Eight FTSE Companies Fail To Reveal Climate Data

December 29, 2020

As the British government prepares to compel companies to be more transparent about their carbon emissions, eight FTSE 100 companies have refused to report their climate impact.

Leading Brands Refuse

This includes well-known brands such as Rolls-Royce, BP, Melrose, and Glencore ignoring demands from increasingly environmentally conscious investors to disclose their carbon footprint.

Shareholders, governments and campaigners are all ramping up the pressure for companies to help mitigate the climate crisis, and so far 92% of blue-chip UK companies have reported their data. However, others, such as takeaway delivery app JustEat, have refused.

Following the example recently set by New Zealand, HM Treasury announced last month that reporting emissions data will be compulsory by 2025 for UK companies, and those on the stock market by 2022.

The standards for reporting are set by the taskforce for climate-related financial disclosures (TCFD).

This group was created by Mark Carney when he was governor of the Bank of England with the aim of encouraging UK companies to recognise climate risks to their finances and is now backed by more than 500 investors with $106tn.

With a goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2050 for many of the companies these investors have a share in, they pose a significant pressure group.

Difficult For Some

However, for companies like BP and Glencore, both major polluters, the announced ambitions to reduce their carbon footprint cannot be scrutinised while they refuse to reveal their data.

Though they still have two years before they are obligated to report this data (thought by most campaigners to be the crucial first step in accountability and reducing emissions), their refusal to do so now could cause problems for them as the corporate world becomes increasingly eco-friendly.

Dexter Galvin, a global director at CDP, the group requesting the data on behalf of investors, said:

It’s a space that needs discipline – it could be greenwashing. What tends to happen is that companies tend to disclose in a way that makes them look better.

Clearly the pressure needs to be even higher to encourage full emissions transparency from all in the FTSE 100.