The achievement is announced today in the CDP Nordic 260 Climate Change Report 2013, which tracks how the world's largest listed companies are acting in response to a changing climate. At the request of 722 investors representing $87 trillion in assets, Marine Harvest this year took part in CDP's climate change program, designed to enable management of greenhouse gas emissions and the risks and opportunities associated with climate change.
"Global warming is unfortunately becoming part of everyday reality of all industries, and higher sea temperatures, acidification and rising sea level will affect Marine Harvest Group's business directly. In going forward, the business community cannot disregard the fact that we need to spend our resources in the most energy efficient way," said CEO of Marine Harvest Group, Alf-Helge Aarskog.
Aquaculture provides an important part of the solution on how to produce more food with lower CO2-emissions for an increasing world population, and everyone be part of this solution.
"Choosing seafood for dinner before meet a couple of times a week, is not only healthy, it is a simple way to reduce your climate footprint," said Mr Aarskog.
Acknowledgement for transparency on climate reporting
For the first time, Marine Harvest has achieved a top position in CDP's Nordic 260 Climate Disclosure Leadership Index (CDLI). This annual index, compiled by First Carbon Solutions on behalf of CDP, highlights those companies listed on the Nordic stock exchanges that have displayed a strong approach to the disclosure of information regarding climate change. Companies are scored out of 100 on the completeness and standard of their submissions.
"Marine Harvest aims to be open and transparent on the footprint of our food production, both locally and globally. We see this award as an indication that our stakeholders appreciate the value of our open approach. That being said, we still have many areas to improve on in order to tackle the CO2-challenge, both as a company and as part of the Aquaculture industry," commented Mr Aarskog.
High scores indicate the provision of robust climate data and a good understanding of climate change related issues affecting the company. Through various channels, including Bloomberg terminals, these scores are communicated to investors and other decision makers to assess corporate preparedness for changing market demands and emissions regulation.
The CDLI comprises the organizations that achieved a score within the top 10 per cent of the sample assessed. In 2013 the Nordic 260 CDLI comprises 27 companies. The minimum score has risen year-on-year as corporate understanding of the need for climate transparency has increased. It now stands at 91.
Paul Simpson, chief executive officer of CDP, comments: "Companies that score highly enough to be included in the Climate Disclosure Leadership Index are responding to the call for greater corporate climate accountability. They have demonstrated leading practice for the measurement of greenhouse gas emissions and energy use and transparency of their climate change strategy."
The Nordic 260 report including names of companies featured in the CDLI can be found at www.cdp.net.
