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Financial services companies have emerged as European leaders in managing environmental risks, according to a new index, launched by global index company FTSE Group today. The FTSE4Good Environmental Leaders Europe 40 Index contains high scoring large and mid cap companies and is aimed at investors who are concerned about environmental risk in their portfolios. The index has been embraced by the investment community, and the European Investment Bank (EIB) has today announced its plan to issue the Climate Awareness Bond which will be linked to the index and will be distributed via public offer in all 27 domestic markets of the EU.
The FTSE4Good Environmental Leaders Europe 40 Index is designed to identify European companies with leading environmental management practices. The index includes existing large and mid cap FTSE4Good European constituents, rated against the environmental criteria of the FTSE4Good index series and selected for the new index only if they achieve a scoring of “best practice” (5).
Will Oulton, Head of Responsible Investment, FTSE Group commented: “The FTSE4Good Index has become a globally recognised benchmark for investors wishing to identify responsible business practice. The increasing interest from investors in understanding the environmental risk and performance of companies has led FTSE to develop this index to meet that need.”
“This innovative new index will appeal to a broad range of institutional and retail investors who want to minimise environmental risk within their portfolios, capitalize on the benefits of strong environmental management, only invest in companies that demonstrate environmental management best practice, and actively encourage companies to be more responsible,” added Oulton.
The index is overseen by the independent FTSE4Good Policy Committee. For further information, please see www.ftse.com/environmental_leaders.
About FTSE Group
FTSE Group is a world-leader in the creation and management of indexes. It calculates and manages the FTSE Global Equity Index Series, which includes world-recognized indexes ranging from the FTSE All-World Index, the FTSE4Good series and the FTSEurofirst Index series, as well as the prestigious FTSE 100.
FTSE indexes are used extensively by investors world-wide. Independent committees of senior fund managers, derivatives experts, actuaries and other experienced practitioners review all changes to the indexes to ensure that they are made objectively and without bias.
