today by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), a coalition of global investors with more than $31.5 trillion in assets.
On behalf of its 225 signatory investors, CDP on February 1st 2006 requested information on corporate risks and opportunities associated with climate change from more than 2,000 companies globally including the world’s 500 largest publicly-owned companies (FT500).
The institutional investors represented by CDP will receive the companies’ answers and CDP’s fourth annual report (CDP4) on the FT500 companies’ responses written by Innovest Strategic Value Advisors. The report was released today at an event hosted by Merrill Lynch and held at their headquarters in New York.
The $31.5 trillion in assets behind CDP4 represents an increase of over $10 trillion (50%) from the $21 trillion behind the prior report (CDP3) in 2005. Much of the increase is the result of US financial giants AIG, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley joining Merrill Lynch, and other US institutional investors, to become CDP signatories.
James Cameron, Chairman of the CDP said: “The findings of CDP4 confirm that awareness of the risks and opportunities posed by climate change has risen dramatically among investors and the companies they own. But awareness alone will not drive the changes in investment and corporate strategy needed if disastrous climate change is to be avoided, for that investors will have to put the CDP data to work.”
Full details on CDP, the CDP reports, and the responses from corporations can be found at the following website:
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