C.G. Rogers & Co., LLC · Advisory

Start with your situation.

Carbon Quotient Ratio (CQR) analysis, applied to your portfolio, your clients, or your own company. Choose the description closest to you to see what we can do, with a worked example.

Engagements use the latest financial and emissions data available for each company, so they are not limited to the index's fiscal year. They can also cover unlisted companies where reliable data exists.

How a score becomes a diagnosis

CQR = Carbon Intensity × PPE LifeIndex metricThe financial risk that a company's assets become prematurely obsolete.
- Carbon Intensity = Carbon Expense ÷ PPEIndex metricWhat the company's emissions would cost, relative to what it owns.
  - Energy Mix = Carbon Expense ÷ BTUs consumedRequires client energy dataWhat is being burned. Addressed by fuel switching, power purchase agreements, or electrification.
  - Energy Intensity = BTUs consumed ÷ PPERequires client energy dataHow efficiently the assets use energy. Addressed by retrofits and capital upgrades.
- PPE Life = PPE ÷ DepreciationIndex metricThe estimated operating life of the company's assets.

Carbon Expense is emissions at a uniform $100 per ton. PPE is property, plant and equipment.

Same score, different prescription

Two companies can carry the same CQR for different reasons, and the reasons call for different action plans.

Company A

CQR 1.4 = Carbon Intensity 0.07 × PPE Life 20 years

DriverEnergy Mix. Its plants run on a high-carbon fuel under existing supply contracts.

ActionFuel switching, a power purchase agreement, or electrification. Capital outlay is comparatively low, payback is faster, and the physical plant stays the same.

Company B

CQR 1.4 = Carbon Intensity 0.07 × PPE Life 20 years

DriverEnergy Intensity. Aging equipment uses far more energy per dollar of assets than its peers.

ActionA capital retrofit or equipment replacement, tied to the asset's own replacement cycle. Outlay is higher and payback is slower.

Illustrative example with fictional companies and made-up figures. Not CQ500 Index data.

I am a…

What we can do
- Borrower screen
  CQR for each borrower in a defined portfolio, ranked, with outliers flagged and the inputs behind every score shown.
  DeliverableRanked workbook and a short findings memo
- Sector concentration review
  Shows where the risk of premature asset obsolescence clusters across your sectors and relationship tiers.
  DeliverableConcentration summary for the credit committee
- Credit team briefing
  A working session for risk and credit officers on how CQR is built and where it fits beside existing underwriting inputs.
  DeliverableSession and reference notes
- Diagnose, then act
  For each flagged borrower, shows whether the score comes from the fuel mix, from energy use per dollar of assets, or from the estimated operating life of the assets. That tells you what to ask the borrower for: a fuel-switching plan, a retrofit schedule, or neither. The two energy measures need the borrower's own energy data.
  DeliverableDriver breakdown and suggested questions for each flagged borrower
Illustrative example
A lender with utility and industrial exposure screens its 40 largest borrowers. Two borrowers in the same sector with similar revenue differ more than tenfold in CQR. The committee sees which relationships to review first, and why.
CQ500 Index, FY2024Among electric utilities in the index, Duke Energy's CQR of 1.26 is about 117 times Eversource Energy's 0.01.
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What we can do
- Account screen
  CQR for the industrial, energy, and utility accounts in a book, showing which carry the most obsolescence risk relative to what they own.
  DeliverableRanked account list with score drivers
- Investment portfolio review
  The same screen applied to the equity and credit holdings on your own balance sheet.
  DeliverableHoldings report for the investment committee
- Underwriting and risk briefing
  How CQR is built, what moves a score, and how it differs from emissions intensity.
  DeliverableSession and reference notes
Illustrative example
A reinsurer reviews its twenty largest power-generation accounts. Accounts of similar size show very different scores, and the drivers explain why: emissions, estimated operating life, or the size of the asset base.
CQ500 Index, FY2024Size does not decide the score. ExxonMobil's CQR is 0.44 on $453 billion of assets. Duke Energy's is 1.26 on $186 billion.
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What we can do
- Holdings screen
  CQR across your listed equity holdings, compared within sector so the ranking reflects real differences between peers.
  DeliverableRanked holdings and sector comparison
- Engagement shortlist
  A short list of holdings where an engagement conversation has the most to clarify, with the data behind each.
  DeliverableShortlist with talking points for stewardship staff
- Trustee and committee session
  A plain-language walkthrough of what CQR measures and what it does not.
  DeliverablePresentation and one-page summary
Illustrative example
A pension fund with 300 listed holdings runs the screen, and twenty-five stand out within their sectors. The stewardship team receives a shortlist with each company's emissions, asset life, and asset base laid out side by side.
CQ500 Index, FY2024At $100/tCO2e, 48 of the 500 largest U.S. publicly traded corporations would report a net loss, and 67 would have negative stockholder's equity, if required to permanently remove the greenhouse gases they emit.
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What we can do
- Screen and tilt design
  Rules for using CQR to screen or weight a large-cap universe, built around comparison with sector peers.
  DeliverableWritten construction rules and methodology document
- Research protocol
  A pre-registered test design, so results are judged against rules set before the data is seen.
  DeliverableProtocol document
- Licensing discussion
  Use of the CQR methodology and CQ500 data in investable benchmarks and products. Scoped separately from project advisory work.
  DeliverableLicensing outline
Illustrative example
A sponsor wants a large-cap strategy that avoids the sharpest obsolescence risk without giving up sector balance. The construction rules compare each company with its sector peers and document every input, so the strategy can be explained to investors.
CQ500 Index, FY2024Mean CQR by sector spans roughly 303 times, from 0.005 (Financials) to 1.47 (Utilities).
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What we can do
- Peer benchmark
  Your CQR beside a defined peer set, using the latest financial and emissions data.
  DeliverableBenchmark report
- Driver analysis
  Breaks the score into its three inputs: emissions, estimated operating life of assets, and what the company owns. Shows which changes would move it.
  DeliverableDriver breakdown and sensitivity table
- Investor and board preparation
  Helps you explain your position and anticipate questions from lenders and investors who run the same calculation.
  DeliverableBriefing materials
- Diagnose, then act
  Turns the driver analysis into a short list of action options, such as fuel switching, a power purchase agreement, or an equipment retrofit, with what each would and would not change in your score. Choosing between options on cost needs project-level capital budgeting with a carbon cost added, which is a separate step.
  DeliverableAction options memo
Illustrative example
A finance team asks why its CQR is about twice its peers' median (a higher CQR means more financial risk). The driver analysis shows most of the gap comes from a long estimated operating life on a large share of its assets, which keeps their emissions on the balance sheet for longer. The team learns the conversation should start with that asset base.
CQ500 Index, FY2024Among multi-utilities in the index, Dominion Energy's CQR of 1.35 is about 12 times Consolidated Edison's 0.11.
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What we can do
- Pre-deal screen
  CQR for a target, including unlisted companies where reliable data exists, set against listed comparables.
  DeliverableShort screening memo
- Portfolio company review
  A review of existing holdings to find where obsolescence risk is concentrated before it surfaces in a refinancing or an exit.
  DeliverablePortfolio summary
- Exit readiness
  Prepares a company for the questions a buyer or lender is likely to ask.
  DeliverableAnalysis and briefing pack
- Diagnose, then act
  For a target or portfolio company, separates a fuel-mix problem, which a supply contract or electrification can often address, from an energy-use problem, which usually needs capital spending on equipment. The answer shapes the capital plan and the price conversation. The two energy measures need the company's own energy data.
  DeliverableDriver breakdown with the matching action path
Illustrative example
A sponsor evaluating a carve-out of power and industrial plants gets a CQR estimate built from the target's financial statements and emissions data, placed beside listed peers. The analysis complements environmental due diligence and does not replace it.
CQ500 Index, FY2024451 of the 500 companies in the index (90.2%) disclosed the data needed to compute a CQR.
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What we can do
- Co-delivery
  We join your team on a client engagement, run the CQR analysis, and present it alongside your work.
  DeliverableAnalysis and client presentation
- Subcontract analysis
  Your team scopes the engagement and we deliver the CQR workpapers under your direction.
  DeliverableWorkpapers and documentation
- Methodology training
  Teaches your people to calculate and interpret CQR from financial statements and emissions disclosures.
  DeliverableTraining session and worked templates
Illustrative example
An advisory team is helping a utility client think through asset lives and transition risk. A CQR analysis adds a measure built from the depreciation and asset figures the team already works with every day.
CQ500 Index, FY2024Of the 451 companies with a computable CQR, 300 disclose depreciation separately. The other 151 report only combined depreciation and amortization, which affects the asset-life input.
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What we can do
- Disclosure support
  CQR analysis to inform how a client describes financial risk tied to its asset base.
  DeliverableAnalysis memo for counsel
- Transaction diligence
  Analysis of asset-heavy targets for deal teams, delivered to counsel.
  DeliverableDiligence workpaper
- Support in disputes
  Analysis for counsel where asset obsolescence and valuation are at issue, or where climate risk disclosure and greenwashing claims turn on how a company's statements compare with its assets and emissions.
  DeliverableAnalysis and supporting materials
Analysis and expert input only. Not legal advice.
Illustrative example
Counsel preparing a disclosure review for an asset-heavy client asks how the company's CQR compares with its sector. The memo lays out the inputs and the comparison, so counsel can decide what to say and how to say it.
CQ500 Index, FY2024466 of the 500 companies reported their 2024 emissions, and only one, ONEOK, disclosed them in its 10-K.
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Who is behind this

Greg Rogers is an accountant and environmental attorney, and the inventor of the Carbon Quotient® methodology, published as open source in 2020. He is a Fellow and Advisor to the Master of Accounting Programme at Cambridge Judge Business School, the author of a book on environmental financial reporting (Wiley, 2005), and co-author of two Stanford GSB case studies on environmental liability.

Independence

The CQ500 Index is free and independent. Advisory work does not change the index methodology or its published scores.

Nothing on this page, in the CQ500 Index, or in our advisory work is investment advice, a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security, or an offer or solicitation to do so. Our analysis is provided for information and does not take account of any person's investment objectives, financial situation, or needs.

What CQR is and is not

CQR measures financial risk: the risk that a company's assets become prematurely obsolete. It is an input to professional judgment. It has not been validated as a predictor of credit losses or investment returns, and the examples on this page illustrate method, not results. Index figures cover fiscal year 2024. The FY2025 update is targeted for February 1, 2027.

Bank or lenderWhere is financial risk building in my loan book?

What we can do

Insurer or reinsurerWhich insured and invested assets are most exposed to premature obsolescence?

What we can do

Pension fund, endowment, or foundationWhich holdings deserve a conversation?

What we can do

Asset manager or fund sponsorCan CQR support a screen, a benchmark, or a product?

What we can do

Corporate finance or sustainability leaderHow does my company's CQR compare with peers, and why?

What we can do

Private equity firm or deal teamWhat does this asset's transition risk do to the deal?

What we can do

Accounting or advisory firmCan a CQR analysis sit inside my client engagement?

What we can do

Law firmCan CQR analysis support my client matter?

What we can do

Who is behind this

Independence

What CQR is and is not