«Companies hide data on their environmental impact»; the investors of the Climate Disclosure Project accuse

A $10tn (£7.9tn) investor alliance gathered in the association “Climate Disclosure Project”, has brought together a record number of investors, including banking giants HSBC and Investec, to demand companies reveal data on the environmental cost of how they do business. The alliance accused more than 700 companies (fossil fuel companies, palm oil giant and high street brands) of failing to reveal the full extent of their impact on the climate crisis (especially deforestation and water shortages) and, between them, Amazon, Tesco, Ocado, WH Smith, Marks & Spencer and ExxonMobil. 

The group said it was targeting 708 companies because of their «high environmental impact and lack of transparency» to date. Data said 547 companies were being targeted to disclose information on the climate crisis, 166 on water security and 97 on deforestation. 

The highest number of companies named in the campaign are American (20%), followed by Australia (16%) and the UK (3,5%). 

«We know that climate change, water security and deforestation present material risks to investments, but these risks cannot be managed without proper information», said Emily Kreps, a global director at CDP, who hopes also that by using shareholder influence the companies will agree to reveal their data through the CPD disclosure platform. 

The investors involved in the campaign include pan-European asset managers Candriam and Amundi, and the NN Group as well as Taiwan’s Cathay Financial Holdings and the Washington State Investment Board. 

Sophia Cheng, chief investment officer at Cathay Financial, said: «Cathay believes that investors can play an important role in encouraging their investee companies to disclose environmental information – this campaign should improve corporate transparency and help investors better manage these environmental risks and opportunities». 

The latest investor call to hold companies to account comes less than a week after Norwegian MPs voted in favour of ordering the country’s $1tn sovereign wealth fund, the largest in the world, to divest fromn hundreds of oil and coal companies to limit their exposure to climate risk.