Maplecroft launches US climate indexes

London, 28 January: Risk analysis firm Maplecroft has launched a family of indexes to track climate-related innovation and carbon management at some of the biggest companies in the US.

Alyson Warhurst, chief executive of UK-based Maplecroft, said the indexes “will empower investors to identify and direct capital towards companies that are both developing climate solutions and delivering sustained economic growth”.

The indexes aim to reflect “which US companies are best equipped to handle environmental policy changes”, Maplecroft said.

The Maplecroft Climate Innovation Indexes (CIIs) are drawn from a universe of around 800 US-listed companies with a market cap of more than $1 billion. These firms were screened based on their “engagement in public climate-related programmes”, leaving 318 companies that make up the Maplecroft CII Benchmark.

These 318 companies were then assessed and scored, based on information in the public domain and direct engagement with the firms, on their:

• innovation, or use of new technologies and initiatives that capitalise on climate-related market opportunities (50.0% of score);
• management, through principles, policies, targets, verification and supply chain processes (12.5%);
• mitigation of carbon emissions through policy responsiveness, partnerships and efficiency (12.5%);
• data trends relating to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and reporting scope (12.5%); and
• adaptation, modelling climate impacts and changing company strategy and operations (12.5%).

The Benchmark index is weighted based on the firms’ scores. The highest rated companies include GE, Goldman Sachs, Ford, Intel and FPL Group.

The Maplecroft CII Leaders index includes the top 100 ranking firms in the Benchmark index, while the Maplecroft CII US 100 includes the largest 100 companies in the Benchmark by free-float market capitalisation. The index family is calculated by Bloomberg.

Of the 318 companies in the Benchmark index, around 40% have emissions reduction targets, said Dan Hagland, CII project manager. But in engaging with the firms to produce the ratings, Maplecroft found another 20% are “into the process of developing these targets”, he added.

Kevin Franklin, director of research strategy at Maplecroft, said the firm hopes to develop similar indexes of firms in other regions, and eventually a global index.