30th July, 2007

Lord (Jacob) Rothschild and Ben Goldsmith have today become significant minority shareholders in Trucost, the environmental research company that helps investors and companies understand the environmental impacts of business activities in financial terms.

The investment from Jacob Rothschild and Ben Goldsmith will be used to finance the next stage in Trucost's development.

Trucost has seen very strong growth over the last two years as institutional investors have increasingly wanted to gauge the material financial impact of environmental issues on companies. Trucost has also developed a way to 'carbon optimise' investment portfolios, replicating the returns but with a much smaller carbon footprint and is in advanced talks with a number of leading financial institutions on the development of low carbon investment products.

Ben Goldsmith has commented, "I have been following Trucost's progress for some time and I am delighted to be able to invest at this exciting stage in the company's history. It is my firm belief that Trucost is perfectly placed to take full advantage of current market trends, particularly in the development of low carbon investment products."

Jacob Rothschild has said, "Environmental performance data is going to be increasingly important for corporations in coming years. Trucost are the leading providers in the market and are well positioned to capitalise on the opportunity going forwards, and I am therefore happy to be an investor in the company."

Simon Thomas, Chief Executive of Trucost, said, "The investment by Jacob and Ben demonstrates the strength of Trucost's potential. In addition to the recent impressive growth in our core business, a major driver of our future growth will be low carbon investment products that perform as well as conventional investment products or even out-perform."

Trucost is currently considering a range of options for future financing, including an IPO at some point in order to put the company on a proper public footing.

Click here for the Sunday Times article.