ExxonMobil, Amazon, and UK grocery retailer Tesco head the list of 707 major global companies with combined value above US$15 trillion that have failed to reveal their full impact on the climate crisis, water shortages, and deforestation, according to CDP, the non-profit formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project.
The companies on the list “lack transparency over their effect on the environment, according to the intervention by some of the world’s biggest financial names,” The Guardian reports. And now, “campaign platform CDP has brought together a record number of investors, including banking giants HSBC and Investec, to demand companies reveal data on the environmental cost of how they do business.”
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CDP cited 546 of the companies for lack of transparency on climate, 166 on water security, and 115 on deforestation. The United States accounted for 20% of the companies, followed by Australia at 16%.
The Guardian notes that more than 7,000 companies already disclose their environmental impacts through CDP.
“We know that climate change, water security, and deforestation present material risks to investments, but these risks cannot be managed without proper information,” said CDP Global Director Emily Kreps, adding that the number of investors calling for full climate disclosure has grown from 57 to 88 since 2017.
“Climate change, deforestation, and water security are critical challenges that require immediate action,” said Cathay Financial Chief Investment Officer Sophia Cheng. “Cathay believes investors can play an important role in encouraging their investee companies to disclose environmental information—this campaign should improve corporate transparency and help investors better manage these environmental risks and opportunities.”
HSBC Head of Corporate Governance Thomas O’Malley said CDP’s “model disclosure framework” helps investors assess how well companies manage “one of the broadest risks facing companies”.This week, as well, 80 civil society organizations and academics released a letter urging the European Investment Bank to cut off fossil fuel financing worth €2.4 billion in 2018, The Guardian notes. “It follows a warning earlier this year from Mark Carney, the Bank of England’s governor, and François Villeroy de Galhau, the governor of the Banque de France, that the climate breakdown poses an existential threat to the global financial system unless there is urgent reform.”
