Bank of America, Cisco, General Motors and HP are among the eight leading S&P 500 companies in carbon-reduction efforts and disclosure, according to the CDP’s annual list.
The four, along with Autodesk, BNY Mellon, Pepco Holdings and Spectra Energy, all earned an A grade for their actions to reduce climate change and the highest possible disclosure score, 100 out of 100 points.
Each year CDP ranks companies based on their climate-related-disclosures to investors in two indices: the Climate Disclosure Leadership Index (CDLI) — a measure of a company’s transparency — and the Climate Performance Leadership Index (CPLI), a measure based on that transparency of the company’s actions to address climate change.
Last year BNY Mellon, Cisco Systems and Entergy topped the CDP’s annual carbon performance and disclosure ratings for the S&P 500.
The S&P 500 report also shows evidence that S&P 500 industry leaders that are actively managing and planning for climate-change:
- Generate superior profitability: 18 percent higher ROE than peers and 67 percent higher than companies who do not disclose on climate change;
- Ensure more stability: 50 percent lower volatility of earnings over the past decade than low-ranking peers; and
- Grow dividends to shareholders: 21 percent stronger than low-ranking peers.