Americas > Global firms flock to internal carbon pricing policies as stricter climate regulations expected

Global firms flock to internal carbon pricing policies as stricter climate regulations expected

Published 06:22 on September 21, 2015  /  Last updated at 06:22 on September 21, 2015  / Stian Reklev /  Americas, Asia Pacific, Climate Talks, EMEA, International

The number of companies worldwide that use internal carbon pricing for investment decisions has tripled to 437 since last year and will surpass 1,000 within the next two years, a new report showed Sunday.

The number of companies worldwide that use internal carbon pricing for investment decisions has tripled to 437 since last year and will surpass 1,000 within the next two years, a new report showed Sunday.

The report by CDP, formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project, said the rapid increase was in part due to an expectation that the UN climate conference in Paris in December will lead to stronger efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

“Climate change is now part of mainstream business decision-making and represents a bona-fide line item in the standard budget assumptions of successful companies,” it concluded.

“The results show that leading public companies in the United States and around the world are expecting limits on greenhouse gas emissions. These companies are using an internal carbon price to plan for carbon restrictions. As a consequence they also seek and would welcome regulatory certainty,” it said.

This year the increase has been particularly rapid in the Asia-Pacific, where 93 companies said they have an internal carbon price, compared to only eight last year.

The actual price used range from less than a dollar to $360 per tonne of CO2e, but according to the report’s graphics appeared to normally range somewhere between $20 and $60.

Emerging carbon markets or other types of current or expected climate regulations in places like Brazil, China, South Africa, South Korea and the United States play a major role in spurring firms to use internal carbon pricing across all sectors, the report showed.

CO2 pricing was somewhat less applied in Canada and Australia, where the regulatory outlook for climate change is much more uncertain.

Mong companies that have applied a carbon price was Colgate, Exxon Mobil, General Motors, Mazda, Nissan and SK Holdings, while CLP Holdings and Yahoo!Inc were among over 530 companies saying they expected to introduce carbon pricing within the next two years.

The report can be downloaded from here.

By Stian Reklev – stian@carbon-pulse.com

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