Investment firms to lose out without energy efficiency

The major investment firms need to think of their long-term energy sustainability if they are going to continue to be competitive in business, according to the chief executive of Five Oceans Asset Management, Ross Youngman.

In an interview on climate change and investment, Youngman warned that a tax for emitting greenhouse gases was likely to be imposed on companies, and that even companies not in the energy sector needed to realign their businesses to cope.

“They need to think of short-term and long-term behaviour and, to me, this is all wrapped up in the same sort of question.

“You want companies that are thinking about the future, and thinking about how they can position their business, because if we get a tax on carbon, and we will get a tax, it’s going to come down to the individual company… it will start to sweep through all companies.”

Companies should consider the energy-efficiency levels of their company buildings and ways to increase their efficiency, he said.

“The whole aspect of where companies house their employees is going to become increasingly critical, in terms of how energy efficient buildings are.”

Heat generation from computers was a major cause of rising company energy levels, by driving up the costs of air conditioning to counter the heat, he explained.

Sir Crispin Tickell, board member of the Copenhagen Climate Council, said companies also needed to think of changing their company structure to cope with the new challenges that climate change would bring.

Many companies previously hadn’t taken climate change seriously and gave one junior board member, with the least corporate responsibility, responsibility for making the company more energy efficient.

The entire board needed to take responsibility for the energy practices of the company, he said.