Big brands lagging on climate action, survey says

Study of 600 brands finds two-thirds are either increasing emissions, have weak targets on cuts or do not publish data

Rebecca Smithers, consumer affairs correspondent
The Guardian, Wednesday 25 November 2009
Consumer expectations that favourite brands are actively tackling climate change will be challenged tomorrow by a report showing that some of Britain's top corporate names, including Barclays, Amazon and Sky, are lagging behind their competitors and failing to respond to the lead set by the government.
A survey of the carbon performance of 600 of the UK's biggest brands reveals that two-thirds are either increasing their greenhouse gas emissions, have targets that are weaker than the government's Copenhagen goal for carbon cuts, or are failing to put information about their carbon emissions in the public domain.
To tackle global warming the government has set a national target for 2020 of a cut of 34% on the 1990 emission levels.
The companies offered their own information for the survey, entitled Brand Emissions, and the data revealed that only one in five brands was demonstrating a reduction in emissions and had ambitious targets in line with the UK's aims.
The "leaders" emerging from the research included the supermarket giant Tesco, the phone company T-Mobile, the computer company Dell and the car manufacturer BMW.
At the other end of the scale, and for 250 brands, researchers found no carbon emissions information at all reported; this group included Google, McKinsey and Amazon. There were no public emission reduction targets for 320 brands, including Porsche, Harvey Nichols and McDonald's. Around 122 of the brands that did report their carbon output were seen to have increased their emissions in 2008. This group included Barclays, Sky and eBay.
The project, launched tomorrow,was developed by Marketing magazine and Brand Republic, with ENDS Carbon, a specialist carbon ratings agency, and the University of Edinburgh business school. The aim is to give an annual rating of leading UK brands.
Craig Mackenzie, research director of the Brand Emissions project, said: "The 100 or so leading brands show just how much can be done if you set your mind to it. But to keep global temperatures within the 2°C safe zone we need all brands to demonstrate the same level of ambition and achievement."
Rachael Stilwell, publishing director of Marketing magazine, said: "These results will become an important reputational milestone for brands."
Some of the companies that had a poor rating said revealing information could have been beneficial to their competitors. A spokesperson for Google, which claims to have been carbon neutral since 2007, said: "We have taken concrete steps to improve the efficiency of our computing infrastructure and reduce the energy used by our facilities.
Friends of the Earth's Mike Childs said: "The government must ensure that businesses cut their carbon emissions through well-targeted regulation, taxation and financial support."
Best brands
Tesco, T-Mobile, Dell, BMW, Eurotunnel, Accenture, Standard Chartered, Ericsson, KPMG, AMD
Worst brands
Barclays, Sky, correcteBay, Toyota, RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland), Travis Perkins, Bosch, Axa, British Gas
No information or targets
Google, McKinsey, Amazon, Porsche, Harvey Nichols, McDonald's, Amazon, Burger King, Chanel, Facebook
Brands that increased their emissions last year and have not published a target to reduce them
Acer, Juniper Networks, Billabong International, Finnair, Premier Inn, Costa, Gossard, Aegon, Unisys, TNT
Source: Brand Emissions