A new report assessing the climate performance of 274 of the world’s highest-emitting publicly-listed companies finds that almost half (46%) do not adequately consider climate risk in operational decision-making. A quarter (25%) do not report their own emissions at all, undermining a key recommendation of the Taskforce for Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD).
The report assesses companies on “Management Quality” related to climate, but also goes further and analyzes “Carbon Performance,” in terms of current and planned GHG emissions. A total of 160 companies are analyzed on Carbon Performance and the research finds that only 20 companies, or one in eight, are aligned with a pathway that would keep global warming below 2°C.
The study was carried out for the Transition Pathway Initiative (TPI) by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics. It uses FTSE Russell data to analyze leading companies in 14 carbon-intensive sectors such as Oil and Gas, Electric Utilities, Automobiles, Airlines and Steel. These sectors account for 41% of global emissions from publicly listed companies worldwide. TPI is backed by investors with $14 trillion of assets including pension funds such as CalPERS and Environment Agency Pension Fund, and asset managers such as Legal & General Investment Management, BNP Paribas, Aberdeen Standard and Robeco. This report builds on TPI’s first “State of Transition” report released a year ago.
The report findings also include: