Executive Summary


Nadine Viel Lamare Chair of the Ethical Council1


John Howchin Secretary General of the Ethical Council


For the fifth year running, the number of Nordic companies responding to the CDP information request has increased, to 143 in 2011 compared with 131 in 2010. The share of companies agreeing to make their responses public has also risen, to 83% from 79% in 2010. This is encouraging not least because many respondents this year will have felt they had fewer success stories to report.


Keeping the lid on greenhouse gas emissions was exceptionally challenging during 2010 (the year covered by most CDP 2011 responses), as the economy rebounded from the severe recession of 2009. Most sectors are not managing to fully decouple emissions from growth.


Yet Nordic companies are still lighting the path towards a low-carbon economy. The report is full of innovative examples – from entire operations run on wind power to commercial flights run on biofuel, from a doubling of the energy efficiency of elevators to a halving of emissions from business travel through the use of virtual meetings.


Even in the finance sector, where own emissions are relatively low, companies are beginning to favour low-carbon alternatives by asserting their influence as investors and lenders. Some banks are offering preferential terms for eco-friendly car loans, while others are screening their managed assets and persuading poor environmental performers to clean up their act.


The business case for reducing emissions Naturally, while concerns over dangerous climate change underlie the whole CDP process, investors hardly expect companies to reduce their emissions on grounds of altruism alone. One theme in this year’s CDP Nordic 260 Report is that there are powerful economic arguments for improving energy efficiency, reducing fuel consumption, switching to renewable sources, and so forth.


For one, companies report that they expect many or most of these emissions-reducing initiatives to pay off within three years, which should certainly give pause for thought to those who consider sustainability to be a luxury they can ill afford.


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1. The Ethical Council (Etikrådet) is a collaboration between four of the buffer funds in the national Swedish pension system, AP1, AP2, AP3 and AP4.


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