In Wife We Trust

 

My wife often disagrees with me, not the least when it comes to cars. Eleven years ago I brought a 1995

model into our marriage. My wife never liked the car. Now we have a new one. And you are reading an

ERSTE RESPONSIBLE RETURN – The ESG-Letter about this topic.

 

To cut a long story short, my wife claimed that the old car was not only behind the times, but a new one would

be safer, nicer to look at, more comfortable, and also more energy-efficient. I on the other hand pointed out

that the production of a new car was more detrimental to the environment than the lower fuel consumption

would be able to offset. Usually our discussions all follow the same pattern: I have better information, my wife

has smarter arguments. Therefore I tried to answer one specific question: what about the carbon footprint of

our 1995 model, and how much energy does the production of the new car consume?

 

Here is our insight: there is no such thing as a holistic and generally understandable carbon footprint at this

point in time, nor is it likely to come into effect in the foreseeable future. And total energy consumption over

the life cycle of a product is not that easily established either. This situation notwithstanding, more and more

companies have been turning towards the issue of the carbon footprint. There are two reasons for that:

 

•  On the one hand companies use the carbon footprint specifically as marketing tool. We have seen such

developments in retail (Tesco, Casino), in IT (Apple and Lenovo), and in the food industry.

•  On the other hand the carbon footprint serves as management tool. Companies such as Puma calculate their

carbon footprint but do not make it public. This is based on the notion that the efficient use of resources also

contributes to the success of the company. The scientific finding that companies with low emissions promise

above-average ROIs supports this idea.

 

As you can see, I have informed myself. But my wife is smarter. How smart, is what I tend to realise whenever

I fill up to 300 kilometres later than I used to do.

 

Sincerely

​

Mag. Gerold Permoser

Chief Investment Officer (CIO)