Keva is among an international group of investors who want more and more companies disclose their environmental impacts. This year sees a record number of participating investors.
In the international CDP organisation’s Non-Disclosure Campaign, active investors seeks to increase company disclosure around environmental impacts, which is one way to guide companies towards systematic action in, for example, mitigating climate change. At the same time, this adds to investors’ awareness of the environmental impacts of companies.
This year is a record one for the CDP Campaign, both in terms of the number of participating investors and the number of companies being targeted by engagement: 105 international investors are engaging in a total of 1,051 companies.
Keva is selectively involved in about a tenth of these, with a particular emphasis on requests to disclose climate change and water use.
Outcomes of engagement already visible
Keva has systematically expanded its engagement in the campaign each year.
”We first took part in the campaign in 2018, when our engagement, especially around climate change, was targeted at the major polluters in which we had holdings,” says Kirsi Keskitalo, Head of Responsible Investment at Keva.
”The following year, Keva broadened its engagement also around forests and water resources, and expanded this also to companies other than those in its own portfolio. This year, engagement was expanded further.
”We clarified our selection criteria and selected as our engagement target a total of 103 listed companies globally which we assessed as having significant business impacts and thus also potential risks relating to these environmental aspects – climate, water and forest,” says Kirsi Keskitalo. This is three times the number of companies compared to last year and includes companies in Keva’s portfolio and outside it.
Keskitalo says that the CDP campaign has already shown its effectiveness since the companies targeted last year disclosed their environmental impacts 2½ times more often than other companies.
What is the campaign about?
CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project) is an international not-for-profit organisation that drives company transparency around climate change, deforestation and water use. One of the ways it does this is through the annual Non-Disclosure Campaign, where companies are asked to respond to a disclosure request, which requires them to measure and assess their environmental impacts. After this, it is easier for the companies to set emission reduction targets and to achieve them systematically in their own operations to mitigate climate change.
Disclosure promotes the companies’ own understanding of the risks and opportunities of their business on the one hand and investors’ understanding of the companies on the other. Keva has been a member of CDP since 2006 and draws on the organisation’s information when assessing the responsibility of its investments.
Further information:
Kirsi Keskitalo, Head of Responsible Investment,
tel. +358 20 614 2082, kirsi.keskitalo@keva.fi