New regulations which force large companies to report their greenhouse gas emissions come in to force this month.
While only companies listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange will be affected initially, this move signals a further step towards mandatory reporting for all large businesses.
The UK is the first country in the world to introduce mandatory carbon reporting. The current regulations will apply to over 1,100 listed companies and will mean they have to annually report on their global greenhouse gas emissions. There are plans in place to consider extending it in 2016 to all large companies involving as many as 24,000 businesses.
The Carbon Trust’s Chief Executive Tom Delay wrote on the organisation’s website: “This will mean that from later this year boardrooms and shareholders will have to start paying a lot more attention to carbon footprints. Carbon footprints will also provide a new metric available across all companies on the market, allowing for investors to assess company performance, efficiency and competitiveness.”
He went on to add: “Climate change and resource scarcity are threats that mean we have to change to the way that we do business and the way that we live. A new economic world order is asserting itself, where only the sustainable will survive. In major global economic centres it is becoming increasingly important to accurately measure emissions.”
To read the full report, please visit the Carbon Trust website.
