CDP evaluates business environmental activities on behalf of a worldwide community of more than 590 institutional investors. More than 12,000 companies were evaluated under three metrics: Climate Change, Forests, and Water Security with 272 companies worldwide making the grade. 

Of the companies that made the A listing, industry suppliers and companies featured included HP, Metsä Board, Mondi and Lenzing (A List for all three categories); Epson (climate change and water security); Fujifilm, Toray Industries and DS Smith (water security); UPM (forest); Konica Minolta, Kyocera, JCDecaux, Mitsubishi Electric and Ricoh (climate change); and Tetra Pak (climate change and forests).

Regarding the newly-released list, CDP commented: “The number of companies on the Climate A List has dropped from 280 last year, as the consensus on what qualifies as climate leadership has evolved and the bar raised. Much of the low hanging fruit at companies’ disposal has now been utilised and more ambitious action is urgently required.

“It is encouraging to see that many other companies made a significant improvement in the quality of their disclosures this year and moved up in the rankings. 509 companies improved their scores from a C or below in 2020 to a B in 2021, meaning they have advanced from merely disclosing and being aware of their environmental impact, to taking action to manage it.”