Centrica placed in Super League on climate change

Centrica has been recognised as a top performer for action on reducing climate change risk by CDP, an international NGO representing around a third of the worlds invested capital.

In a newly published report by CDP, Centrica earned second place in the electric utilities Super League, which ranks Europe’s largest electric utilities according to their level of preparedness for meeting the costs and opportunities presented by climate change. First place was secured by Spanish utility, Iberdrola.

The Super League is comprised of 13 major European electric utilities and assesses performance based on several emissions-related metrics. Centrica secured highest marks for carbon risk and exposure to coal, securing an A performance in both categories. Lower scores were received in water risk (B) and our ability to take advantage of opportunities from renewable energy (C).

This recognition reaffirms Centrica’s steadfast commitment to sustainable growth. Our strategic investments in gas, nuclear and wind mean that we have one of the lowest carbon intensity fuel mixes among major energy suppliers in the UK, while our focus on helping customers save energy through the products we provide, has enabled us to save carbon emissions equivalent to the carbon footprint of over 2.6m homes since 2010.

Jim Rushen, Head of Environment at Centrica said, “We strive to limit energy’s impact on climate change by not only reducing carbon emissions from our own operations, but by helping customers cut their consumption through our innovative products and services.  Our leadership position demonstrates our continued commitment to improving our environmental performance by securing the energy our customers need, responsibly”.

Paul Simpson, Executive Chairman at CDP commented, “This research provides investors with a specific tool in the form of data needed to engage with these companies on material issues. The top ranking electric utilities companies in the Super-League Table all have much lower exposure to coal, and are focusing their business towards cleaner energy sources. These companies’ shares are held in the portfolios of the world’s largest institutional investors and the way they approach regulation and invest in future technologies has a significant impact on their bottom line.”

Our Super League position follows earlier recognition by CDP, who awarded us the highest possible mark for disclosure and action on climate change which placed us in the top 1% of reporting companies globally and joint-first of all FTSE 350 companies.

 

Notes

About CDP

CDP is an international, not-for-profit organisation providing the only global system for companies and cities to measure, disclose, manage and share environmental information. They work with market forces, including 822 institutional investors with assets of US$95 trillion, to motivate companies to disclose their impacts on the environment and natural resources as well as take action to reduce their impact. CDP holds the largest collection globally of primary climate-change, water and forest risk commodities.  Visit www.cdp.netor @CDP to find out more.

About the results

The Super League ranks companies that respond to CDP’s Climate Change questionnaire, accounting for c80%1 of electricity produced by European electric utilities.  CDP scores each electric utility based on a number of different metrics which are first ranked and then graded A to E, with A being the best grade.  A full table of results is provided below while further information can be found in the report.