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Case Study

Weathering the storm of investor risk at RWE: WWF’s assessment

By Ulrich Steger, Sophie Linguri Coughlan and Aileen Ionescu-Somers

11 pages

March 2008

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Reference: IMD-2-0137

In November 2006, WWF Germany and Sustainable Asset Management (SAM) published the report Carbonizing Valuation: Assessing Corporate Value at Risk. The report argued that utility companies’ financial value was at considerable risk in a future with stricter laws restricting carbon emissions. It modeled cash flows from a selection of German electric utility RWE’s power plants and concluded that if RWE treated carbon emissions as business-as-usual, it could lose up to 17% of its net-equity value. As Joachim Löchte, RWE Group Head of Energy/Environmental Policy, read the report, he noted that the replacement scenarios modeled fuel-by-fuel, coal and gas but omitted two possibilities: nuclear energy and renewable energy. He sent an email outlining his concerns with the report and its assumptions to author Matthias Kopp at WWF. Kopp replied by inviting Löchte to be on a panel at the report’s launch in London in January, to express his opinion to the financial community in attendance. The financial impact of climate change had become highly visible, and Löchte knew the event would be well attended. He wondered who from RWE should attend the meeting. Was it significant enough for the CFO or COO to attend? What communication strategy could RWE adopt around this issue?

Learning Objective

This case looks at the differences between how a company and an NGO assess the financial risk posed by carbon. Underlying this difference in opinion are fundamental differences in what corporate sustainability looks like. How seriously should companies take stakeholder initiatives which criticize their sustainability strategy? Should they alter their communications strategy to respond to such criticism? Is it possible for companies and NGOs to learn from one another and to converge in their opinions?

Keywords

Climate Change, Investor Risk, Electric Power Utilities, Energy, Corporate Sustainability Management

Settings

Germany
2006-2007

Type

Field Research

Available Languages

English

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Case reference: IMD-2661 ©2025

Summary

Shenzhen Power-Solution (SPS), founded in 2009 in China as an entrepreneurial venture, disrupted traditional lighting markets in African villages with its flagship product, Candles Killer. This solar lamp, priced under $5, replaces hazardous kerosene lamps and has an optimized design (9 components, water-bottle stands). The candles killer solar lamp addresses the critical need for affordable, safe and sustainable lighting for people at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP), a huge market that multinationals struggle to reach. By achieving both low cost and differentiation, SPS created a blue ocean market. The company has made remarkable progress in its mission to provide solar lighting to underserved communities: by 2023, it illuminated over 55 million people across 7.8 million households in 66 countries. Beyond social impact, SPS achieved environmental sustainability at scale, reducing cumulative carbon emissions by 6.7 million tons, the equivalent of planting 368 million evergreen trees. Candles Killer's success led SPS to expand its product line into a solar home system for phone charging and multi-bulb lighting. SPS also introduced Solar Media, a platform with pre-loaded content (medical tips, farming methods, education) to share vital knowledge in remote regions.

Reference IMD-2661

Organization Shenzhen Power-Solution

Industry Energy;Utilities, Electricity Supply;Consumer Goods, Consumer Electronics

Available Languages English

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