Coca-Cola Company, Johnson & Johnson, Sony, Volvo and other members of WWF’s Climate Savers program cut their carbon dioxide emissions by more than 100 million tons over the period 1999 to 2011, according to an independent review of the program released today.
The review, conducted by energy consultancy Ecofys, also found that by 2020, Climate Savers overall emissions savings since 1999 could exceed 350 million tons.
Climate Savers companies sign an agreement with WWF, pledging to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions. The agreed target must be more ambitious than the company would have set on its own, and must also show that the company is leading its sector in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
According to Ecofys’ analysis, if other major corporations followed Climate Savers’ lead in the 16 business sectors where the program is active, they could avoid between 500 million and one billion tons of emissions in 2020 alone.
Ecofys says these reductions could contribute up to 9 percent towards closing what UNEP calls the “emissions gap,” the difference between rising greenhouse gas emissions and what is needed to put the world on a path to limiting global warming to the level of 2 degrees Celsius.
Ecofys gathered emissions data from Climate Savers companies and then forecast emissions for the period after 2011 based on each company’s commitment. It developed a “business-as-usual” scenario showing emissions levels if companies had not taken on commitments. Annual savings in emissions equal the difference between business-as-usual and real and forecast emissions.
The emission calculations include direct emissions from a company’s operations, indirect emissions from purchased electricity, heat or steam, and other indirect emissions from the supply chain, not under the company’s control.
Current Climate Savers members include Alpro, Arjowiggins Graphic, Catalyst, The Coca-Cola Company, Collins Companies, Diversey, Elopak, Eneco, Fairmont, HP, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, KPN, Lafarge, National Geographic, Natura, Nike, Nokia Siemens Networks, Novo Nordisk, Resolute Forest Products, Sofidel, Sprint, Tetra Pak, Sagawa, Sony, Supervalu and Volvo.
Commitments by former members Nokia, Polaroid and Spitsbergen were also included in the analysis.