The Financial Express
IBM, Tesco and Dell have the best climate change governance practices in the world. They emerged toppers amongst 63 largest global retail, pharmaceutical, technology, apparel and other companies in a report released recently by Ceres, a Boston-based coalition of investors and environmental groups working with businesses on sustainability issues like climate change.
Though IBM, Tesco and Dell scored 79, 78 and 77 points on a 100-point scoring system, a majority of the companies earned less than 50 points, as per the Ceres report titled Corporate Governance and Climate Change: Consumer and Technology Companies.
The report authored by RiskMetrics Group, a risk management and corporate governance products and services provider to financial markets, was undertaken at the behest of the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR), an alliance of leading global institutional investors coordinated by Ceres.
Assessing the performance of companies on parameters like the board of director oversight, management execution, public disclosure, GHG emission accounting and strategic planning and performance, the report notes that companies are cutting down on emissions, improving energy efficiency, using renewable energy and designing climate friendly products. CEOs are leading from the front in seven companies.
While technology and pharmaceutical firms scored the best, the restaurant, real estate, travel and leisure sectors scored the least. These included 48 US and 15 non-US companies.
Some of these companies have a strong presence in India, too. In fact, at least five companies have climate change management initiatives in India. L’Oréal’s on-site renewable energy projects include a solar water heating system in its Pune factory. Pfizer’s conversion of boilers to a fuel derived from local sugar cane waste in its Indian plant is an approved clean development mechanism (CDM) project.
Dell has invested in wind power in India. Sun Microsystems has set up an energy efficient data centre in India. Cisco is engaging with policymakers on climate change legislation and regulation in countries like India.
In the end, the report recommends that climate change should be made a governance priority for board members and CEOs. It also says that the packages of the senior management should be directly linked to their performance on climate change risk management.
Besides, the report recommends setting up of energy efficiency goals, engagement with supply chains to reduce GHG emissions, use of renewable energy and sensitisation of all stakeholders on climate change.
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