Coal India tops list of worst gas emitters, notes report

Thomson Reuters has released a new report, ‘Global 250 greenhouse gas emitters – A new business logic’, presenting the latest greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data from the world’s 250 (G250) largest publicly traded emitters.

Coal India, the Indian state-controlled coal mining company, tops the list, with the Russian gas company Gazprom second and US multinational oil and gas company ExxonMobil third.

As well as producing a gas emitters listing, the report looks at best practices across the global economy and aims to demonstrate the relationship between decarbonization and long-term financial performance to assist investors.

Key findings include:

– A small group of companies (see table below) are responsible for one third of global annual emissions – including their value chains – and will help determine the fate of efforts to address climate change.

– Comparing the relationship between multi-year decarbonization trajectories and a broad set of financial performance metrics, there is no evidence of a trade-off between financial and environmental performance among the G250.

– Roughly 20 percent of the G250 have strategies in place to drive business transformations necessary to reduce their climate impacts.

– A meaningful proportion of that 20 percent are demonstrating that their transformation strategies create real business value through cost structure improvements and new revenue growth opportunities, as well as risk mitigation.

– New strategy-centric metrics are being introduced to better understand how firms can be assessed along their sector-based decarbonization pathways.

The report describes new methods for assessing how companies that are transforming their products and processes can meet the demands of a low-carbon economy. Three examples, Xcel Energy, Ingersoll Rand and Total, all top-150 emitters, are presented along with a new model for gauging the positive impacts of their decarbonization strategies on business outcomes.

David Craig, president of financial and risk at Thomson Reuters, comments in a statement accompanying the report’s release: ‘Firms that are transitioning to lower-carbon business models are building competitive advantages and reputational equity for the long term. Sustainability considerations in corporate strategic planning will be increasingly important to leadership across the global economy.’

Tim Nixon, head of sustainability thought leadership at Thomson Reuters, and co-author of the report, notes in the same statement: ‘Current emission trends are flat when they should have been going down by roughly 3 percent per year. This delay in reduction will increase the cost and complexity of the required transformations in the future, and decreases the probability of meeting targets required for limiting disruptive climate events. The urgent commitment of non-state actors is critical.’

Erik Solheim, head of the United Nations Environment Programme, adds: ‘As global policy makers regulate to reduce emissions, going green is increasingly a requirement for doing business. The markets are moving rapidly, and the private sector is where some of the most exciting low-carbon innovations and new business opportunities are taking place. This leadership is essential to close the emissions gap and ensure long-term economic prosperity.’

Top 15 of the Global 250: GHG emissions