Banorte-Ixe, CDP and Green Plus Encourage Mexican Companies to Define a Sustainability Agenda to Face Climate Change

April 25, 2012 /3BL Media/ - Participants gathered at the workshop "Business Resilience to Climate Change", organized by CDP, Green Plus, and Banorte-Ixe as host, sharing, from their respective approaches and experiences, the convenience of reporting their carbon emissions data to CDP, as well as the challenges and opportunities this has represented for their organizations, in order to encourage other companies to report their climate data to CDP.

During her discussion related to the challenges and opportunities of a Green Economy, Dolores Barrientos, Representative of the United Nations Environment Programme in Mexico, said "It is urgent to consider externalities –that is all the impacts on the environment- in businesses strategies and decouple growth from the increase in degradation".

For Juliana Lopes, CDP’s Latin America Director, referred to climate management as a tool for generating value, saying that businesses in the region must advance in innovation and search for opportunities to do more with less. "We believe that reporting to the CDP can help illuminate this path, since it allows companies to build an effective strategy against climate change, while providing relevant information for investors. At the end of the day it is expected that both take into account the risks and opportunities associated with climate change for decision-making", she noted.

Lopes explained that, in the same way that companies are required to disclose their financial data, the CDP offers the "Report of Climate Data" so that decisions drive sustainable development in order to "prevent the dangers of climate change, protect natural resources and create long-term prosperity through the efficient allocation of capital".

In relation Banorte-Ixe’s participation in the CDP, Mayra Hernandez, Head of Corporate Responsibility of Grupo Financiero Banorte, mentioned, "Since 2011 we have been a signatory and provided a response to the CDP. We work with CDP and other organizations to identify risks and opportunities that climate change represents to our business, as well as to raise awareness and encourage Mexican companies and the financial sector to participate and create a common front in searching for and implementing actions that help mitigate climate change. In 2012, we were recognized by the CDP as among the top 10 (Latin American) companies for Disclosure and Performance, according to its scoring methodology".

Meanwhile, Claudia Lechuga, Green Plus Executive Director, focused her presentation on sustainability and climate change in Mexico, noting "It is estimated that in 40 years 30% more people will live on this planet. This growth will bring billions of new consumers. However, the scenario of scarce resources and climate change will limit the consumption ability. Businesses can take this risk as a threat or an opportunity to review their strategies and develop processes to do more with less".

During the workshop a panel discussion took place to share experiences from the point of view of organizations reporting to the CDP, as well as opportunities for cooperation between the public and private sectors to accelerate solutions to face climate change, strategies to permeate decisions that lead to a low carbon economy, among other topics. The panel was attended by executives from CESPEDES, CEMEX, FEMSA, Grupo Bimbo, ICLEI, Wal Mart de Mexico and Banorte-Ixe.

In his turn, Marcos Mancini, Director of Sustainable Banking at Banorte-Ixe, said "Through our social and environmental risk management system, we are evaluating possible impacts generated by operations we finance”. As a Mexican bank, he added, "for us Natural Capital preservation in the face of climate change is of great importance, so we signed the Natural Capital Declaration, where we lead a group of 18 banks, environmental NGOs and funds, so that this concept can be incorporated into financial products and services".

It should be noted that results released from the latest edition of the CDP show that greenhouse gases emissions management has an increasingly strategic role for Latin American companies. According to the Carbon Disclosure Project Latin America 2011, most companies indicated that they discussed issues related to climate change at a senior level (94% vs. 71% in 2008, the inaugural year of CDP activities in Latin America). In 2012, six Mexican companies reported to the CDP: Grupo Financiero Banorte, CEMEX, Grupo Bimbo, Industrias Peñoles, Wal Mart de Mexico and FEMSA.

About CDP

CDP is a not-for-profit organization providing a single global system for companies and cities to measure, manage and share vital data about the environment. CDP works with market forces, including 722 institutional investors with financial assets of $ 87 billion, to motivate companies to share information about their impacts on the environment and natural resources and actions to mitigate them. Today, CDP holds the largest amount of information on climate change and water on the planet and seeks to introduce these insights at the heart of strategic decisions, investment and policy decisions. For more information, visit http://www.cdp.net

About Banorte-Ixe

Grupo Financiero Banorte (GFNorte) is one of the leading Institutions in Mexico. After merging Ixe Financial Group, it became the third largest financial group in the country and the largest Mexican-controlled, with a network of over 1,300 branches, over 6,700 ATMs and 110,000 POS terminals. GFNorte offers products and brokerage services, wealth advisory, investment companies, leasing and factoring, warehousing, insurance, pensions and retirement savings. It is one of the banks with the best asset quality indicators of the Mexican financial system and has high levels of capitalization and liquidity. For more information, visit www.banorte.com

About Green Plus

Green Plus provides advice on climate change issues, environmental responsibility, capacity building sustainability equipment, GHG inventories, inventory verification, sustainability reporting and environmental translations. Since 2010 the team of GreenPlus has supported companies interested in revealing their management of climate change to CDP. Currently, is the local partner of CDP Latin America in Mexico.