Independent survey highlights slow progress on corporate emissions
Wednesday, 11 May 2011 16:53 | 
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The findings of a survey by the Environmental Investment Organisation (EIO), a UK-based research body, show that the majority of Europe´s 300 largest companies are still failing to provide complete and verified carbon emissions figures. Besides, it appears that wide differences in carbon intensity remain within industry sectors...
The ´ET Europe 300 Carbon Ranking´ doesn´t only focus on corporate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but also on levels of disclosure and verification. It has been carried out following a transparent methodology based on public reporting of Scope 1 & 2 carbon emission according to the widely accepted ´Greenhouse Gas Protocol´.
This carbon ranking is topped by two insurance and asset management companies, UK-based Aviva and Dutch firm Aegon, with respective carbon intensities of 0.85 and 1.35 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per million dollar turnover (tCO2e/$M turnover). The top three non-financial companies are Switzerland's leading Telecoms provider Swisscom (5th, with 2.16), followed by Nokia (11th, with 5.61) and BSkyB (13th, with 6.69).
According to the EIO, only 43% of Europe´s 300 largest firms publicly disclose complete and independently verified data on their direct emissions and those related to their electricity use. 13% don´t disclose any data at all.
Sam Gill, Operational Director of the EIO, stressed that the purpose of this carbon raking was to increase transparency on business emissions, but also "to form the basis of a series of stock market indexes, designed specifically to provide the investment community with a viable tool for tackling climate change." He went on saying that "investing in a way which can help tackle climate change is an essential component of intelligent long-term investment".
Following the same methodology, the EIO is currently working on further regional rankings to be published in the coming months: the ´ET North America 300´, ´Asia-Pacific 300´ and ´BRICS 100´ (for Brazil, Russia, India, China & South Africa). These will be followed by the ´ET Global 800´ which will rank the largest companies in the world with no geographical bias. The EIO intends to use these ´ET Carbon Rankings´ to create a series of real-time mainstream investment indexes. The ´ET Europe 300´ is due to be released as "live" index from next week onwards.
Michael Gill, EIO Chairman and founder, urged the investment community to seize the initiative: "With world governments unable to agree on solutions and paralysed by political realities, we have to explore all available options before it is too late. We urgently need to start considering ways in which we can harness the enormous power wielded by the investment system and use it to change corporate behaviour and cut emissions. No-one claiming to be concerned about climate change can legitimately ignore the potential of the ET Index system to achieve rapid results."
The ´ET Europe 300 Carbon Ranking´ doesn´t only focus on corporate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but also on levels of disclosure and verification. It has been carried out following a transparent methodology based on public reporting of Scope 1 & 2 carbon emission according to the widely accepted ´Greenhouse Gas Protocol´.
This carbon ranking is topped by two insurance and asset management companies, UK-based Aviva and Dutch firm Aegon, with respective carbon intensities of 0.85 and 1.35 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per million dollar turnover (tCO2e/$M turnover). The top three non-financial companies are Switzerland's leading Telecoms provider Swisscom (5th, with 2.16), followed by Nokia (11th, with 5.61) and BSkyB (13th, with 6.69).
According to the EIO, only 43% of Europe´s 300 largest firms publicly disclose complete and independently verified data on their direct emissions and those related to their electricity use. 13% don´t disclose any data at all.
Sam Gill, Operational Director of the EIO, stressed that the purpose of this carbon raking was to increase transparency on business emissions, but also "to form the basis of a series of stock market indexes, designed specifically to provide the investment community with a viable tool for tackling climate change." He went on saying that "investing in a way which can help tackle climate change is an essential component of intelligent long-term investment".
Following the same methodology, the EIO is currently working on further regional rankings to be published in the coming months: the ´ET North America 300´, ´Asia-Pacific 300´ and ´BRICS 100´ (for Brazil, Russia, India, China & South Africa). These will be followed by the ´ET Global 800´ which will rank the largest companies in the world with no geographical bias. The EIO intends to use these ´ET Carbon Rankings´ to create a series of real-time mainstream investment indexes. The ´ET Europe 300´ is due to be released as "live" index from next week onwards.
Michael Gill, EIO Chairman and founder, urged the investment community to seize the initiative: "With world governments unable to agree on solutions and paralysed by political realities, we have to explore all available options before it is too late. We urgently need to start considering ways in which we can harness the enormous power wielded by the investment system and use it to change corporate behaviour and cut emissions. No-one claiming to be concerned about climate change can legitimately ignore the potential of the ET Index system to achieve rapid results."
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