S&P Dow Jones Indices on Oct. 18 removed Florida-headquartered NextEra Energy Inc., one of the world's biggest renewable power companies, as well as 14 other utilities and power producers around the globe, from its S&P Global Clean Energy Index as part of a rebalancing to reduce the vehicle's carbon footprint and reflect "sustainable investing norms."
NextEra, the largest electric utility holding company in the U.S. with a market capitalization of $158.9 billion as of the Oct. 18 market close, was excluded specifically because its carbon-to-revenue footprint standard score was above three, according to S&P Dow Jones, which in September met with market participants to consult on potential changes to the index.
Other North American power producers removed for the same reason were: TransAlta Renewables Inc., ALLETE Inc., Avista Corp. and Idacorp Inc.
The changes include using S&P Global Trucost data to amend eligibility, updating the carbon intensity screen process and introducing new exclusion criteria, the announcement said.
Data from Trucost shows that nearly 15.5% of NextEra's revenues were exposed to energy and fossil fuels as of April 30, and Idacorp had 19% of revenues exposed to energy and fossil fuels as of that same date.
The U.K.'s Drax Group PLC, France's Albioma and China Longyuan Power Group Co. Ltd. were also removed by S&P Dow Jones Indices from the Clean Energy Index for having a carbon-to-revenue footprint standard score above three.
Sweden's Eolus Vind AB, Spain's Audax Renovables SA and South Korea's Hyundai Energy Solutions Co.Ltd. were removed due to their shares failing to clear a threshold for median daily trading value over six months.
Xcel Energy Inc., Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. and Enel SpA were removed from the list due to their exposure score.
San Francisco-headquartered PG&E Corp. was removed based on an exclusion due to business activity screening, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.
S&P Dow Jones Indices and S&P Global Market Intelligence are owned by S&P Global Inc.