Utilities lead the way on carbon disclosure

Energy firm Centrica – owners of British Gas – and consumer goods firm Reckitt Benckiser are leading the FTSE 350 in their efforts to disclose and reduce carbon emissions, according to the latest report from the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).

The annual report from the investor-backed group also highlighted Interserve, National Grid, Royal Dutch Shell, Scottish & Southern Energy, Tesco, Unilever and United Utilities as being near the top of the league table for carbon disclosure policies.

But the report, compiled by PricewaterhouseCoopers, also revealed that just 35 per cent of the FTSE 350 have disclosed emissions reduction targets.

CDP chief executive Paul Dickinson said imminent new carbon reporting regulations meant that firms would not be able to get away with failing to set emissions targets for much longer. "With regulation such as the Carbon Reduction Commitment and the EU Emissions Trading Scheme making climate change an increasingly material issue, a greater number of UK companies need to be setting emissions reduction targets," he advised.

The introduction in April 2010 of the Carbon Reduction Commitment – which was yesterday rebranded as the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency scheme – was identified by 55 per cent of responding UK companies as a risk, while 24 per cent saw it as an opportunity.

The best-performing companies in the survey all showed that they had incorporated upcoming regulation into their thinking and had shown carbon reduction activities that delivered results.

The report found that the utilities sector was most aware of upcoming regulation and was the strongest-performing sector in terms of disclosure, with more than two thirds having already achieved positive results in emissions reduction.

A second CDP survey of 300 top companies in the EU found that 84 per cent of respondents had emissions or energy reduction targets.

Transportation and utility firms demonstrated both the largest financial commitment to curbing emission and the most aggressive reduction targets, with Bayer, BASF, HSBC, Rio Tinto and Carnival topping the Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index.

However, the survey also mirrored the findings of the CDP's recent report on the 500 largest firms globally, revealing that many companies are setting targets through to just 2012 and waiting for the outcome of the Copenhagen climate talks before setting further goals.