By Abraham Jonah, Middle East Managing Editor
(Sundiata Post) — New research commissioned by HSBC shows that 68% of global investors intend to increase their low-carbon related investments to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy.
Growing investor appetite for low carbon investments is strongest in Europe (97%), the Americas (85%) and Asia (68%). The Middle East (19%) is the only region to experience an annual decline in this trend.
The research, conducted with a thousand companies and institutional investors globally, shows that institutional investors are demanding companies improve levels of climate-related disclosure. Companies are responding to these demands, but not nearly fast enough given 56% of investors describe current disclosure levels as ‘highly inadequate’. This trend is most pronounced in Europe (76%), followed by the Americas (66%), Asia (50%) and the Middle East (30%).
One in two companies has a strategy in place to reduce their environmental impact, a feature that has increased across all regions in the last year. Europe sets the pace (84%), followed by the Americas (54%), Asia (43%) then the Middle East (28%).
Despite 53% of companies now having an environmental strategy in place, only 43% actively disclose it. Europe again leads the way (64%) but it is Asia that registers the largest increase in both environmental strategy disclosure and the level of climate related disclosure. Today, 28% of all Asian companies disclose their environmental strategy, up from 19% in 2016, and 46% are increasing their level of climate related disclosure (up from 23% last year).
One factor inhibiting companies increasing their disclosure levels is the lack of any clear competitive advantage from doing so, specifically with regard to the cost of funding. The main drivers of increased transparency are investor pressure (83%) and international regulation (77%).
Daniel Klier, HSBC’s Group Head of Strategy and Global Head of Sustainable Finance, said:
“The global transition to a low-carbon, clean energy economy is now firmly underway, yet companies and their investors are clearly travelling at different speeds. If we are to direct the world’s capital towards low-carbon investment opportunities then we need to break through the barriers currently inhibiting its flows. This will require improvements in the availability, reliability and comparability of climate-related information. This demand will only get louder as the market gains a better understanding of how to use these metrics effectively.”