Apple, Microsoft and Google made the CDP 2015 Climate A List, which includes companies that received an A grade for their actions to mitigate climate change. CDP published the list as part of its annual Climate Change Report.
The A List features brands from around the world including BMW, Nissan, L’Oreal, Nestle, Citigroup, Samsung and Unilever. Of the nearly 2,000 companies that submitted information to be independently assessed against CDP’s scoring methodology, 113 made the list. Apple, Samsung and Unilever were also on the 2014 A List.
To make the A List, a company must attain a performance score greater than 85, score maximum performance points for GHG reductions due to emission reduction actions over the past year (4 percent or above in 2015), disclose gross global Scope 1 and Scope 2 figures and score maximum performance points for verification of Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions (having 70 percent or more of their emissions verified).
CDP’s 2015 Climate Change Report compared data from 1,997 companies this year against data from 1,799 companies in 2010. It found that companies around the world are preparing for the transition to a low carbon economy. Nearly all companies — 94 percent — assign board or senior management responsibility to climate change, and 75 percent of companies offer incentives for improving climate performance. Nine of every 10 companies now have activities in place that are lowering their carbon output, compared with less than half in 2010. The percentage of businesses with targets to reduce the intensity of their greenhouse gas emissions has also more than doubled.
Investments in sustainability projects and initiatives are also on the rise, CDP found. More than $20 trillion was invested in 2014 in funds with environmental, social and governance mandates, up 61 percent in two years.
