Business commitments to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions will not be enough to keep global warming below the critical 20C threshold, report concludes.
The report, Out of the starting blocks: Tracking progress on corporate climate action, finds that a transition to a low-carbon economy is under way, with 85% of the 1,089 companies who disclose to the CDP committed to emissions reductions. However, it points out that many corporate emissions targets are unambitious or inadequate and will only take companies one quarter of the way to keeping global warming below 2˚C.
Compiled by CDP, a non-profit global environmental data platform, in partnership with We Mean Business, the report presents baseline emissions and climate change mitigation data from 1,089 world-leading companies, which collectively account for 12% of global greenhouse-gas emissions.
Although 55% of the firms surveyed have targets for 2020, just 14% set goals for 2030 or beyond. This lack of a long-term vision must change to achieve a transition to well below 2°C, the report warns.
Paul Simpson, chief executive at the CDP, said: ‘This baseline-setting report uses data related to companies' activities pre-Paris Agreement; it shows that, while many are already on the right path, there is still a large gap to close. With hundreds of companies already disclosing to CDP that they anticipate substantive changes to their business resulting from the Paris deal, we expect to see a shift to longer-term, more science-based targets in future years.’
The Paris Agreement gained added momentum last December when more than 5,000 global companies and investors pledged action on climate change at the talks. However, the CDP found that just 114 multinationals have signed up to science-based targets to cut emissions. Of companies submitting data to CDP, only 19% of the targets were science-based. A further 40% said they planning to set science-based targets in the next two years.
We Mean Business’ chief executive officer Nigel Topping said: ‘We know that global business is instrumental in creating a below 2˚C world; this report shows that some companies are already reaping the business benefits of early action on climate.’
Despite the poor performance by some multinationals, the report notes that more than 60 companies that have shown impressive growth figures and reduced GHG emissions. UK retailer J Sainsbury’s, for example has reduced its emissions by 22% while increasing revenue by 18%, achieving a 28% drop in emissions intensity.
