Latest News by Industry
• Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor evaluated climate action claims of 25 major companies
• The study assessed the transparency of each firm’s headline climate pledges and gave them an “integrity” rating
A study conducted by NewClimate Institute in collaboration with Carbon Market Watch revealed that 25 of the world’s largest companies’ claims to combat climate change cannot be taken at face value.
The report suggested that in reality, these companies are only committing to reducing their emissions by 40% on average, not 100% as suggested by their “net-zero” and “carbon neutral” claims.
Also Read: COP26: Long way ahead for zero-emission vehicles despite national leaders’ pledge for EV push
The Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor evaluated 25 major companies, operating across different sectors and geographies, to determine the transparency and integrity of their headline climate pledges.
The study found that the pledges of Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Deutsche Telekom, Enel, GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK), Google (NYSE: GOOG), Hitachi, IKEA, Vale, Volkswagen, and Walmart have low integrity.
Accenture (NYSE: ACN), BMW Group, Carrefour, CVS Health, Deutsche Post DHL, E.ON SE, JBS, Nestlé, Novartis, Saint-Gobain, and Unilever (NYSE: UL) have very low integrity.
The report said that Maesrk came out on top with reasonable integrity, followed by Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Sony, and Vodafone with moderate integrity.
The 25 firms evaluated to account for roughly 5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, the report says. This reaffirms the scale of their carbon footprint and underlines the potential they have in spearheading the effort to tackle the climate crisis.
“Misleading advertisements by companies have real impacts on consumers and policymakers. We’re fooled into believing that these companies are taking sufficient action when the reality is far from it,” said Gilles Dufrasne from Carbon Market Watch. “Without more regulation, this will continue. We need governments and regulatory bodies to step up and put an end to this greenwashing trend.”
Picture Credits: Reuters