Investors must play a key role in building a greener future

More investors must send strong signals to the market over the importance of a company’s environmental record in making investment decisions, Climate Change Minister Joan Ruddock said today.

Ms Ruddock, who opened a Carbon Disclosure Project launch in London today, emphasised the vital role played by investors in turning companies green.

Ms Ruddock said: “It is imperative for Government and businesses to work closely together to question our practices, challenge them and, more importantly, make business choices that reflect the importance of a low carbon economy.

“Investors have a particularly key role to play in this. They should give consideration to environmental and social credentials, sending out signals to the financial markets to say that carbon disclosure is vital and show companies that it will affect their investment decisions. Together we must work to drive down emissions.”

The Carbon Disclosure Project, now celebrating its seventh year, encourages transparency and accountability in business by calling for leading companies to disclose information on how they measure, report and manage greenhouse gas emissions.

The project is gathering pace and popularity with 2007 seeing the greatest response rate to date with 91% of FTSE100 and 70% of FTSE350 supplying information.