Company Profiles

Skanska

Sweden

Skanska is an environmental leader in the construction industry and recognizes climate change as one of the biggest environmental threats faced by the world today. Given that buildings account for 41% of energy use in Europe, and that approximately 80% of CO2 emissions associated with buildings are generated by their energy use, energy efficiency is a critical issue for Skanska. The company believes that the construction industry can make significant improvements, and to demonstrate this conviction Skanska has successfully lobbied at the EU level to increase building energy efficiency standards. The company works to propose higher environmental performance features to its clients, and its success is illustrated by the fact that approximately half of the company's projects (by value) exceed environmental compliance. While the majority of Skanska's sales are derived from the U.S. and European markets, a growing business market for Skanska is in Latin America. Here, many of Skanska's projects take place in areas that are sensitive to environmental impacts. We would like to see Skanska disclose additional information on its environmental and social risk assessment processes for these ecologically sensitive areas.

To the best of our knowledge the above information is accurate and was obtained from sources we believe to be reliable. Neither the information presented above nor any opinion expressed shall be construed as an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy the security. The views expressed are those of portfolio management as of 1/31/07 and may not reflect current opinions or subsequent events.