Climate platform urges over 1,600 firms to disclose environment data

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - Climate change platform Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) called for more than 1,600 firms around the world to disclose their data on environmental impact.

The international non-profit organization said Wednesday in a statement that 1,607 highest-impact companies are currently not disclosing their environmental data through the platform, which include energy majors such as Saudi Aramco, Exxon Mobil and Chevron, as well as carmakers like Tesla and Volvo.

Those companies represent a combined $21 trillion in global market capitalization as of February, while they emit an estimated 4,200 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent annually, it added.

CDP, however, stressed that companies overall are 2.3 times more likely to disclose their information if they are directly engaged by financial institutions.

Thus, a record 288 financial institutions with nearly $29 trillion in assets are directly engaging with those companies, it noted.

"The number of financial institutions backing the CDP campaign has more than quadrupled since it launched in 2017, as mandatory disclosure regulation across the UK, EU, Brazil, Japan, and US inches closer," the statement said.

"Demand for disclosure on companies’ impacts on climate change remains high at nearly 72%, while demand for disclosure on forests rises by 3%," it added.

CDP said companies will be asked to disclose data on at least one of three priority themes of climate change -- forests, water, and plastics in the water.

It said the aim is to achieve higher transparency on environmental impacts and investment risk, and increase capital market action on sustainability.