Companies in the oil, gas and electricity sectors have been the most successful at reducing the social and environmental risks that affect their business, a new set of ratings suggests.
An analysis of large public companies compiled by ratings agency SERM and auditing body Bureau Veritas concludes that the oil, gas and electricity businesses it studied have achieved the greatest ‘risk reduction capacity’ of any sector.
The precautionary measures introduced by the companies include environmental management systems and performance indicators, and also human rights policies.
On a scale of one for ‘neutral’ to five for ‘excellent’, the analysis gives the electricity sector a risk-reduction rating of 3.14 and the oil and gas sector a rating of 3.13.
The water sector is third (2.76) and the tobacco industry fourth (2.72). The software and computers sector (1.13) is the least effective at reducing business risks by means of social and environmental measures.
The BV-SERM ratings, launched on 15 June, analyze the environmental and social risk exposure of 425 UK and Irish companies listed in London with market capitalizations above $280million (£200m). They are designed for use by fund managers and companies.
A new ‘Sustainable performance index’ has been unveiled by the French ratings agency Arese. The ASPI Eurozone is a European equity index that tracks the financial performance of companies judged by Arese to be leading environmental and social performers. It will form part of a family of SRI indices to be developed in the next year.