The Climate Group’s RE100 initiative has celebrated gaining its 100th member this week. The initiative supports and showcases global businesses transitioning to 100% renewable electricity across their global operations and its membership now covers a total revenue of US$2.5 trillion.
The initiative – which is delivered in partnership with climate change research provider CDP – welcomed AkzoNobel, AXA, Burberry and Carlsberg as its latest member companies committing to 100% renewable power. Together, these companies are creating approximately 146 terawatt-hours (TWh) in demand for renewable electricity annually – about as much as it takes to power Poland or New York State, the Climate Group said.
Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change said: “Congratulations to all the companies, and all the individuals within those companies, who have joined the journey to a low carbon, resilient and dynamic future.
“This would not be happening without leadership—and not just at the level of the CEO or a company board. It has been a huge collective effort of people at all levels from those responsible for the business energy needs or the running of manufacturing facilities to those managing retail outlets or working in finance and purchasing.”
Responsible investment pressure group, ShareAction, that coordinates an investor group in support of the RE100 initiative said it was delighted to celebrate this milestone. The group was formed in 2015 following the Paris Agreement. Since then, the investor group in support of RE100 has doubled in size, growing to 50 members and surging past the $1 trillion threshold.
Meanwhile a report published by, CDP, in collaboration with the Climate Accountability Institute, has revealed that 71% of all global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions since 1988 can be traced to 100 fossil fuel producers.
The research also found that just 25 fossil fuel producers are linked to 51% of global industrial GHG emissions in the period from 1988 to 2015. Among the highest emitting companies named by CDP over the period since 1988 are publicly listed companies such as ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, Chevron, Peabody, Total, and BHP Billiton. State-owned entities such as Saudi Aramco, Gazprom, National Iranian Oil, Coal India and Pemex are also large emitters.
There has been a doubling in the contribution of fossil fuels to climate change since 1988, CDP said. The research also revealed that fossil fuel company operations and products worldwide have released more emissions in the last 28 years than in the 237 years previously.
Pedro Faria, technical director at CDP said: “The report shows that investors in fossil fuel companies own a great legacy of almost a third of all industrial GHG emissions, and carry influence over one fifth of the world’s industrial GHG emissions today. That puts a significant responsibility on those investors to engage with carbon majors and urge them to disclose climate risk in line with the FSB Task Force for Climate-related Financial Disclosure recommendations, and set ambitious emission reduction targets through the Science Based Targets initiative to ensure they are aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement.”
If the trend in fossil fuel extraction continues over the next 28 years as it has over the last 28, global average temperatures would be on course to rise by 4ºC by the end of the century CDP said. The report warned that a temperature rise on that scale would be likely to result in substantial species extinction and large food scarcity risks worldwide.
Separately CDP has launched Climetrix which it claims is the world’s first climate impact rating for investment funds. This rating, CDP said, would shine a light of transparency on the €3 trillion European fund market and would enable all financial actors to integrate climate into their investment decisions.
Climetric will provide a rating more than 2,500 funds for sale in Europe – covering €2 trillion of assets and overall results will be made public. CDP said that the rating would be produced using a methodology that accounts for climate impact at a portfolio, asset manager and fund strategy level.
Last Updated: 14 July 2017