Investors call for private firms to disclose more environmental data

* Investors with $2.3 trln in assets target 1,000 firms

* M&G, Nuveen, Neuberger Berman among backers of initiative

* Non-profit disclosure platform CDP to oversee project

By Simon Jessop

LONDON, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Investors managing $2.3 trillion
in assets on Wednesday called for more than 1,000 private
companies to provide environmental data through non-profit
disclosure platform CDP to address a gap in transparency with
their listed peers.

CDP said the group, including Neuberger Berman and Nuveen,
had helped create a questionnaire for private firms that would
be used to benchmark them - a crucial step as they increasingly
snap up high-carbon assets from listed companies.

Those deals, such as oil major BP's $5.6 billion sale
of its Alaska Oil and Gas business to Hilcorp Energy, risked
hindering investors' handling of climate change risks given
private firms' reduced reporting requirements, the group said.

Other investors to back the initiative, dubbed the Private
Markets Pilot, include M&G, Beach Point Capital, Coller
Capital and Intermediate Capital Group.

The project comes as record amounts of capital are put to
work in private equity and debt markets by investors. Private
equity net asset value has grown three times as fast as public
markets since the turn of the century, the group said.

"Encouraging more private companies to actively measure and
disclose their carbon impacts - and also their water and
possible deforestation impacts - is no longer a nice to have -
it is essential to the low carbon transition," said Adam Black,
Partner and Head of ESG & Sustainability at Coller Capital.

"Moreover, it will better enable investors to make much more
informed investment management decisions when it comes to the
private markets."

Claire Elsdon, Joint Global Director of Capital Markets at
CDP, said the data from private companies was crucial to ensure
investors could meet their own commitments to reach net-zero
emissions across their portfolios by 2050.

"This pilot is essential to avoiding “emissions leakage”
between asset classes such as public companies selling
high-carbon intense assets to private companies in a bid to
avoid scrutiny and transparency," she added.
(Reporting by Simon Jessop
Editing by Mark Potter)

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