Investment banks rated on climate change

Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley rank highest among investment banks for their efforts to address climate change.
The firms were cited by Ceres, a Boston-based coalition of institutional investors and environmental groups, in a first-ever survey of financial services firms.
Results of the survey were released today.
Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns scored lowest.
The survey analyzed 40 of the largest publicly traded banks and financial services firms in the world.
They were ranked on efforts to address climate change based on board oversight, management execution, public disclosure, emissions accounting and strategic planning.
“There’s still room for improvement” overall said Douglas Cogan, author of the survey and director of climate change research at RiskMetrics Group of New York, which conducted the study.
None of the firms has a policy to avoid investments in carbon-intensive projects, Ceres said.
The median score of the 40 firms was 42 out of a maximum of 100 points, he said.
European firms scored better because the EU has made a policy decision “that carbon emissions should not be priced at zero,” said Mindy Lubber, Ceres president.
Europe has a cap-and-trade system for carbon.
Legislative proposals for similar policies in the U.S. are still pending.
The survey can be seen here .