A large majority of the world’s companies globally have committed to reducing their greenhouse gases, but very few have developed long-term plans to meet their goal, CDP said in a report Tuesday. “There has been significant improvement in recent years in the numbers of companies setting targets for emissions reductions, but these targets are in many cases unambitious in their time horizon. While 55% of companies have targets for 2020 and beyond, just 14% set goals for 2030 or beyond, a situation that must change to achieve a transition to [keeping global temperature rise] well below 2°C,” the report says.
In all, 85 percent of the more than 1,000 companies that voluntarily shared their climate change-related plans with CDP have some type of an emissions reduction target. “Setting targets is not enough, however, without realistic plans for meeting them. Even meeting those targets might not be enough if the targets themselves are inadequate,” the report says.
The report acknowledges that its numbers may be skewed. CDP’s data is mostly from calendar year 2015, which means it largely predates adoption of the Paris Agreement on climate change in December 2015. The agreement will enter into force on Nov. 4, much earlier that initially believed possible.
The accord and its quick ratification send a strong signal that the nations of the world are serious about tackling climate change; as a result “we may reasonably hope to see a jump in longer term targets in the next report, which will be based on data generated after the Paris Agreement,” the report says.
The new report will serve as a baseline for planned annual progress updates that will track corporate actions to address climate change post-Paris Agreement. “Companies across all sectors now have the chance to create this new economy and secure their future in doing so. High-quality information will signpost the way to this future for companies, investors and governments – never has there been a greater need for it,” CDP CEO Paul Simpson said in an introduction to the report.
