Carbon Disclosure Project urges Global 100 to reflect IPPC scientific recommendations
September 1, 2009
A new report published by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) has found that the world’s largest companies are running 39 years too slow to avoid dangerous climate change, and that by current reduction levels, are only on track to reach the recommended level of greenhouse gas cuts by 2089.
More than 2000 major corporations report their greenhouse gas emissions data to the CDP annually. While the report, The Carbon Chasm, shows that the Global 100 is on track for an annual reduction of just 1.9% per annum, this is well below the 3.9% needed in order to cut emissions in developed economies by 80% in 2050.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC), developed economies must reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80–95% by 2050 in order to avoid dangerous climate change, ie companies effectively need to double their pace of CO2 reduction.
The report makes a number of recommendations, including that:
- every company should set a CO2 reduction target
- targets must have clear baseline and target years
- governments need to agree clear medium and long-term reduction goals in Copenhagen to provide a framework for business to set required targets
- company targets should reflect the IPCC scientific recommendations and while absolute targets are preferred for clarity, aggressive intensity targets can also deliver
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