CDP report reveals companies are preparing for carbon price
World's largest companies preparing for international carbon market and are ahead of governments in dealing with climate change risks
CDP will unveil a new report today that will outline how hundreds of the world's largest companies are preparing for an international carbon market, and in many cases are ahead of governments in planning for climate change risks and opportunities.
CDP, formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project, is a not-for-profit that asks organisations to disclose their carbon emissions and share how they are dealing with climate risks.
The data from the new study shows that there is a growing corporate consensus that an international carbon price will be introduced soon.
The report indicates that 29 major publicly listed companies in the USA, including Dow Chemical Company, Goldman Sachs and ExxonMobil, currently use an internal carbon price despite a lack of legislation enforcing the measure.
Of the large listed companies that report to CDP, around 150 have begun using internal carbon prices to drive green investments.
Nearly 30 companies in the UK are detailed in the report as using an internal carbon price, with National Grid valuing carbon at £55 per tonne - significantly higher than the £18 per tonne carbon floor price set by the UK government for 2016.
Nearly 500 of the companies that disclose details to CDP are already regulated by a global carbon trading scheme, such as the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), the largest trading scheme in the world.
According to CDP, the report shows that businesses are ready for legislation on carbon pricing, and in some cases are leading the way for governments.
Around 200 companies are already working with governments to help roll out cap and trade or carbon taxes, according to the findings.
638 organisations highlighted how carbon regulation presents a business opportunity for them and some have called for a new mechanism to help drive investment in low carbon technologies.
The reports comes just days before the UN Climate Summit in New York where more than 100 world leaders will meet at the UN headquarters to provide fresh momentum to international climate negotiations.
The summit has been called for by Bank Ki Moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, as he seeks to bolster political ambition and urgency ahead the scheduled signing of a global legally binding climate deal at the COP21 meeting in Paris 2015.
The one-day summit is being billed as a condensed version of the annual two-week United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties (COP) with COP20 scheduled for Lima, Peru at the end of the year.
