CDP Climate Change Report 2016

Executive summary from CDP’s global
climate change report
The challenge of climate change and how to
address it is now firmly on the global agenda.
The Paris Agreement has been ratified at
unprecedented speed by the international
community, including some of the world’s biggest
carbon emitters, such as the US, China, India,
the EU and Brazil, and will enter into force in
November.
This historic agreement, with defined goals to
limit climate change and clear pathways for
achieving its goals, marks a step-change in the
transition to a low-carbon world.
In the Paris Agreement, emissions reductions
are talked about at the country level, and
national governments will lead with policy
changes and regulation. But companies can
move much faster than governments, and
they have an opportunity to demonstrate their
leadership, agility and creativity in curbing their
own substantial emissions. Many companies
had already realised the need for action before
Paris, and they played an important role in
making that summit a success. Others,
however, are yet to come on board.
Figure 1: Global company tracking sample by sector. The total number of companies in
each sector is presented in parentheses.
Share of
total sample
Consumer discretionary -
10% (180)
Financials - 14% (253)
IT - 6% (119)
Utilities - 12% (225)
Consumer staples -
8% (156)
Health care - 5% (88)
Materials - 17% (312)
Energy - 11% (197)
Industrials - 14% (260)
Telecomms - 3% (49)
Figure 2: Global company tracking sample by region. The total number of companies is
presented in parentheses.
Share of
total sample
Europe - 24% (436)
North America (USA &
Canada) - 32% (589)
Central and South America
(incl. Caribbean) - 4% (74)
Africa - 2% (41)
Asia - 35% (642) Australia & New Zealand -
3% (57)
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