Corporate emission targets falling short of scientists' recommendations

They may have won plaudits for their willingness to introduce carbon targets and implement emission reduction strategies, but many of the emission targets announced by the world's largest companies remain far short of those recommended by climate scientists.

According to a new report released today by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), the current rate of planned emission reductions from Global 100 firms means that the world's largest companies are on track to deliver the 80 per cent cut in carbon emissions recommended by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change by 2089 – almost 40 years too late to avoid dangerous levels of global warming.

The report, entitled The Carbon Chasm, found that the Global 100 are on track to deliver annual cuts in greenhouse gas emissions of 1.9 per cent, well short of the 3.9 per cent required to deliver an 80 per cent cut in emissions from developed economies by 2050.

However, according to the study, many companies will have the opportunity to upgrade their targets over the next three years as more than 80 per cent of those firms with formal emission targets will see them conclude in 2012 to coincide with the end of the Kyoto Treaty.

The CDP, an investor-backed initiative that lobbies firms to publicly report on their carbon emissions and climate change strategies, said that many firms were waiting on the outcome of the UN's Copenhagen conference in December, which is intended to agree a successor to the Kyoto deal.

The report added that there was now an even greater onus on negotiators at the Copenhagen talks to agree to ambitious short, medium and long-term emission targets in line with the latest science, as many multinational businesses will emulate the UN targets.

However, Chris Tuppen, chief sustainability officer at BT, which supported the CDP research, said the businesses also had to take responsibility for emission targets which fell short of that required to avert dangerous levels of climate change.

"The research highlights a significant gap between what is needed from the corporate sector and what is currently promised," he said. "We in the business world need to find a way of closing this carbon chasm."

Paul Dickinson, chief executive of the CDP, added that there are strong commercial grounds for firms to sign up to more demanding emission targets.

"While 73 per cent of Global 100 companies have set some form of reduction target, the majority need to be far more aggressive if they are to achieve the long-term reductions required," he said. "This is a time of huge opportunity for businesses to gain competitive advantage by reducing their own impact on the climate and benefit from associated cost savings, as well as sparking major innovation around the production of new, lower-carbon products and services."