Companies' CO2 cuts fall short of scientific needs: study

Yahoo News 25 Aug 09;

PARIS (AFP) – The world's 100 largest companies are failing to meet scientific recommendations on cutting CO2 emissions to contain global warming, a new study released Tuesday warned.

"We are facing a Carbon Chasm," said the study by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), an independent organisation based in London.

"To cut emissions in developed economies by the required 80 percent by 2050, we need to see a minimum annual global reduction rate of 3.9 percent" per year, it said.

"However analysis of reduction targets from the Global 100 companies shows they are currently on track for an annual reduction of just 1.9 percent" per year.

The CDP analysts said 73 percent of Global 100 companies reported some form of reduction target, while a significant minority -- 27 percent -- did not.

"There is an urgent need for all companies to establish and achieve required targets," the study said, warning that company target setting was "motivated by market forces - not scientific requirements."

"The analysis done by CDP identifies a serious Carbon Chasm.

"The Chasm highlights the gap between current Global 100 reduction targets and what we need to see if we are to reduce in line with scientific recommendations.

"It shows the majority of companies are currently failing to deliver the reductions required to avoid dangerous climate change."

The CDP said more aggressive targets were needed "if business is to reduce emissions sufficiently" and called for government leadership and action to ensure that happens.

The CDP's recommendations included that every company should set CO2 reduction targets and target years, which should reflect scientific recommendations made by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

It also said governments needed to agree on clear medium- and long-term reduction goals during key climate change talks in Copenhagen in December where more than 180 nations are to negotiate an agreement to replace the existing Kyoto Protocol.

The vision is to set curbs on emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases beyond 2012, with intermediate targets for 2020 that would be ratcheted up all the way to 2050.

In its analysis of the Global 100 responses to the Carbon Disclosure Project the study found that European companies had the strongest target setting with 84 percent reporting a CO2 reduction target, followed by the United States with 71 percent and Asian companies with 66 percent.

But it added that the popularity of the target years up to 2012 "suggests that businesses are waiting to hear outcomes" of the Copenhagen conference before setting longer term reduction goals.

"At present we are not on track to achieve the 2050 targets but the key issue will be how companies respond to this challenge as many of them set targets beyond 2012," the study said.

There is no consensus among climate scientists about what is a safe level of warming, but many have urged policymakers to peg the rise to no more than two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.

This would require cuts of between 25 and 40 percent by rich countries by 2020, but would also require a brake in the growth of emissions by the emerging giants, according the UN's panel of climate scientists.