Top Listed Companies Urgently Need to Cut Carbon Intensity, Warns MSCI

Data and index provider MSCI has reported that the world’s listed companies need to cut carbon intensity by between 8%-10% a year by 2050 to meet 1.5°C target. Its latest quarterly Net-Zero Tracker suggests there are only 57 months – just under five years- left to keep global warming below 1.5°C. Only 11% of listed companies currently align with the 1.5°C temperature rise according to MSCI, an increase of one percentage point from October 2021. The analysis also shows less than half of listed companies align with a 2°C temperature rise, and 45% of the 2,900 companies in the MSCI ACWI Index have committed to decarbonisation targets. The tracker’s analysis of Implied Temperature Rise by industry group has the energy sector aligning with the highest temperature rise of 6.8°C, followed by automobiles and components at 4.4°C and materials at 4.1°C. Sylvain Vanston, MSCI’s Executive Director of Climate Change Investment Research, said: “Every step by companies to cut their absolute emissions and every effort by policymakers to drive momentum is critical because every tenth of a degree matters.” 

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