Investors increasingly take into account information about companies' climate change strategy to support their investment decisions. To this end, Ethos and the Raiffeisen Group are conducting a survey on CO2 reduction among the hundred largest listed companies in Switzerland. This survey in the framework of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) - the largest international group of shareholders worldwide – is being conducted in Switzerland for the fourth time.
The data collected from listed companies by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) provide investors with significant information towards their investment decisions. This is why the Ethos Foundation and the Raiffeisen Group are joining forces to actively support the CDP 2010 Swiss edition. Ethos and Raiffeisen are encouraging listed companies to participate in the survey and to communicate the measures taken to reduce CO2 in a transparent fashion.
Climate change is a strategic issue for the economy, the environment and society. Today more and more companies are actively committing themselves to reduce their adverse impact on the climate and are willing to disclose their related strategy and performance. The responses given to the CDP questionnaire represent a major opportunity for these companies to strengthen both their environmental responsibility and their reputation.
The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) is the largest international group of investors supporting an annual survey on listed companies' climate strategy. The CDP brings together 534 institutional investors with assets under management of over USD 63,000 billion.
Since 2002, the CDP has been aimed at the 500 largest companies worldwide. In 2007, the fifty Swiss companies included in the SMI Expanded index were invited for the first time to answer the questionnaire. In 2008 and 2009, the universe was extended to the hundred biggest Swiss capitalisations. The survey will be conducted again in the first half of 2010. Responses will be the subject of an analysis whose findings will be presented in autumn 2010 as part of a report published by the Ethos Foundation and the Raiffeisen Group.
In Switzerland, the survey is conducted jointly by Ethos and Raiffeisen. This first involvement of the Raiffeisen Group in the CDP initiative further strengthens ties between Raiffeisen and Ethos, which already cooperate in the framework of the Raiffeisen Pension Invest Futura 50 Fund. This is the first Raiffeisen investment product to exercise shareholder voting rights according to Ethos' recommendations.
