CDP – are companies doing enough?

CDP has today released a report examining the findings of company disclosures to its Climate Change Questionnaire.

The report draws out similar themes to Carbon Clear’s FTSE 100 research, demonstrating that some leading companies are reporting and evidencing their sustainability activities, but too many are not doing enough.

Themes in this year’s CDP report include:

• A shift in thinking required to see the transition to a low carbon economy as an opportunity, rather than a restriction

   

• The importance of a robust strategy for the delivery of challenging targets

   

• Targets set by companies are achieving just one quarter of the emissions reductions required by science

   

• More companies are adopting carbon pricing but most companies lag in renewable energy production and consumption

   

• Companies are decoupling emissions from revenue, showing that the low carbon transition does not necessarily mean lower revenue

The scoring this year represents a baseline for corporate climate action against which CDP intends to monitor progress on targets aligned with climate science, carbon pricing and the use of renewable energy.

The scoring criteria were drastically altered for 2016 in an attempt to really drive best practice in companies’ CDP submissions.  Companies are now separated into four different bands that indicate progress towards environmental stewardship and given a grade to reflect their performance. Those scoring an A are on the Climate A list for demonstrating leadership in their approach to climate change.

Congratulations to the six Carbon Clear clients that are included on the Climate A List 2016.