Campaigners from Christian Aid will today publish the results of research which shows that most of the UK’s FTSE 100 companies have not committed to targets for absolute reductions in their greenhouse gas emissions.
The research shows that only a small minority of companies surveyed have targets for reducing total greenhouse gas emissions in the future, with more citing ‘intensity’ targets where emissions relative to company growth and increased product delivery will be cut.
These ‘intensity’ targets do not guarantee that greenhouse gas emissions from FTSE 100 companies will fall. Instead companies can say that the amount of carbon emissions needed to produce and sell a benchmark product will fall whilst the total amount of the companies’ emissions rise as their business grows.
“Poor people are already suffering the impact of climate change as a result of the build up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere,” said Paul Brannen, head of campaigns at Christian Aid. “What they need is for total emissions to fall dramatically and not just for production to become more efficient.”
Christian Aid sent a letter and survey questions to all FTSE 100 companies in March 2007. Almost half responded, with 47 producing substantive replies in answer to Christian Aid’s questions regarding disclosure of Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, targets for reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases, and company positions on whether the Government should introduce mandatory disclosure.
