by Rebecca Walker — December 17, 2008—IBM, Tesco and Dell are among a select group of major consumer and technology companies taking active steps toward addressing the risks and capitalizing on the opportunities posed by climate change, according to a new report from the nonprofit Ceres.
Yet there is still much work to be done, Ceres found, particularly at the board and CEO levels. The boards of 11 of the 63 companies analyzed in “Corporate Governance and Climate Change: Consumer and Technology Companies” hear climate-specific updates, and just seven CEOs have assumed leadership roles on climate change initiatives. None of the consumer and technology companies examined tie related performance to the compensation of their top officers, according to the report.
“Many companies, especially technology and pharmaceutical firms, are doing a better job of integrating climate change into their business strategies,” Mindy Lubber, Ceres president, said in a statement. “But the overall responses among these companies are very spotty, especially in the restaurant, real estate and travel & leisure sectors where climate change is barely on their radar. With or without a recession, climate change is a core business issue that all consumer and tech companies should be focused on.”
The report, authored by RiskMetrics Group, assessed 63 companies in 11 categories, including apparel, beverages, big box retailers, grocery & drug retailers, personal and household goods, pharmaceuticals, real estate, restaurants, semiconductors, technology, and travel & leisure. It was conducted at the request of institutional investors.
IBM scored at the top of the heap with 79 points, followed by Tesco and Dell, with 78 and 77 respectively. Nike (71 points), Wal-Mart (69 points), L’Oreal (54 points), Coca-Cola (65 points), Johnson & Johnson (71 points), Simon Property Group (38 points), Starbucks (52 points), Intel (72 points) and Marriott (53 points) received top scores in their categories.
