Within the framework of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), the Ethos Foundation and Pictet Asset Management present the results of a survey of the 50 largest Swiss listed companies' climate change strategy. An analysis of the results reveals that while most of the companies have started to integrate climate change issues, the initiatives they take are still limited to production and do not extend to the companies' entire value chain.
The CDP's 315 members (which include Ethos and Pictet AM), with over USD 41 trillion in assets under management, are the largest shareholder group worldwide. The CDP's aim is to evaluate the impact of climate change on shareholder value. Every year since 2002 it has sent the world's largest listed companies a detailed questionnaire on climate change-related risks and opportunities for their businesses. The data collected constitute the largest database on corporate strategies regarding greenhouse gas emissions. In September 2007, the CDP published its fifth annual global report enabling investors and companies to obtain a better understanding of the financial consequences of climate change for the 500 largest publicly traded companies in the world (of which 11 are Swiss).
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Few Swiss companies were able to provide all the information requested, but the rate of participation was nevertheless particularly satisfying, with 78% (39 companies out of 50) responding. Only the United Kingdom and Brazil have done better.
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Of the companies that responded:
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77% consider that climate change involves risks;
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72% consider that climate change also affords opportunities;
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69% have put in place a climate change strategy;
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46% have set greenhouse gas reduction targets.
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Swiss companies show that they are attuned and open to dialogue on the climate change issue. The data collected are nevertheless incomplete. The emission reduction targets are in some cases ambitious but generally relate only to production, not to the company's entire value chain or to the life cycle of its products.
