CDP attracts record support for environmental reporting work
June 25, 2021
The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) has attracted record support for its 2021 campaign for corporate environmental reporting.
The non-profit group said this week that 168 investors and financial institutions were backing this year’s campaign. The investment groups, which between them have assets under management of $17 trillion, include Amundi, Aviva, Cathay Financial Holdings, HSBC Global Asset Management, Legal & General Investment Management, M&G Investments, Nuveen, Schroders and Union Investment.
The number of investment groups joining the 2021 campaign is up by 56% on 2020.
The campaign urges corporations to disclose the environmental impact of their business through CDP’s disclosure platform and in line with the Task Force on Climate-related Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations. CDP’s aim is to establish a global standard and data source on corporate environmental impacts.
The number of companies being targeted by this year’s campaign is 29% higher than last year, totaling 1,320 global companies from 51 countries and including Netflix, Alibaba, Rio Tinto and Roche Holdings.
According to CDP, the 1,320 companies between them emit the equivalent of 4,700 megatonnes of carbon dioxide. The figure is equivalent to the entire CO2 emissions of the European Union.
Most of the companies do not currently make any environmental disclosures though CDP, the campaign organisation said. About one in five already make some disclosures through CDP on at least one of its key environmental themes – climate change, forests, and water security. The group says these companies have been identified as having material environmental impacts in others area and need to make further disclosures.
Emily Kreps, global director of capital markets at CDP, said: “Investor engagement is critical to driving disclosure, and disclosure is the first step to environmental action. Climate change, deforestation and water security present material risks to investments, and companies that are failing to disclose their impact risk trailing behind their competitors in their access to capital.”
She added that the global pandemic had raised awareness among investors of the need to engage on global risks. “Rather than diverting attention, the COVID-19 pandemic is focusing investors on the need to meet global systemic risks such as climate change and the tide is rapidly turning against companies not taking note of investor demands,” she said.
Environmental reporting is set to become a mainstay of sustainable finance. If your organisation is just starting to explore what sustainable finance means to you, check out our short Minerva Briefing on sustainable finance titled ‘Acronyms to Action: demystifying sustainable finance jargon‘.
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