By Greentech Lead Team: Sempra
Energy tops the Target Rock sustainability index followed by Xcel Energy,
PG&E Corporation ranked third. Edison International comes fourth and Avista
Corporation earned the fifth position.
Target Rock Advisors has identified
15 high performance domestic energy utilities that excel in sustainable
operations in its first U.S. utility sustainability rankings and related stock
indexes.
The 15 US companies comprise the
Target Rock High Sustainability Index. They were selected based on performance
scores and rankings assigned by Target Rock’s sustainability scoring system,
which relies primarily on actual operating results. It systematically addresses
the three classic pillars of sustainability: environment, economy and society,
also referred to as the “triple bottom line”.
“There is a growing focus on
sustainability, both globally and within the U.S. However, the metrics for
effectively assessing sustainable performance by utilities has been
lacking,” said Richard Rudden, chief executive of Target Rock.
Until now, there has been no
sector-specific sustainability indexes focused exclusively on publicly-traded
utilities in the U.S.
Through Target Rock’s benchmarks and
indexes, the company can assist utility clients in identifying areas for
performance improvement and best practices that may lead to improved brand
image attract coverage by industry analysts and pique investor interest.
“There is a tremendous need for
a utility index based on a sophisticated knowledge of the sector.
Institutional investors and asset managers have lacked a system that
offers highly useful sustainability performance information,” said Kyle
Rudden, co-founder and partner at Target Rock and the chief architect of both
the scoring system and indexes.
The company has published a family
of ten sustainability-related indexes. Four flagship indexes relate to overall
sustainability scores (High, Medium, Low and all 49); three are based on only
the Environmental, Social and Governance dimensions of the triple bottom line;
and one index each ranks the top 15 Economic performers, top 15 Environmental
performers and top 15 Social performers.