American Companies Not Regulating Themselves for Carbon

According to a new report from ClimateBiz.com, although many U.S. companies are preparing for possible climate change regulation on the horizon, they are far behind their European counterparts in setting and disclosing emissions reductions targets.

The latest findings from the Carbon Disclosure Project analyzed responses from the Global 500 and U.S. Standard and Poor’s companies. The findings revealed a huge gap between awareness and action on the part of U.S. companies: Despite 81 percent acknowledging climate change is a risk, only a third of these respondents to the annual survey have emissions reduction goals in place. The thought is that regulatory uncertainty, is hindering many companies from making strategic investment decisions as they took a wait-and-see approach. Seventy-four percent of Global 500 companies responding to the CDP survey disclosed emissions reduction targets.

Global 500 utilities were the most transparent with a 93 percent response rate, compared to oil and gas companies, 69 percent of which responded to the CDP. The nonprofit represents 385 institutional investors managing $57 trillion in assets.

The top scoring companies in the U.S. Carbon Disclosure leadership Index are: PPG Industries, Exelon, Citigroup, Merrill Lynch and Co., Cisco, EMC and Prologis.

The highest scoring companies in the Global Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index are BASF, Bayer, Exelon, Iberdola, Scottish and Southern, Nissan Motor, Barclays, Merrill Lynch and Co., National Australia Bank and EMC.