Two-thirds of UK corporate carbon emissions not covered by reduction target: Report

LONDON - Two-thirds of British corporate emissions are not covered by decarbonisation targets while a fifth or more of companies with 2030 targets are not on course to meet them, a report from disclosure platform CDP and consultants Bain & Company showed.

In the UK Climate Report released on Thursday, CDP and Bain said the number of companies lagging was likely even greater when counting those which do not disclose to CDP or which have yet to set an emissions-reduction target.

The British government recently warned the country

was not on course to meet its end-decade goal

of cutting emissions by 60 per cent from 1990 levels, months before global climate talks in Dubai at which countries are being urged to set tougher targets.

The sluggish pace of change among British companies comes as regulators in Britain, the United States and the European Union look to mandate emissions disclosures, with rules set to take effect over the next couple of years.

“It is concerning that the majority of UK companies have yet to set and deliver on targets in line with the annual emissions reductions needed to align with a 1.5 deg C pathway,” CDP chief commercial and partnerships officer Dexter Galvin said in a statement.

“The fact is there are nowhere near enough companies taking the necessary steps to do this, even though it is good for business, people and planet.”

The report, which analysed 1,450 British companies to disclose through CDP, showed 64 per cent of Scope 1 and 2 emissions – those from a company’s own operations and those tied to its energy supply – were not covered by a reduction target.

For Scope 3 emissions – those tied to a company’s value chain – the figure was 69 per cent.

Of those companies to have set a 2030 target to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions, 21 per cent were on course to miss their goal. For Scope 3, 31 per cent of those with a target were set to miss it.

On a more positive note, the number of British companies disclosing to CDP rose 130 per cent between 2020 and 2022, and they were decarbonising faster than peers in Europe and the United States, the report showed. REUTERS