Wednesday, 26th May 2021, London: Industry Tracker, a new research house for investors, launches today. It is being created to address a gap in the market for independent, in-depth research and analysis on industrial sectors that are critical to economies and will be a key component of the pathway towards achieving net zero emissions.
It will provide investors with the evidence base they need to engage with companies in these climate-critical sectors on their transition plans and facilitate the redirection of capital to provide the deep emissions cuts needed for the decarbonisation of the global economy.
Industry Tracker is being launched by the team that set up Carbon Tracker and Planet Tracker, alongside Carole Ferguson, who has been leading the award-winning investor research team at CDP, the non-profit which runs the world’s environmental disclosure system.
Carole will head up the new initiative, which will build on the previous work of CDP’s best-in-class investor research team in addressing materiality for high impact sectors and complement the sectoral and company-level work already being done by Carbon Tracker and Planet Tracker.
The research will look across the value chain at sectors including cement, steel and chemicals (which account for 16% of direct CO2 emissions globally) alongside capital goods, technology, health and other consumer sectors. The team will cover the largest and most impactful companies globally, conducting bottom-up analysis to assess alignment with 1.5 degree pathways and the implications for business models, earnings and balance sheets.
Industry Tracker’s first piece of research will be published this summer, focusing on the European steel industry and its scope to adopt hydrogen technology to transition away from carbon-intensive blast furnace plants.
Carole Ferguson, Managing Director of Industry Tracker, commented: Despite the massive growth of the sustainable finance industry and more and more countries committing to ambitious net zero targets, capital is not currently being directed to the type of real-economy transformation that is required. That is where Industry Tracker comes in – to provide investors with detailed bottom-up research that links financial and climate metrics, and to support the reallocation of investment towards vital solutions for these critical sectors.
Mark Campanale, Founder and Executive Chairman of Carbon Tracker, commented: “I’m delighted to be working with Carole on the launch of Industry Tracker and adding another string to the bow of the award-winning Carbon Tracker and Planet Tracker family. With this launch, I’m confident that between the three sister organisations, we now cover all of the major investment sectors of interest to the financial community, and can accurately track the environmental footprint of companies across the entire value chain. I very much look forward to working with the team and building on our essential work in providing systems-wide solutions to address the climate crisis and wider degradation of the world’s natural capital.”
Paul Simpson, CEO of CDP, commented: “CDP launched the investor research work in 2015 to provide high quality, sector-focused environmental research from an award-winning team of financial analysts. Over that time, it built up a strong investor following and became widely recognised in the market for its unique approach. We are proud to have innovated and established this valuable offering to investors and to support its next phase of development as Industry Tracker. It is not often that NGOs merge or transfer initiatives, however, with the need for greater harmonisation and focus, we are delighted to have worked in this way with Investor Watch and are confident Industry Tracker is well placed to deliver further impact.”
In addition to high quality philanthropically funded research, Industry Tracker will offer a subscription-led research and analytics service for investors.
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Notes to editors:
Industry Tracker is being launched by Carole Ferguson and the Investor Watch Group whose founders, Mark Campanale and Nick Robins, created the Carbon Tracker Initiative and Planet Tracker.
Investor Watch is registered in the UK at Companies House as a not-for-profit company, registration number 06888857.
For more information, or interviews, please contact:
Tess Harris, Communications Consultant
Tel : +44 (0) 7841 577820 | Email: tess.tessharrisconsulting.com
About Industry Tracker
Industry Tracker helps investors navigate complex climate challenges. We provide independent, in-depth research and analysis on climate-critical industries and companies around their transition plans and business readiness to meet net zero targets.
Industry Tracker was launched in 2021 by the Investor Watch Group whose founders, Mark Campanale and Nick Robins, created the Carbon Tracker Initiative and Planet Tracker.
About Carbon Tracker
The Carbon Tracker Initiative is a non-profit financial think tank that seeks to promote a climate-secure global energy market by aligning capital markets with climate reality. Our research to date on the carbon bubble, unburnable carbon and stranded assets has begun a new debate on how to align the financial system with the energy transition to a low carbon future. https://carbontracker.org/
About Planet Tracker
Planet Tracker is a non-profit financial think tank aligning capital markets with planetary boundaries. It was created primarily for the investor community to analyse the risk of market failure related to environmental limits which, other than climate change, are often not aligned with investor capital. Planet Tracker generates breakthrough analytics to redefine how financial and environmental data interact with the aim of changing the practices of financial decision makers to help avoid both environmental and financial failure. https://planet-tracker.org/
About CDP
CDP is a global non-profit that runs the world’s environmental disclosure system for companies, cities, states and regions. Founded in 2000 and working with more than 590 investors with over $110 trillion in assets, CDP pioneered using capital markets and corporate procurement to motivate companies to disclose their environmental impacts, and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, safeguard water resources and protect forests. Over 10,000 organizations around the world disclosed data through CDP in 2020, including more than 9,600 companies worth over 50% of global market capitalization, and over 940 cities, states and regions, representing a combined population of over 2.6 billion. Fully TCFD aligned, CDP holds the largest environmental database in the world, and CDP scores are widely used to drive investment and procurement decisions towards a zero carbon, sustainable and resilient economy. CDP is a founding member of the Science Based Targets initiative, We Mean Business Coalition, The Investor Agenda and the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative. Visit cdp.net or follow us @CDP to find out more.
