The Church of England and the Environment Agency are among the organisations that have launched a new tool which ranks companies’ sustainability credentials.

It aims to help make climate concerns a more important part of investment decisions.

A total of 13 investors, five asset managers and a range of other groups worth a combined £2 trillion have announced the Transition Pathway Initiative (TPI), a public and transparent tool to assess how different firms are preparing for the transition to a green economy.

The groups, which also include Aviva Investors and Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics, say this is becoming an increasingly important part of a firm’s value.

Preliminary assessments released today focus on oil and gas producers as well as power utilities, with information for additional sectors to be released in the coming months.

The data has already shown that the vast majority of businesses  – 39 out of 40 – are acknowledging climate change as a business issue.

The most common factor hindering progress appears to be a reluctance to set defined emission reduction targets, which 26 out of 40 companies have failed to do, the companies state.

Carbon disclosure is another area that needs improvement, they add.

Emma Howard Boyd, Chair of the Environment Agency said: “Businesses should be able explain to investors how they plan to manage climate change risks, invest and innovate on the way to the zero-carbon economy of the future.

“With the launch of the Transition Pathway Initiative, asset owners from around the world are sending a strong signal that portfolios will align in the future with companies that are taking the transition to a low carbon economy seriously.”