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Glanbia plc and Origin Enterprises were two Irish companies who detailed for the first time this year their carbon emissions.
Both companies join other agri-businesses such as Kerry Group, Greencore Group plc, FBD Holdings plc and Aryzta AG in reporting their emissions for 2017.
According to the CDP Ireland Climate Change Report 2017, there is now 30 Irish headquartered companies to report their carbon emissions.
CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project) is the international investor led not-for-profit that measures environmental impact of thousands of companies around the world.
Kingspan and AIB received the top grade, placing them on a list of only 114 companies globally on CDP’s “A List”, a measure of both disclosure and performance.
Accenture, Ingersoll-Rand, Shire and Seagate achieved an A- rating.
The annual CDP report which highlights the best performers in Ireland, as well as companies who do not disclose their climate change impacts, will be launched at an event on Monday evening at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham.
Smurfit Kappa Plc was also singled out as the only Irish company to participate in CDP’s water and forest monitoring programmes, in addition to the core climate change programme.
In 2017 there were a total of 220 companies operating in Ireland who make disclosures to CDP, a 9% increase on last year.
Emma Jane Joyce, chairperson of the CDP Ireland Network, said:
“Measurement and transparency are where meaningful climate action starts and it’s clear that investors are taking an ever-increasing interest in the environmental footprint of companies they invest in.”
CDP’s chief executive officer Paul Simpson said: “This year more than 6,300 companies, accounting for around 55% of the total value of global listed equity markets, have disclosed information on climate change, water and deforestation through our reporting platform.
“The request for information from CDP was made on behalf of more than 800 investors with assets of over $100 trillion. It’s encouraging to see companies setting longer term targets, and data will be key to seeing how they are performing against these over time.”
Non-responders
Companies who were asked to respond to the CDP’s questionnaire but didn’t included Dalata Hotel Group, Paddy Power Betfair, Ryanair and Permanent TSB Group.
Next year CDP plans to increase its level of engagement with the Irish Investment community to encourage their support in addressing climate change.
In the absence of a local reporting framework in Ireland, CDP Ireland Network will also continue to persuade non-responding companies to engage with the CDP programme as the world’s leading climate change reporting platform.
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