10.18.2007 - 11:00am ET

(CSRwire) LONDON, NEW YORK CITY, TOKYO - October 18, 2007 - Innovest Strategic Value Advisors released today a major new study on the relationship among climate change, companies' ability to manage the associated risks and opportunities, and their financial performance. The study is the first of its kind in the world, and lays the foundation for further research and investment products.

Among the study's key findings:

Non-verified, company-provided information provides an extremely poor and limited basis for actual investment decisions. More in-depth company research is clearly required

In introducing the study, Innovest founder and Chief Executive Matthew Kiernan commented:

"As the authors of each of the Carbon Disclosure Project global reports in the five years since its inception, we at Innovest are only too aware of the power and importance of company disclosure. However, we have also believed for many years that self-reported, non-verified data supplied by the companies themselves is, by itself, a woefully inadequate basis for actual decisionmaking by sophisticated investors. The results of this study would seem to bear that out.

With over $40 trillion in institutional investor assets now concerned about climate change (Carbon Disclosure Project, 2007), it is increasingly critical that performance-driven investors move beyond simply pressing for greater company disclosure. We are now seeing them begin to demand the sorts of investment tools, research, and products they need to turn mere information into superior investment decisions and performance. In addition, such tools will allow them to meet their growing responsibilities as 21st century fiduciaries. We hope that this study will be helpful in that regard."

Innovest Strategic Value Advisors is a leading global investment research house, with a particular focus on "non-traditional" drivers of investment risk and return. The firm's largest outside investor is ABP, one of the three largest pension funds in the world.

Ratings and research reports from Innovest Strategic Advisors analyzing the environmental, social and governance performance of over 1,750 companies and their industries, including the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations, is available through Innovest’s partner CSRwire at http://www.csrwire.com/reports/independent

In both 2006 and 2007, Innovest was rated the #1 global provider of "non-traditional" investment research in the Thomson Extel survey of over 180 major institutional investors.


For Further Information Please Contact:

Dr. Matthew J. Kiernan
Chief Executive
Innovest Strategic Value Advisors
905-707-0876 x 204
mkiernan@innovestgroup.com

Pierre Trevet
1-415-332-3506
ptrevet@innovestgroup.com

Sarah Greenberg
1-212-421-2000 x 210
sgreenberg@innovestgroup.com

About Innovest

Innovest Strategic Value Advisors is an internationally recognized investment research and advisory firm specializing in analyzing companies' performance on environmental, social, and strategic governance issues, with a particular focus on their impact on competitiveness, profitability, and share price performance.

Innovest currently has offices in New York City, Toronto, San Francisco, London, Paris, Sydney, and Tokyo.

For more information please contact:

Peter Wilkes, Managing Partner
Innovest Strategic Value Advisors
212-421-2000 x216

Greg Schneider, Director
CSRwire
802-251-0110 x1102

For more CSR news and information from this organization:

Corporate Social Responsibility Profile for Innovest Strategic Value Advisors, Inc.

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