A ‘Sustainability Reporting Performance’ report was published by EcoAct in September which studies and evaluates the performance of the FTSE 100 listed companies in reporting their own efforts and impacts in environmental aspect.
In the report, companies are assessed in four main areas which are ‘Measurement & Reporting’, ‘Strategy & Governance’, ‘Targets & Reduction’, and ‘Engagement & Innovation’, and are ranked according to their business practice regarding sustainability. It is discovered that there has been an overall improvement in all four areas as the scores of the FTSE 100 in 2018 have increased by around 10% to 15% when compared to the scores in 2017. Among the listed companies in UK, the best performance goes to BT Group which gets a score of 91% and surpasses Marks & Spencer, last year’s top performer, as the latter comes in second place with the score of 89%, whereas the company which comes in third place is Unilever, with a score of 86%.
Regarding companies’ performance in strategy and governance, there are also four main findings of improvement. Firstly, 63% of the companies have adopted a recognised reporting framework in which 38% are using the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). Secondly, 41% of the companies have been following or have committed to follow guidelines and recommendations made by the Task Force for Climate-Related Financial Disclosure (TCFD). Thirdly, 20% of the companies have set their own Science-based targets (SBTs) about the reduction of greenhouse gases. Fourthly, 19% of the companies have included the use of climate change analysis which estimate companies’ potential risk and opportunity brought by future climate change.
According to Mark Chadwick, Chief Executive of EcoAct UK, it is important for companies to incorporate climate disclosure in their business strategy since it not only increases companies’ efficiency, but also allows them to better prepare for the future mandatory requirement of various organisations and authorities. It is hoped that the report can inspire companies all over the world to put more efforts in the environmental and sustainable aspects, thus attaining risk reduction and opportunity maximization in the face of climate change.
Source: https://eco-act.com/2018/09/bt-lead-the-ftse-100-in-managing-the-risks-of-climate-change/#
