Most Of World's Top 20 Companies Ignoring Climate Risks - Report

[hatrack]

Most U.S. Industry Giants Ignoring Global Warming

BOSTON - "Most of the nation's largest carbon dioxide emitting companies are failing to assess, disclose and address the financial risks posed by climate change, according to a new study of 20 of the world's largest companies. Unlike many of their foreign rivals, American industry giants such as ChevronTexaco, ExxonMobil, General Electric, Southern Company and Xcel Energy, continue to pursue business strategies that discount the global warming threat, the report details.

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The report profiles 20 companies - including the top five carbon emitters in electric power, auto and petroleum industries as well as five other industry leaders - and uses a 14-point "climate Change Governance Checklist' to analyze their reponse actions in the areas of board oversight, management accountability, executive compensation, emissions reporting and material risk disclosure.

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The report found that all the companies are beginning to measure their greenhouse gas emissions and most have discussed climate change at the board, yet only 12 have reported on the issue in their securities filings and only nine are projecting greenhouse gas emissions trends.

Of the 12 companies that do mention climate change in their securities filings, according to the report, the disclosure tends to be miniscule and vague.

The electric power industry as a whole scored lowest on the checklist, despite being the largest source of U.S. emissions and vulnerable to changing clean air regulations."

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http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0709-10.htm

[mastein]

1. Re: "Most Of World's Top 20 Companies Ignoring Climate Risks - Report"

Unfortunately, the greatest CO2 emission sources in this country are autos, not power plants. To have significant reductions in in ambient CO2 levels, we need to have more efficient cars/SUVs etc. Now, if you want to talk about NOx and SOx, power plants are much bigger players.