natural capital

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Add another index to the growing list of ratings and rankings…

The Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index scores and ranks 176 countries according to their capability to sustain or increase wealth. The Index was first developed and published in 2012, in contrast to the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report, and is based on a competitiveness model that incorporates all aspects required to sustain wealth, the environment, and social cohesion.

The four main pillars of the model are:

  1. Natural capital (the availability of natural resources),
  2. Resource efficiency (as a measurement of industrial competitiveness),
  3. Sustainable innovation (as a measurement of the capability to sustain economic activities in a competitive global market), and
  4. Social cohesion (the foundations of smooth operation and secure investments).

What countries are top of the index you ask? The top five are Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Switzerland. Canada, at number 7, is the only non-European country in the top 10. How about the United States? – Number 27, behind Iceland (13), Belarus (21) and Lithuania (23).

 

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Do investors care about companies’ climate change disclosure?

Taken at face value, more evidence surfaced this month supporting a close relationship between company market performance and the disclosure of environmental, social and governance criteria.  Less clear is when more investors will reward ESG disclosure and inspire nondisclosing companies to get on board.  Integrating fundamental equity analysis with ESG criteria boosts the quality of investment decisions, according to the Principles for Responsible Investment.

A similar assessment by Deloitte outlines both the short- and long-term implications of ESG investment management. Further, the Carbon Disclosure Project now has 722 institutional investors representing $87 trillion in assets requesting companies to report their carbon emissions and climate change strategies. This same investor group is also asking companies to report on water and forest use, reflecting a heightened awareness of natural capital and environmental costs.

To read our full blog on GreenBiz.com, please click here!