The plastic waste stream must be tackled at its source
Comment by Evita Hegmann, Johanna Katharina Mützel, Maro Luisa Schulte
News publ. 12. Jun 2012
More and more companies have recognised climate change as an increasingly important topic. In 2010, 25 of the 30 largest companies listed in the German Stock Exchange (DAX) had issued statements on climate-relevant emissions, four extensively and in line with international standards such as the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, which makes it almost impossible to compare facts and figures, reveals a study by adelphi.
Information of the largest listed companies on their impact on global warming is becoming more and more relevant, since they do not only leave enormous climate footprints but also have a huge influence on politicians, customers and suppliers. Thus more and more enterprises have started publishing sustainability reports, not making clear whether direct, indirect, or other emissions resulting e.g. from business trips or waste management of that are being caused by suppliers, had been factored in. Their actual share of Greenhouse gas emissions can only be guessed, discovered adelphi in the study “DAX companies’ climate footprint reports” conducted on behalf of the Humanistic Management Center.
adelphi took a close look at the climate footprints of large companies. This included examining how much greenhouse gases the companies emitted in the past years, how CO2 emissions were offset, and what proportion renewable energies represented in overall energy consumption. Furthermore, adelphi also analysed how transparently and consistently the DAX groups had reported on the issue. The findings: Only four of them gave a truly extensive and transparent account of their climate footprint reports. The majority, on the other hand, left the public in the dark as to how the figures had been determined.