south pole group expertise on green financial products featured in German media

The topic of green investing has been picked up by one of Germany's largest daily newspapers Süddeutsche Zeitung. With more and more consumers investing in green financial products, the power of investors in improving the climate has gained significant traction.

Süddeutsche Zeitung states that although the fight against global warming has until recently mainly taken place within the political arena, there is now a shift towards focussing on the financial industry's responsibility in financing climate change: south pole group was hailed for its unique expertise in measuring carbon footprints of investments. The article cites a study commissioned by the German consumer protection agency, where south pole group evaluated 13 German investment funds for their CO₂ impact and compared the results with the stock index MSCI World.

Nonetheless the CO₂ footprint of a fund is just a starting point, "because it is only a simple snapshot of the bigger picture," says Maximilian Horster, partner at south pole group, who was interviewed for the article. “One needs to consider assets over a longer period of time and make a different valuation of certain investments. A manufacturer of solar cells, for example, would initially have a comparatively large CO₂ footprint, as the actual manufacturing of solar cells consumes large amounts of energy. In the long run, however, the solar cells produced will help reduce energy consumption. The key element is always the net effect."

So far only seven percent of the companies listed worldwide disclose information on greenhouse gas emissions.