Investors are taking on over 700 multinational companies for not reporting on their climate impact, pushing the firms to disclose information through CDP, a non-profit environmental disclosure platform.
Exxon Mobil, BP, Chevron, Amazon, and Alibaba are among those on the list accused of having a high impact on the environment whilst not disclosing their climate change, water security, and deforestation data.
The group of nearly 90 investors challenging the companies includes Amundi, Candriam, HSBC Global Asset Management (HSBC GAM), and Investec. Between them, they account for nearly $10 trillion (€8.9 trillion) in assets.
“Companies must disclose their role in addressing the climate crisis we face,” said Emily Kreps, global director of investor initiatives at CDP.
“We know that climate change, water security and deforestation present material risks to investments, but these risks cannot be managed without proper information.”
In terms of sectors, the most targeted for climate change disclosure is services (27% of all companies), followed by manufacturing (18%), and fossil fuels (12%).
For water security, the most targeted industries are Manufacturing (26%), Retail (23%) and Fossil Fuels (11%), while for deforestation, it is retail (30%), food, beverage & agriculture (26%) and manufacturing (16%).
“Good disclosure enables investors to assess how well companies manage their ESG risks,” said Thomas O’Malley, global head of corporate governance at HSBC GAM.
The US is home to the most companies, which between them have a total $15.3 trillion of market capitalisation.
The full list of the companies being targeted can be found here.
In total, 546 companies are being targeted to disclose on climate change, 166 on water security and 115 on deforestation.
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