Two-thirds of world’s largest companies also providing incomplete Scope 1 and 2 data.
Large global corporates still aren’t providing investors with disclosures on their Scope 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, according to research from Scope ESG, the sustainability analytics arm of Scope Ratings.
Analysing the disclosures of the 2,000 largest companies (by market capitalisation), Scope noted that more than three-quarters of firms didn’t disclose any information on Scope 3 emissions, which covers their entire value chain from suppliers to users, including end-of-life treatment products.
Further, more than two-thirds of firms provided either no or incomplete information on Scope 1 and 2 emissions, as defined by the GHG Protocol.
Disclosures vary by sector, with energy carriers, mining companies and apparel having the best average disclosure of Scope 3 data (41%, 34% and 36% respectively). The worst-performing sectors are manufacturing (19%), services (22%) and food (21%).
“The gap between the reality of corporate disclosure and regulatory requirements regarding GHG data really complicates the life of investors who are being asked to disclose the main adverse impacts of their investments,” said Diane Menville, Head of ESG at Scope.
In the UK, environmental law charity ClientEarth reported that around 40% of large UK companies did not refer to climate-related risk in their annual reports, and less than a quarter referenced the impact of climate change on their business models.
The report was based on the annual reports of all FTSE 100 companies and the largest 150 companies on the FTSE 250.
