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“The world’s most disaster-hit region” was the World Meteorological Organization’s stark verdict on Asia in a recent climate report.
And the WMO was equally emphatic about what was to blame for the deadly heat waves, storms, droughts and floods that hit the region in 2023 – its second hottest year on record. “Climate change has worsened the frequency and severity of such events,” said Secretary-General Celeste Saulo, adding that it “profoundly affects[ed] societies, economies and, most importantly, human lives”.
Yet even as Asia grapples with the impacts of global warming, the region’s largest economies continue to emit large volumes of the greenhouse gases that scientists say are the main drivers.
China accounts for nearly a third of global GHG emissions, with India, Indonesia and Japan also in the global top 10. According to the International Energy Agency, China’s energy-related carbon dioxide emissions rose by 4.7 percent last year and India’s by just over 7 percent — compared with a 4.5 percent decline in advanced economies. world, at a level last seen in the early 1970s.
So the businesses in this third Asia-Pacific Climate Leaders list – compiled by the Financial Times and data provider Statista – have faced headwinds in their efforts to curb emissions. Extreme weather and carbon-intensive economies make a challenging task even more difficult.
As in previous years, the Climate Leaders list focuses primarily on the companies that achieved the greatest reduction in the intensity of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of scope 1 and 2 over a five-year period.
Scope 1 and 2 emissions – the “core emissions” in the table – come from a company’s own operations and the energy it uses, respectively, while intensity is defined as tonnes of CO₂-equivalent emissions per $1 million in revenue.
Other factors are also considered, such as companies’ transparency about scope 3 emissions, which arise elsewhere in their value chains, and their cooperation with sustainability assessors such as CDP and the science-based targets initiative (SBTi). These factors are assigned a score, which is combined with the emission intensity reduction figure to produce an overall total for each company.
The editors reserved the right to exclude companies if their broader environmental records – on non-greenhouse gas pollution, for example, or deforestation – were sufficiently disputed to undermine any claim to be a “climate leader”. Energy companies looking for new fossil fuel reserves fell into this category.
Further details of the methodology can be found in the panel at the end of this article and on the Statista website.
Japanese professional services company NTT Data is this year’s top scorer, followed by Hong Kong-based New World Developments and Japan’s Nomura Research Institute.
As in 2022 and 2023, Japan dominates the list, with 54 percent of companies this year. It is followed by Taiwan and Australia, which each account for 11 percent. The best-performing sector is technology and electronics, with 20 percent of companies, followed by financial services, with 10.6 percent — much the same pattern as the previous two editions.
Although 350 Asia-Pacific Climate Leaders were ranked this year, compared to 275 in 2023, this year’s lowest score of 54.2 is higher than last year’s. This is an encouraging development, but it is important to note that the methodology has some shortcomings.
It prioritizes scope 1 and 2 emissions because their reporting is mandatory, so data is easily available and comparable. Companies’ scope 3 emissions are typically much higher, but, because reporting remains voluntary and there are no standard metrics, definitive comparisons are harder to make – hence the focus on transparency rather than absolute numbers.
And because the intensity calculation is based on emissions relative to revenue, some fast-growing companies on the list actually increased their absolute emissions over the five-year period. So this year, we’ve factored absolute emissions reduction performance into the results, for the first time.
However, some of the key data on which this research relies – the companies’ own carbon accounting, plus the information submitted to the CDP – may be flawed, either due to inconsistent emissions figures or insufficient detail. on carbon offsets. To help offset this, reported figures for 2017 and 2022 from some of the biggest emissions cutters, both in terms of intensity and absolute emissions, have been examined by GreenWatch – a sustainability research team based at the University College Dublin. His findings are added to the table as footnotes.
Overall, Asia – despite being the continent with the highest carbon emissions – is making some progress in the fight against climate change. For example, despite its reliance on carbon-intensive coal power, China leads the world in installing solar and wind power. Some analysts think this could help explain a 3 percent year-on-year drop in carbon dioxide emissions in March 2024 — a development that has fueled speculation about 2023 marking the peak for China’s CO₂ emissions.
However, as scientists point out, more GHGs will only exacerbate climate change, leading to more extreme weather events. Last month, for example, temperatures in New Delhi crossed 49 degrees Celsius, setting new records. The pressure on more companies to become climate leaders looks set to only intensify.
A print and online report on Asia-Pacific Climate Leaders 2024 will be published on 21 June, containing articles that analyze the issues raised by this research
Footnotes
[1] Compound annual reduction rate (CARR) based on the sum of scope 1 and 2 emissions and adjusted by revenue growth between 2017 and 2022.
[2] Estimated for 2022.
[3] Absolute change in GHG emissions between 2017 and 2022. Positive values reflect a decrease in emissions, negative values an increase. However, all companies on the list have reduced the intensity of their emissions.
[4] Domain 3 refers to indirect emissions, which may be reported for some or all of the 15 categories and therefore vary widely. That is why the absolute figures are omitted here.
[5] CDP is a non-profit organization that assesses how well companies and other bodies report and reduce their environmental impact.
[6] SBTi is a partnership between CDP, the UN Global Compact, the World Resources Institute and WWF and helps companies set targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
GreenWatch rating
[a] This company’s baseline emissions intensity performance could have been different if the scope 1 and 2 emissions detailed in its annual report were fully consistent with the figures it submitted to CDP and if it had provided information more comprehensive for the use of renewable energy products to offset Field 2 Emissions.
[b] This company’s baseline emissions intensity performance could have been different if the scope 1 and 2 emissions detailed in its annual report were fully consistent with the figures it submitted to the CDP.
[c] This company’s baseline emissions intensity performance could have been different if the scope 2 emissions detailed in its annual report were fully consistent with the figures it submitted to CDP and if it had provided more information complete for the use of renewable energy products to offset Object 2 emissions.
[d] This company’s baseline emissions intensity performance could have been different if the Scope 2 emissions detailed in its annual report were fully consistent with the figures it submitted to CDP.
[e] This company’s baseline emissions intensity performance could have been different if additional information about the use of renewable energy products to offset scope 2 emissions had been disclosed.
[f] After reviewing this entry, GreenWatch does not have a material comment on this company’s baseline emissions intensity performance.
To make comparison easier, we’ve used the same GreenWatch scoring system as last year; this year no company is divided into categories [b] AND [f]
We are grateful to the Rainforest Action Network for providing analytical support to inform the list of Asia-Pacific Climate Leaders
METHODOLOGY
Asia-Pacific Climate Leaders 2024 is a list of 350 Asia-Pacific companies that have achieved the greatest reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity and made further climate-related commitments. These two factors are combined to produce an overall score for each company.
For the first of these, the compilers looked for businesses whose GHG emissions intensity fell the most between 2017 and 2022. Emissions intensity is defined as tons of scope 1 and scope 2 CO₂ emissions per $1 million of income. The figures for 2017 and 2022 were used to calculate the compound annual reduction rate, expressed as a percentage, which contributed up to 80 points out of a possible maximum of 100 points.
For the second, the compilers assigned a score based on: the transparency and extent of reporting of scope 3 emissions; reduction of scope 1 and 2 absolute discharges; and commitment to net zero, CDP outcome and cooperation with SBTi. This accounted for up to 20 points.
All Asia-Pacific companies – defined as being headquartered in one of 14 Asia-Pacific countries – with a minimum revenue of $50 million in 2022 were eligible for consideration.
A call for entries in October 2023 invited potential participants to complete a short questionnaire about their GHG emissions between 2017 and 2022 and their income over the same period (or, for banks and insurance companies , net banking income or gross premiums written). Statista also conducted independent research, reviewing data from nearly 2,000 companies and inviting potential candidates to sign up.
For businesses with a CDP score, only those with a score of at least B- were considered. Companies not working with CDP were still eligible, but for any company emitting more than 2 million tons of CO₂-equivalent annually, a CDP score of at least A- was mandatory.
The editors also reserved the right to exclude companies if their wider environmental record, beyond reported scope 1 and 2 emissions, was sufficiently questionable to undermine any claim to be a “climate leader”.
All companies for which relevant data were found in publicly available sources were contacted in order to review the data. Of these, and the companies that responded to the call for entries, the 350 with the highest overall score have made it to the final list of Asia-Pacific Climate Leaders 2024.
More complete information about the methodology is available from Statista. Although extensive research was conducted, the list does not claim to be complete, as some companies did not release figures or did not participate.
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