Revealed: The Swedish companies doing most to combat climate change

Companies are benefiting from taking action on climate change, see strong climate policy benefiting their businesses, and are seeking climate policy signals to support low-carbon investment. So finds analysis released today by CDP, an international NGO that drives sustainable economies.

The global research is published in The A List: The CDP Climate Performance Leadership Index 2014, which has been created at the request of 767 investors who represent more than a third of the world’s invested capital. CDP Nordic Report 2014 summarizes the Nordic results.

Information provided by nearly 2,000 listed companies globally has been independently assessed against CDP’s widely-respected scoring methodology and ranked accordingly. 157 Nordic companies were assessed, representing 85% of market capital on the Nordic exchanges. This year

• 17 Nordic companies reach the global A List, including 6 Swedish companies. This is a three-fold increase on last year and far greater increase than the global trend

• Nordic companies have a high proportional representation on the leader board

Globally 187 companies demonstrate a superior approach to climate change mitigation. Awarded an A grade for their performance, they earn a position on the first global ranking of corporate efforts to mitigate climate change. Furthermore, these companies illustrate that a low carbon future does not mean low profit. The global A List has outperformed the Bloomberg World Index by 9.6% in the last four years.

Swedish corporations in the A List are:

H&M Hennes & Mauritz AB

Oriflame Cosmetics AB

Elekta

Ericsson

Holmen

TeliaSonera

and AstraZeneca (British – Swedish)

The news follows a renewed political focus on climate commitments at the UN Secretary General’s Climate Summit in New York last month and a growing consensus on the scale of the economic threat of climate change.  Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson says climate change is, “the single biggest risk that exists to the economy today.”  Earlier this year Standard & Poor's Ratings Services stated that climate change will hit countries' economic growth rates and public finances.

Paul Simpson, chief executive officer of CDP, says: “The bottom line is at risk from the climate crisis.  The unprecedented environmental challenges that we confront today are also economic problems.  This irrefutable fact is filtering through to companies and investors”.

“The businesses that have made it onto our first ever global list of climate performance leaders are to be congratulated for their progress; they myth-bust economic arguments against reducing emissions.  However, global emissions continue to rise at an alarming rate.  Businesses and governments must raise their climate ambition.  The data shows that there is neither an excuse nor the time for lethargy.”

Steven Tebbe, Managing Director of CDP Europe, says: “European companies are at the forefront of global climate leadership, partly because of the EU’s historic political leadership in this area, and many of the largest EU companies want to see a strong, long-term policy signal going far into the future to drive long-term investments.”

CDP Nordic Report 2014 and The A List: CDP Climate Performance Leadership Index 2014 are available on CDP’s website from 9.00 CET.

Ends

About CDP

CDP is an international, not-for-profit organization providing the only global system for companies and cities to measure, disclose, manage and share vital environmental information.  CDP works with market forces, including 767 institutional investors with assets of US$92 trillion, to motivate companies to disclose their impacts on the environment and natural resources and take action to reduce them.  CDP now holds the largest collection globally of primary climate change, water and forest risk commodities information and puts these insights at the heart of strategic business, investment and policy decisions.  Please visit www.cdp.net or follow us @CDP to find out more.

For media information and interviews:

Emma Henningsson // Director, CDP Nordic // +46 705 145 726

Salla Huovinen // Project officer, CDP Nordic // +358 (0) 40 6501988