Global warming is set to change the investment climate in the corporate world. A 2003 report, Carbon Finance and the Global Equity Markets, identifies changing climate due to rising global average temperature as one of the factors that will influence a company’s competitiveness and profitability. Investors are beginning to revalue companies depending on their exposure to climate change risk, according to the report. Companies that heavily emit greenhouse gases (ghgs), or are most exposed to natural disasters, are at maximum risk of losing investor value.

Based on a survey of top 500 companies in the world (measured in terms of market capitalisation), the report was commissioned by 35 institutional investors including insurance companies and pension funds. It analyses growing pressures on companies to reduce ghg emissions and identifies risks