Higher ambitions, higher expectations: CDP Europe report 2018

This report has been written by CDP and the Carbon Trust based on climate change, forests, and water security disclosures by European companies in response to CDP’s 2018 investor request.

Climate change data was analyzed from a total of 849 companies responding to CDP’s climate change questionnaire. This includes the 767 listed companies that provided unique responses, representing around three-quarters of European market capitalization, and 82 large private companies with combined revenues in excess of €614 billion. 

Most greenhouse gas data within these disclosures was verified or assured by third parties. 68% of all respondents had verified data related to their direct operations and fuel consumption, and 51% of companies had verification of electricity emissions using a location-based approach. 

Analysis on forests and water security is based on a smaller number of disclosures. 83 companies responded to CDP’s forests questionnaire, looking at risks associated with key forest commodities. This included 67 responses on timber, 23 on cattle, 31 on palm oil, 21 on soy, and 4 on rubber. These companies were scored on their performance on each of these commodities, with the exception of rubber, which is still in a pilot phase and was not scored this year. A total of 183 businesses responded to CDP’s water security questionnaire.

The industry classification used throughout the report follows CDP’s newly developed Activity Classification System, which categorises companies’ activities and revenue sources by their environmental impact.