Balfour Beatty : recognised as world leader for corporate action on climate change

Balfour Beatty plc has been awarded a position on The A List: The CDP Climate Performance Leadership Index 2014 for its actions to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate the business risks of climate change.

The index presents 187 listed companies identified as demonstrating a superior approach to climate change mitigation.  It has been produced at the request of 767 investors who represent more than a third of the world's invested capital by CDP, the international NGO that drives sustainable economies.

Information provided by nearly 2,000 listed companies has been independently assessed against CDP's widely-respected scoring methodology and ranked accordingly. Balfour Beatty is one of the 187 that has been awarded an A grade for its climate performance, and one of only two companies from the construction sector earning a position on this global ranking of corporate efforts to mitigate climate change. 

Chris Vaughan, Chief Corporate Officer at Balfour Beatty says, "We are hugely honoured to be included in the CDP's A List, providing recognition for our work in reducing carbon emissions across our project sites, offices and off-site manufacturing facilities. Since 2010, we have reduced our emissions intensity from 42.4 tonnes of CO2/£m turnover to 35.6 tonnes of CO2/£m. Importantly, we are also helping our clients reduce the lifetime emissions of the infrastructure assets we build, finance and maintain for them.

"Our 2013 return to CDP represents an important milestone towards our target of reducing Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 50% relative to 2010, by 2020."

Paul Simpson, chief executive officer of CDP, comments: "Global greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise and we face steep financial risk if we do not mitigate them.  The business case for action to mitigate climate change has never been stronger or more urgent.  For this reason we congratulate those businesses that have achieved a position on The A List: The CDP Climate Performance Leadership Index.  These companies are responding to market demand for environmental accountability and at the same time are making progress towards the realization of sustainable economies."

CDP performance scores provide a tool for institutional investors and stakeholders to evaluate and track corporate efforts to mitigate climate change.  Scores are communicated to investors and other decision makers through various channels, including Bloomberg terminals, to help them assess corporate preparedness for changing market demands and emissions regulation.

The A List: CDP Climate Performance Leadership Index 2014, along with the climate disclosures of all companies publicly taking part in CDP's climate change program this year, is available on CDP's website.

Media enquiries:      

Dominic Cheetham
Tel. +44 (0)20 7963 4235
dominic.cheetham@balfourbeatty.com

About Balfour Beatty plc

Balfour Beatty (http://www.balfourbeatty.com/) is an international infrastructure group that delivers world class services essential to the development, creation and care of infrastructure assets; from finance and development, through design and project management to construction and maintenance.

Our businesses draw on more than 100 years of experience to deliver the highest levels of quality, safety and technical expertise to our clients principally in the UK and the USA, with developing businesses in Australia, Canada, the Middle East and South East Asia. With proven expertise in delivering infrastructure critical to support communities and society today and in the future, our key market sectors focus on infrastructure - transportation (roads, rail and aviation), power and energy, water, and complex buildings (both commercial and social).

Balfour Beatty employs 40,000 people around the world.

About CDP

CDP is an international, not-for-profit organization providing the only global system for companies and cities to measure, disclose, manage and share vital environmental information. CDP works with market forces, including 767 institutional investors with assets of US$92 trillion, to motivate companies to disclose their impacts on the environment and natural resources and take action to reduce them. CDP now holds the largest collection globally of primary climate-change, water and forest risk commodities information and puts these insights at the heart of strategic business, investment and policy decisions.www.cdp.net or follow us @CDP to find out more.