Berlin, October 22 (US): A study released Friday claimed that big tech companies such as SAP, IBM and Google are not reporting greenhouse gas emissions at a time when scrutiny is stressing companies’ role in driving climate change.
Research published in Nature Communications reports that there are inconsistencies in the way companies report their carbon footprint, a measure considered increasingly important to investors, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
The study, led by researchers at the Technical University of Munich, examined so-called band 3 emissions that account for a large share of companies’ carbon footprints, such as business travel, employee mobility and how companies’ products are used.
Focusing on 56 companies in the tech industry, they found that, on average, these companies failed to disclose about half of their emissions.
Christian Stoll, one of the report’s authors, said some companies – such as Alphabet’s parent Google – had proven to be consistent in how they reported their carbon footprint, but left out some emissions that should have been accounted for.
Others, such as IBM, have reported their carbon footprint differently depending on the audience and the excluded emissions that should have been included.
Neither Google nor IBM immediately responded to requests for comment.
The authors suggested ways companies could improve their emissions reporting.
Laura Drucker, senior director of greenhouse gas emissions at nonprofit business research firm Ceres, said she agreed with Nature’s conclusion that corporate emissions disclosure should be improved.
“However, we cannot wait for perfect data,” said Drucker, who was not involved in the study. “Companies can use estimates and screening tools to identify climate risk hotspots along their value chain, and they can set goals and take action now to achieve those goals – while at the same time improving data collection and quality.”
She added that research by Ceres showed that many of the largest US companies lack ambitious climate targets.
AOQ