15th July 2004 - Enhanced environmental research now available to investors through RREV

London, Thursday 15th July 2004: UK investors are now able to access environmental data expressed in quantity and financial terms on over 1,700 companies worldwide, helping mainstream and specialist fund managers to incorporate the impacts of the environment into company assessments. Trucost is providing this environmental research through RREV (Research Recommendations Electronic Voting), a company that serves the corporate governance and proxy voting needs of UK-based institutional investors. RREV is a joint venture set up by ISS (Institutional Shareholder Services) and NAPF (National Association of Pension Funds) in order to provide research and proxy voting advice to fund managers and pension funds.

Trucost provides analysis to fund managers and financial analysts on over 1,700 companies worldwide, including full coverage of all the companies in the FTSE All Share, S&P 500, Nikkei 225 and DJ EuroSTOXX. Trucost provides analysis on the environmental performance of companies that is quantitative, comprehensive and comparable. Trucost reports highlight the key environmental impacts that companies have expressed in quantity and financial terms and detail existing and upcoming regulations that affect selected sectors together with the costs of compliance. Short term and long-term environmental liabilities that companies may face are also evaluated and these costs are compared to peer group companies.

Simon Thomas, Chairman, Trucost Plc, comments: “We are delighted to provide our environmental research to RREV customers, which account for more that £600 billion of pension fund assets. Quantitative environmental data is a key element of corporate governance and pension fund management, and using Trucost data enables investors to make informed decisions based on consistent, comparable and quantitative data.”
Trucost reports include:

- Top ten environmental impacts
- Peer group comparisons
- Assessment of company disclosures
- Impacts through supply chain
- Long term sustainability indicator
- Compliance costs of environmental regulations

About Trucost

Trucost Plc, an independent environmental research organisation, was established in early 2000. Trucost provides research on over 1,700 companies worldwide to institutional investors and provides tools to companies to assist with environmental reporting including the upcoming Operating and Financial Review (OFR). Trucost uses economic external cost analysis to generate research that can be incorporated into mainstream and specialist fund manager's company analysis models. Trucost has the support of an International Advisory Panel of eleven leading academics in the fields of economics and the environment, who assist in the ongoing development of its methodology.

About RREV

RREV, a joint venture between the NAPF and Institutional Shareholder Services, provides investors with an all-in-one package for voting and corporate governance research. US investors receive UK research based on NAPF policy and UK investors can access research on more than 12,000 stocks in nearly 90 markets around the world. The RREV platform provides UK investors with the chance to vote their shares in global companies, for example in the US, continental Europe and Japan. For more information contact Johanna Milne (RREV) on +44 (0)20 7614 8512 or info@rrev.co.uk.

Media Enquiries: Contact Philippa Thomson on 020 7321 3731.