Climate Action 19 Dec 2018
COP 24: Limited progress but there is still hope in the fight against climate change
3 Min Reading Time
This morning CDP released the scores for the 2020 round of disclosures. Out of 9,617 companies disclosing, 270 have achieved a Leadership A-list ranking for the Climate Change Questionnaire, including our own parent company, Atos. This is compared to 179 in 2019. EcoAct’s clients, including Danone, Estee Lauder, L’Oreal, Tui, T-Mobile, Telefonica and United Airlines are among those achieving the highest-level score and demonstrating their leadership in addressing climate risks and contributing towards a low carbon future.
EcoAct is delighted to congratulate nineteen of its clients for achieving Leadership A-List status this year. Between them, these companies have gained 25 As across CDP’s three main Questionnaires. We are also really pleased to announce a very positive year across the board for our clients and partners, 88% of which have either improved their score or held their rating.
Each year our clients continue to climb the ranks of the CDP scores, and we are encouraged to see corporates raising their climate ambitions and working hard to improve their climate disclosures even in the face of unprecedented challenges due to the global coronavirus pandemic.
In fact, a record-breaking number of companies responded this year, which CDP report to be a 17% uplift on last year and a 70% increase since the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015. Companies representing over 50% of global market capital now respond to CDP, which is really promising progress given the growing urgency of the climate crisis and need for concerted action and, importantly, transparency.
CDP is one of the most comprehensive and internationally recognised sustainability reporting platforms. It works on behalf of investors representing US$106 trillion in assets, and around a third of the world’s invested capital. The scores published by CDP allow these investors to see that companies are incorporating sustainability into their business strategy and practices, so they can assess the climate risk of their portfolios.
The importance of good quality climate disclosures has never been more pressing, particularly in light of the massive impact the climate emergency poses to our global economy and the limited time we have left to limit global temperature rise and reach Net Zero.
In January this year, Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, which represents over $40 trillion of assets, stated that “in the near future – and sooner than most people think – there will be a significant reallocation of capital” calling on more and improved climate -related disclosures.
The increase in CDP disclosure this year seems to demonstrate the power wielded by the investor community to shape disclosures and drive forward progress on climate. We hope to see this progress continue into 2021.
No sooner have the scores been released, but attentions will start to turn to next year. EcoAct will be publishing a revised CDP factsheet summarising any updates to the Questionnaires and providing tips for how you can maximise your 2021 disclosures early in the New Year. Watch this space…
EcoAct are a Gold CDP Climate Change partner as well as a Gold CDP Partner for science-based targets. Every year we work with a wide range of companies across many different sectors to help them tackle the challenges of climate change, set ambitious climate targets and achieve improvements to their annual disclosures to CDP.
Choose EcoAct for industry-leading expertise in climate strategy and sustainability solutions. We’re here to guide your business through every step towards achieving your sustainability goals while supporting your operational success and market reputation.