Environmental Finance

London, 23 April, 2004: Light Green Advisors (LGA), US-based environmental asset manager and investment advisor, has replaced automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) with Ford in its Eco*Index Portfolio. Ford has been added to the portfolio, which includes the most environmentally aware companies in each market sector in the S&P500, after it announced that its new hybrid sports utility vehicle (SUV) – the first on the market – would be available this summer.

"Due to SUVs' generally poor fuel economy, they represent the greatest opportunity for deriving environmental benefits" from the automotive sector, said LGA president Jonathan Naimon. "The benefits of improving fuel economy in the huge and growing SUV segment should dwarf the air quality improvements resulting from enhancing fuel economy in the compact market."

Ford has produced demonstration hybrid SUVs for some years but it was its decision to start making the car available to the public, and market it aggressively, that triggered LGA's decision, says Naimon. GM is instead focussing its efforts on hydrogen-fuelled cars, which LGA doubts will deliver as much environmental benefit in the short-term because of their reliance on fossil fuels as a source of hydrogen.

Japan's Toyota and Honda already make hybrid cars that run on a combination of fuel and electricity, and are part of LGA's international Global Eco Index.


Updated 23 April 2004