Out of the starting blocks: tracking progress on corporate climate action

Major new report shows how leading multinationals are looking to seize the opportunities presented by decarbonisation, but a rump of corporate laggards risk missing out on low carbon transition. The Paris Agreement could help trigger a new era of business engagement with climate-related risks and opportunities, but the vast majority of blue chip firms are still yet to deliver ambitious decarbonisation strategies in line with the international treaty. That is one of the conclusions from a major new report released by CDP, which argues that while a handful of multinationals have embraced science-based emissions targets a majority are yet to develop strategies that are compatible with the 2C temperature goal agreed by the world's governments. The new report, which has been developed in partnership with international green business group We Mean Business, is intended as the first in an annual series designed to track the corporate response to global efforts to deliver a net zero emission economy this century, as agreed in the soon to be ratified Paris Treaty. It draws on climate change and carbon emission data disclosed to CDP by 1,089 listed companies in response to data requests submitted by the NGO on behalf of the 827 institutional investors it represents. Combined, the companies studied account for 12 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. The report, entitled Out of the starting blocks: Tracking progress on corporate climate action, reveals carbon targets have become the norm amongst the world's blue chips, with 85 per cent of the companies in the sample already boasting at least one greenhouse gas emission reduction target.