Investor groups call for more transparency from oil & gas sector

London, 18 March: Oil and gas companies need to provide investors with better information on how they are managing climate change risks, according to three leading institutional investor groups. “Information provided by most companies remains inadequate to fully gauge the exposure of companies to evolving climate change-related pressures,” according to the Global Climate Disclosure Framework for Oil & Gas Companies, from the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), Ceres and the Investor Group on Climate Change (IGCC). The framework sets out exactly what information companies should be disclosing. “Investors need to know how new regulations are likely to impact oil and gas companies through the impact on their own operations but also through changing demand for their end-products,” said Eric Borremans, vice-chairman of the IIGCC and head of sustainability investments at BNP Paribas Investment Partners. “We therefore look for greater transparency from these companies on how they are managing the shift away from fossil fuels to less carbon-intensive forms of energy.” The disclosure standards call for oil and gas companies to disclose: The financial implications of climate change policy; Targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions; Greenhouse gas emissions data by value chain stage; Production, reserves and carbon intensity of production by hydrocarbon type; The financial contribution of renewable and clean energy technologies; and The value of net asset exposure to extreme weather events. The European IIGCC represents investors managing €4 trillion ($5.4 trillion) in assets, Ceres, based in the US, represents $8 trillion of investments, while the Australasian IGCC represents A$500 billion ($460 billion). The framework is the third from these three groups, following one for the electric utilities industry and one for the automotive sector.

Updated 18 March 2010