Brussels, 06/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - Climate action has reached the boardroom of businesses, and it is European businesses which are the most committed to the cause, according to the latest annual report of CDP (Driving Sustainable Economies).
With three weeks to go until COP 21, this non-profit organisation, which holds the largest environmental database and businesses in the whole world, published its 2015 annual report on climate change on Wednesday 4 November, on behalf of 822 investors representing more than 86,000 billion euros of assets.
The report shows that 90% of the businesses which provide their data to CDP are taking measures to reduce their carbon footprint, whilst fewer than 50% of them did so five years ago.
Published on the same day, the Climate A List, a global list of companies identified as doing the most to attenuate climate change, shows that Europe is leading this particular field. Of the 2,000 or so businesses which submitted their data for an independent assessment under the CDP methodology, most of the companies taking action and making investments to prepare for the transition to a low-carbon economy are European.
46% of the businesses on this list are European, with Spain (10 companies) and the United Kingdom (9 companies) featuring the highest. “Ambitious, long-term EU policies have certainly contributed to stimulating this development (…). Given its historical contribution to climate change however, Europe has a moral obligation to find the solutions”, comments Steven Tebbe, director general of CDP Europe.
The sectors represented the most in this classification are industry (28%), the financial sector (15%), consumer staples (13%) and consumer discretionary (11%), whilst the energy and healthcare sectors are lagging a long way behind (2%).
The study shows that the 262 largest businesses (93.3% of the FTSEurofirst 300 index, one of the leading pan- European indices) which have subscribed to transparency via CDP are including climate action in their management strategies. And almost all of these (99%) confer climate change responsibility to the board of administration or the executive level and are including a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in their activities. 98% of these businesses encourage the political decision-makers to broaden the spectrum of climate action and show openness towards a healthy climate policy. CDP notes that “Agricultural Bank of China, Bershire Hathaway, Colruyt, Facebook and Swatch are notable by their absence” from this report. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)