Microsoft and Danone Among Global Companies to Earn ‘A’ for Actions on Climate Change

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China Mobile, Danone, Infosys Limited, and Microsoft are among 120 companies that earned the A grade for their action on climate change, according to annual rankings released by CDP.

The nonprofit global environmental disclosure platform released its A-List, which it says provides a holistic picture of how the corporate world is addressing environmental issues. Among the data:

  • 120+ companies make the A grade for their action on climate change, including China Mobile, Danone, Infosys Limited, Klabin and Microsoft.
  • ACCIONA, Gap, Ford and KOA Corporation are among the 25-plus companies on the A List for their water security action.
  • Seven companies receive an A for their efforts to address deforestation, including Beiersdorf, Tetra Pak and UPM-Kymmene.
  • Firmenich, the world’s largest privately-owned fragrance and flavor company, and French cosmetics company L’Oréal, are the only companies to get A’s across the board for their actions on climate change, deforestation and water security.

In the last year, more than 6,800 responses from the world’s largest companies were analyzed against a diverse range of metrics including transparency, target-setting, and awareness of risks and opportunities. Using a robust methodology, companies were scored from A to D- by CDP. According to CDP, only the very best made the A-List.

The companies that disclosed to CDP in 2018 did so at the request of over 650 investors with assets of $87 trillion, and/or 115 major purchasing organizations with a combined spend of $3.3 trillion. The data these investors and purchasers gather from CDP is crucial to inform their decision making, help them engage with companies, reduce risks and identify opportunities.

The How

Examples of leadership and innovation reported to CDP by A-List companies include:

  • By promoting Energy Star certified products, Best Buy US helped its American customers realize utility bill savings of more than $45 million in FY18.
  • Brazilian petrochemicals company Braskem has developed Green PE, a polyethylene produced from sugarcane ethanol (a renewable feedstock), which captures and fixes CO2 from the atmosphere during its production, helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Its state-of-the-art wastewater treatment plant in China allows Swiss fragrance and flavor business Firmenich to operate a manufacturing plant that provides almost double the company’s previous manufacturing capacity. This additional capacity supports a targeted growth rate of as much as 8% per annum (through 2025), while efficiencies and increased sales may reduce unit costs by more than 10% (by 2021).
  • Japanese technology company Fujitsu is working to apply artificial intelligence (AI) to a diverse array of fields, including climate change adaptation measures. It has developed technology that uses AI-powered big data analysis to enable accelerated development of recovery plans when disasters occur.
  • UK property company Landsec has reduced its energy intensity by 14.3% (kWh/m2) by introducing energy savings initiatives; a reduction which equated to estimated cost savings of GBP£2.8 million (US$3.6 million) in 2017.
  • Danish toy-maker Lego Group launched the first Lego elements made from plant-based plastic sourced from sugar cane and has also committed to making all Lego products from sustainable materials by 2030.
  • From 2013 to 2017, Korean electronics company LG Display developed and invested in 156 water-related reduction (water reuse) technologies, to save about KRW 4.61 billion (US$4 million).
  • Through its participation in RE100, Danish health care company Novo Nordisk is already sourcing 79% of its power for production from renewable sources and has a target of 100% power from renewable sources by 2020.
  • Australian IT company Telstra has created a Cloud Calculator Tool that helps businesses to transition to cloud technology through quantifying GHG emissions.
  • Swedish packaging business Tetra Pak has achieved 100% fulfillment of its chain of custody certification and now only accepts paperboard that is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council as well managed or controlled wood sources.

According to DCP, its scores highlight increased corporate transparency and measurement of environmental action across the board, the number of organizations reporting to CDP rising 55% since 2013.

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