2016 ET CARBON RANKINGS REPORT
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY<br />
9<br />
Carbon Context<br />
The historic Paris Climate Agreement puts<br />
carbon risk on the agenda for all investors<br />
with the commitment to keep global<br />
temperature rises below 2 °C. It includes<br />
specific reference to ensuring that finance<br />
flows in alignment with the pathway towards<br />
low greenhouse gas emissions and climateresilient<br />
development.<br />
Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of<br />
England and chairman of the international<br />
Financial Stability Board (FSB), has warned<br />
that action to limit climate change could<br />
leave fossil fuels and other high-carbon<br />
investments as worthless stranded assets<br />
threatening investors with huge losses. 15<br />
A task force set up by the FSB is due to make<br />
recommendations in December <strong>2016</strong> on how<br />
asset owners and the companies they invest<br />
in should report on the potential impact of<br />
climate change on their bottom line.<br />
There is also growing awareness of the<br />
importance of reporting and reducing<br />
emissions across companies’ full value<br />
chain. Dell, Toyota and Unilever are among<br />
more than 200 companies worldwide that<br />
have signed up to the Science Based Targets<br />
initiative and pledged to reduce emissions<br />
in line with the global commitment to keep<br />
climate change below 2 °C. 16 This includes<br />
carrying out a full assessment of their Scope<br />
3 emissions.<br />
World leaders have committed to avoiding<br />
dangerous climate change. It is now vital<br />
for the world’s largest companies to show<br />
leadership on emissions accounting and<br />
reporting, and setting decarbonisation<br />
targets. Those that act will play an important<br />
part in achieving that goal. Those that fail to<br />
act risk seeing their businesses undermined<br />
by global action to cut carbon.<br />
The <strong>ET</strong> Carbon Rankings have three key objectives to support the transition to a<br />
low-carbon economy and a climate-secure world:<br />
1. They enable investors to identify<br />
their exposure to carbon risk and<br />
manage it by switching investment to<br />
more efficient companies across the<br />
economy or within sectors.<br />
2. They provide investors with an<br />
engagement tool that incentivises<br />
companies to reduce and disclose<br />
their carbon emissions.<br />
3. They underpin the <strong>ET</strong> Low Carbon<br />
and Fossil Free Index Series, allowing<br />
investors to closely track traditional<br />
market indexes such as the FTSE<br />
100 or S&P 500, achieving significant<br />
carbon reductions without sacrificing<br />
performance.<br />
“ As stated in the recent BlackRock Investment Institute paper ‘Adapting portfolios<br />
to climate change’, we think that incorporating climate considerations in the<br />
investment process should and can be a fiduciary duty. On top of this, low carbon<br />
indices have the potential to perform in line with or better than parent indices.”<br />
Isabelle Rucart, Head of Sustainable <strong>ET</strong>Fs & Index Investments, BlackRock<br />
<strong>2016</strong> <strong>CARBON</strong> <strong>RANKINGS</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong><br />
<strong>ET</strong> INDEX RESEARCH