CDP announces New Zealand’s top ranking listed companies on climate change

CDP has announced the companies in the NZX 50 that achieved the highest level of climate performance and disclosure in 2015.

CDP’s scoring partner FirstCarbon Solutions applied CDP’s scoring methodologies and independently scored climate disclosures made by NZX 50 companies through CDP again this year. The combined market capitalisation of the 15 NZX 50 companies which responded to CDP’s climate change investor information request in 2015 represent 79% of the total market capitalisation of the NZX 50.

One New Zealand company made CDP’s 2015 Climate A List – Kiwi Property Group.

“Kiwi Property Group is to be congratulated for its achievement in being the only NZ company included on CDP’s 2015 Climate A List, which comprises those companies identified as A grade for their actions to mitigate climate change. Only 113 companies in total made the A List this year out of nearly 2,000 companies globally that submitted information to be independently assessed against CDP’s climate scoring methodologies,” said James Day, CDP’s Australia & NZ Director.

The top companies in the CDP 2015 NZX 50 Climate Disclosure Leadership Index, along with their CDP climate disclosure scores, are ANZ (100), Westpac (100), Auckland International Airport (99), Kiwi Property Group (93), Kathmandu Holdings (93), Warehouse Group (93), and Fletcher Building (93).

CDP climate scores are comprised of two elements:

• A CDP climate disclosure score assesses the completeness and quality of a company’s response, and is presented as a number out of 100.

• A CDP climate performance band assesses the level of action, as reported by the company, on climate change mitigation, adaptation and transparency, and is presented as a band from A-E, with an A being the highest.

CDP’s corporate climate leadership indices and the scoring system which underpins them have been independently ranked as the most credible corporate environmental ranking system in the world (GlobeScan (2013), The 2013 Ratings Survey).

“Institutional investors around the world are on the lookout for companies with strong climate change and sustainability credentials as numerous studies have shown that they financially outperform their peers,” Mr Day said.

“CDP research in 2014 found that CDP climate ‘A-listers’ outperform the Bloomberg World Index by 9.6%.[1]”

“The low response rate from NZ’s electric utilities to CDP’s 2015 climate change investor information request is particularly surprising, as NZ has one of the cleanest and lowest carbon intensity electricity grids in the world due to its high uptake of hydro, geothermal, wind and other forms of renewable energy.”

“These utilities have a great story to tell investors and other stakeholders around the world and we hope that all of them will be responding to CDP’s climate change investor information request in 2016 and telling investors what climate change means for their business.”

Largest non-responding companies

Some of the largest companies that did not respond to CDP’s climate change investor information request in 2015 included Fonterra Shareholders Fund, Contact Energy, Mighty River Power, Vector, Air New Zealand, TrustPower, Port Of Tauranga, Meridian Energy, Genesis Energy, Xero, Z Energy and Infratil.

“While Fonterra did not respond to CDP’s climate change investor information request in 2015, Fonterra did report through CDP’s supply chain program this year, and indicated that they would be responding to CDP’s climate change investor information request in 2016,” Mr Day said.

ENDS

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