RBC among "Fabulous 50 Climate Leaders" worldwide
TORONTO, July 20, 2004 - RBC Financial Group (RBC) is among 50 large companies worldwide that have been recognized as leaders in understanding and addressing climate change issues. The ranking was carried out as part of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), an initiative sponsored by 95 leading institutional investors - including Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, CI Funds, UBS and Merrill Lynch - that collectively manage $10-trillion in assets. These institutional investors share a common desire to know the degree to which large companies are exposed to climate change risks, and how they are managing them.
To date, the CDP has sent out information requests for 2002 and 2003 to the 500 largest companies in the world measured by market capitalization. The project assesses a company's governance and strategy with respect to managing climate change issues, its ability to measure and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and its capability to quantify both the competitive and financial costs and benefits of these actions.
In addition to being a climate leader, the CDP 2003 report ranked RBC as a global leader in the banking sector and states that RBC has a "superior awareness of climate change risks and opportunities."
In the banking sector, climate change risks are associated with credit exposure to certain energy-intensive and natural resource-based industries, as well as unpredictable energy costs for corporate real estate. The most recent CDP results recognize RBC's efforts on several fronts, including: developing a strategy to eventually incorporate "carbon risk" within borrower risk assessments; managing a growing alternative energy portfolio that includes more than 20 wind farms and a $50 million alternative energy technology venture fund; and implementing energy efficiency and green power purchasing programs for RBC's corporate real estate.
More information on:
|
