Climate Action 100+ (CA100+), the world’s largest investor engagement initiative on climate change, recently released its second round of Net Zero Company Benchmark assessments. The report assesses the progress of 166 focus companies on three overarching engagement goals – improving climate change governance, cutting emissions in line with the Paris Agreement, and strengthening climate-related financial disclosure. The Benchmark emphasizes comprehensive net-zero transition plans that include short-, medium- and long-term greenhouse gas reduction targets.
The 2022 Benchmark includes updated methodology based on the International Energy Agency’s Net Zero by 2050 scenario and includes new indicators focused on just transition and climate accounting. The company assessments indicate overall year-on-year improvements: 69 percent of the companies have set commitments to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, an increase of 17 percent since 2021. However, despite these long-term commitments, companies are not demonstrating full translation of commitments into action, with only 17 percent of companies setting a 1.5 degree-aligned mid-term target and less than half of companies including scope 3 (value chain) emissions in their targets. CA100+ will assess companies later this year to see if they’ve responded to shareholder concerns.
Mercy Investment Services actively participates in CA100+, an initiative of more than 300 investors engaging more than 100 of the world’s largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters, accounting for two-thirds of global emissions. Mercy Investment Services will use the benchmark for ongoing dialogues with companies to assess their progress in climate solutions for our global community.