GreenWeek May 3, Vol 27 | Page 3

Sustainable Investment Sustainable Resource FTSE launches first ever fossil fuel-free stock market index First step towards a total exclusion model for fossil fuel-linked stocks By Jack Allen T he FTSE has launched a share index that excludes companies linked to the exploration, ownership or extraction of fossil fuels. The FTSE Developed ex Fossil Fuels Index Series is a step towards implementing a total exclusion model for fossil fuel-linked stocks, so excluded enterprises are removed entirely from the Index Series. BlackRock, the world’s largest fund manager, intends to launch a solution that tracks FTSE’s new benchmark utilising seed capital from Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a not-for profit organisation with 1.4 million members that works to protect natural resources, public health and environment. The Index Series has been designed with the cooperation of BlackRock and NRDC. The methodology behind the Index Series is based around three key exclusion criteria and is designed to be transparent, easy to understand, quantifiable and repeatable across FTSE’s Global Equity Index Series (GEIS), which covers approximately 7,400 comp