Climate change: Only 11 per cent of listed firms globally on track to achieve key carbon-emissions goal, MSCI says
- Listed companies are putting greenhouse-gas emissions into the atmosphere at a rate that would warm the planet by 2.9 degrees Celsius, MSCI reports
- The index compiler singled out 10 listed companies – including seven Chinese companies – that have not published emissions data
Listed companies are polluting the atmosphere at a rate that would warm the planet by 2.9 degrees Celsius by 2050, according to index compiler MSCI. Only 11 per cent of them are on track to ratchet their carbon emissions down to a level that would limit human-induced temperature increases to the crucial goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius.
To meet that goal, listed companies must reduce their carbon intensity by 8 to 10 per cent every year until 2050, MSCI said. Yet only 39 per cent of companies reduced emission intensity by that amount between 2019 and 2020, according to MSCI’s Net-Zero Tracker report, which aims to increase the transparency to investors and policymakers regarding listed companies’ actions to tackle climate change.
Carbon intensity, or emission intensity, is the ratio of every tonne of carbon-dioxide equivalent emitted to every US$1 million of company sales, according to MSCI.
The 2.9 degrees of warming attributed to listed companies has declined by a tenth of a degree from MSCI’s earlier prediction in October, thanks to additional listed companies publishing their targets.
“While we acknowledge more listed companies are taking climate responsibilities seriously, the amount of action is still insufficient,” said Sylvain Vanston, executive director of climate change investment research at MSCI. “The importance of decarbonisation targets should not be underestimated. Setting a net-zero target does not guarantee a company will achieve it, but without one a company is not accountable.”
