Revealing new research of CDP shows how global investors are using climate data to support smarter investment decision-making.

The level of climate data available is now considerable – over 5,800 companies (representing close to 60% of global market capitalisation) report their climate data to CDP last year.

But what are investors actually doing with the data?

To help answer this question CDP is launching its first piece of research on investor case studies, illustrating how seven leading global investors use climate data to shape their investment decisions.

Many of the investors profiled in CDP’s case study booklet are also using environmental data as a foundation for in-house products and strategies such as a carbon footprint, an engagement programme or a low carbon index.

Investors such as the UK’s Environment Agency Pension Fund and CalPERS, the largest pension fund in the US, for example, both use CDP data to help assess the carbon footprint of their portfolio, i.e. to understand the total greenhouse gas emissions of their holdings relative to annual revenue.

For investors, the question is no longer whether to use such climate data, but how best to apply it to their particular investment strategy. In the space of fifteen years, that has made that use of climate data part of business as usual for investors.