LONDON (Reuters) – Companies worth half of total global market capitalistion are now disclosing environmental data after a 42% year-on-year rise in the number of firms reporting, new data published on Wednesday showed.
Non-profit environmental disclosure platform CDP said more than 18,700 companies — the highest yet since CDP launched in 2000 — and worth a combined $60.8 trillion disclosed data on climate change, deforestation and water security in 2022.
However, three in five firms – more than 29,500 companies – failed to respond to requests in 2022 for disclosure.
Climate change disclosures are vital for money managers wanting to pick the winners and losers from a shift to a lower-carbon economy, and CDP’s standardised data gives investors information to let them compare corporate performance.
The data is also crucial for climate negotiators, including at next month’s United Nations climate summit, COP27, to assess progress and spot laggards.
“There is unprecedented agreement among stakeholders that environmental disclosure is a necessity to measure and drive progress to show impact, and it clearly now sits at the top of boardroom agendas and government policy,” Mercedes Tallo, CDP’s Chief Stakeholder Officer said in a statement.
“With mandatory disclosure on the horizon, we’re calling on the near 30,000 non-disclosing companies to report and take action to prepare themselves for the future.”
However, despite more companies disclosing environmental data, few are providing sufficient information.
CDP said in March that just 1% of companies which submit climate change-related data provide investors with the information they need to assess whether they have a credible plan for the transition to a low-carbon economy.
The United States, China, Japan, Britain and Brazil topped the list of countries for corporate disclosures in 2022, CDP said on Wednesday. The top disclosing industry was manufacturing, followed by services and materials.
(Reporting by Tommy Reggiori Wilkes; editing by David Evans)
