The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and PriceWaterhouseCooper (PWC) recently published the “Global 500 Climate Change Report 2013”. Carbon Action attending the launch of this report at the offices of PWC in London, UK on October 9th. The report is written for companies, investors and policy makers that want to understand the climate change related risks and opportunities facing business. It assesses how ten key sectors are addressing these challenges and eliciting competitive advantage from this. The main themes of the responses outlined in the report are:

1. FTSE 350 Companies Have A Global Footprint: FTSE 350 companies are highly multinational, reporting operations in a total of 145 countries. Only 31% of respondents operate exclusively in the UK. A majority of the emissions of companies in the FTSE 350 also originate overseas: 77% of Scope 1 and 83% of Scope 2 emissions reported by FTSE 350 companies came from abroad.

2. Companies’ Focus On Climate Change Risks And Opportunities Needs Broadening: 86% of FTSE 350 companies report risks due to climate change and 82% report opportunities. However, companies’ focus remains relatively narrow, looking primarily at direct , shorter-term risks. 13% of companies report that they have not identified any climate change risks. For some, this may mean that climate change isn’t adequately integrated into their risk management processes.

3. Companies Are Not Identifying Enough Indirect Risks: 70% of companies report direct risks but only 33% report indirect risks. However, almost all companies face indirect risks: not reporting these risks could mean companies’ strategies, operations and value chains aren’t fully resilient to climate change risks. Indirect impacts can include the effect of extreme weather on supply chains and the price or availability of raw materials and other goods.

4. Companies Are Focusing On Short Term Risks And Opportunities: The majority of risks (51%) and opportunities *54%) reported have timeframes of under five years. Only 32% of companies report risks (opportunities: 14%) which have timeframes of ten years or more. This presents a mixed message: on the one hand, companies are identifying immediate threats and opportunities. On the other hand, the lack of focus on longer term risks and opportunities could mean that strategies for adapting to climate change risks are not in place.

5. Companies’ Understanding Of Their Value Chain Is Limited: Some FTSE 350 companies are already acting to mitigate risks and build on the opportunities concerning their full value chain. However, the numbers remain relatively low: only 52% of companies engage with their suppliers and 44% with their customers. 34% of companies do not disclose any measured Scope 3 emissions. This, combined with limited engagement with customers and suppliers, will hinder these companies’ preparedness for climate change.