Firm licenses global-warming index
Boston-based KLD Research & Analytics today licensed an index that allows investors to bet on companies taking steps to combat global warming.
KLD says its weighted Global Climate 100 Index holds small- to large-cap companies whose activities reduce the social and economic consequences of climate change.
The 100 companies range from the energy and utility sectors to industrials and consumer products. Some invest in efficiency and buy power from renewable sources.
That differentiates the index from pure-play renewable energy investment products, KLD spokesman Chris McKnett said.
‘‘We are trying to provide investors exposure to the global climate solutions value chain. The sources of climate change are dispersed across the economy, and our view is that sustainable solutions also have to be dispersed across the economy,’’ he said.
Last quarter, the index achieved a return of 5.87 percent; annualized returns since the index’s inception in summer 2005 were 22.38 percent, KLD said.
Among companies the index holds are Whole Foods Market, which purchases renewable energy credits to offset 100 percent of its electricity needs in North America, and Itron, Inc., which manages the delivery and use of energy and water to increase efficiency.
KLD licensed the index with Fixed Income Securities LP.
(Reuters)
