Media
Press boilerplate, key statistics, and a downloadable press kit.
About Carbon Quotient and the CQ500 Index
The CQ500 Index™ measures how exposed 500 U.S. large-cap public companies' physical assets are to premature climate-driven obsolescence. Its namesake metric, the Carbon Quotient Ratio, divides each company's Scope 1 emissions by its tangible assets — not revenue or market cap — weighted by how long those assets have left in service and the cost to permanently remove carbon from the atmosphere. Unlike proprietary ESG scores, every metric is fully reproducible from a company's own SEC filings and public emissions disclosures. The CQ500 Index is free for journalists, academics, investors, lenders, and corporate managers, and is published independently by C.G. Rogers & Co., LLC, with no institutional affiliation.
Key statistics
- For fiscal year 2024, 439 of the 500 companies in the Reference Index (87.8%) disclosed the data needed to compute a Carbon Quotient Ratio (see FAQ for the sector-by-sector breakdown of the rest).
- At a $100/tCO2e carbon price, 46 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.
- Mean Carbon Quotient Ratio by sector spans roughly 297x, from 0.005 (Financials) to 1.43 (Utilities) — fossil-fuel power generators carry unrealized carbon expense worth multiples of their tangible assets, while asset-light software and financial-data companies carry almost none.
About the founder
The Carbon Quotient methodology and the CQ500 Index were developed by Greg Rogers, a Fellow and accounting program advisor at Cambridge Judge Business School; an environmental lawyer; a retired Certified Public Accountant; and the author of Financial Reporting of Environmental Liability and Risk after Sarbanes-Oxley (Wiley 2005).
Join the conversation
Greg Rogers hosts Climate-Related Financial Disclosure on LinkedIn, where practitioners discuss the CQ500 Index and related transition-risk topics. Follow Carbon Quotient on LinkedIn or X for index updates.
Press kit
A one-page PDF summary and the CQ mark for use in coverage.
Trademark & citation guidelines
Carbon Quotient® publishes the CQ500™ Index and the Carbon Quotient Ratio as free, reproducible benchmarks of climate transition risk. Because the value of these marks depends on wide, accurate citation — not on restricting use — this section is designed to make correct use effortless.
Our marks
| Mark | What it identifies |
|---|---|
| Carbon Quotient® | The source of the CQ500 Index. |
| CQ500™ | An index of U.S. large-cap public companies weighted by exposure to climate transition risk. |
How to refer to our work
- Pair the mark with a generic descriptor, especially on first use — “the CQ500 Index,” not “CQ500” alone as a noun.
- Use ® or ™, as applicable, on first reference in a given article, report, or chart.
- Don't use the marks as verbs or common nouns — avoid “to CQ a company” or “a company's carbon quotient.”
- Capitalize consistently: Carbon Quotient, CQ500 Index.
| Context | Correct | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Referring to the index | “According to the CQ500 Index…” | “According to CQ500…” |
| Referring to the metric | “…a Carbon Quotient Ratio of 0.75…” | “…a carbon quotient of 0.75…” |
| Describing the metric | “Carbon Quotient Ratio, a metric developed by Carbon Quotient” | “the carbon quotient ratio, an industry metric” |
Attribution
Suggested attribution for articles, reports, and charts using CQ500 Index data:
“Source: CQ500 Index, Carbon Quotient.”
Free editorial & research use
Journalists, academics, investors, lenders, and corporate managers may cite CQ500 Index risk metrics, rankings, and charts freely in news, research, and internal analysis, provided that:
- the source is attributed as shown above;
- figures are not materially altered or presented out of the context in which Carbon Quotient published them; and
- the Carbon Quotient and CQ500 name or logo is not used in a way that implies Carbon Quotient's endorsement of, or partnership with, a third party, without permission.
No separate permission is required for standard news, academic, or research use of the summary charts and data points published on the Portal.
Logo & visual assets
Approved logo files are available in the press kit above. Please don't alter colors or proportions, or add taglines to the logo.
Commercial & derivative use
Building a paid product on the CQ500 Index or Carbon Quotient data — an index-linked financial instrument (e.g. an ETF or structured note), a licensed data feed, or integration into a third-party commercial platform — requires a written license from Carbon Quotient. Email admin@carbonquotient.com or use the contact form to discuss terms.
Press contact
For interviews, data requests, or embargoed access, reach out via the contact page.