Sustainability and climate protection – that is what almost all companies promise today. But do the companies keep their promise? The British Carbon Disclosure Project has taken a closer look and comes to a sobering result.
Climate protection is in vogue. Hardly any company today can do without the promise to do something for the good of our planet. But is it only doing greenwashing, or are the companies actually adhering to environmental protection goals?
The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), a non-profit organization based in London, has now investigated exactly that and created an international climate ranking.
The CDP examined a total of 12,000 companies worldwide and analyzed how climate-friendly the companies really are with the help of three categories. In order to be able to withstand the test standards of the CDP, the companies had to prove that they were reducing direct or indirect climate-damaging emissions and protecting water reserves and forests.
Only two percent of the companies received top marks
The result is modest: only 272 of the 12,000 companies examined were able to achieve the top grade A in at least one of the categories – just two percent of the companies. By contrast, 58 percent of the companies were given the worst grades, C and D.
“Companies that do not disclose their environmental impact and do not act accordingly are endangering both the planet and themselves,” said the CDP’s European representative, Maxfield Weiss.
“If you carry on as before, you are on the wrong side of public opinion, regulation and the capital markets,” Weiss added. Greenwashing will no longer work because people are looking more and more closely.
The results of the study have worsened compared to last year. The number of “A-companies” has decreased by 40 percent from 280 in 2020 to 200. One reason for this, however, is the stricter requirements of the CDP with which the organization is responding to the advancing climate crisis.
German companies are doing well in comparison
However, there is one ray of hope – at least from a German point of view: 14 companies from the Federal Republic are among the top group when it comes to climate protection. One company was even able to achieve the top rating in all categories: the flavor manufacturer Symrise, based in Holzminden in Lower Saxony.
According to the ranking, the most active German climate protectors also include Deutsche Bahn, Deutsche Telekom and the software manufacturer SAP. Heavy industry companies such as Heidelberg Cement, Thyssenkrupp, the pharmaceutical giant Bayer and Volkswagen would also invest a lot in climate protection for their circumstances.
Many large companies did not rank
The CDP also emphasized that many large corporations did not even make it into the ranking because they did not submit any environmental plans at all. This applies to companies such as the US oil companies Chevron and Exxon Mobil, as well as the mining company Glencore, and also to the holding company of US star investor Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway.
Source:, with material from DPA
Source From: Stern
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
