Just one in ten companies are embedding ‘Earth-positive decision-making’ into their business models, a new report by CDP, in association with Oliver Wyman and the World Economic Forum, has found.
According to the report, CDP 2025 Corporate Health Check – The annual state of Earth-positive business action, too many firms are achieving the bare minimum when it comes to meeting the demands of CDP‘s Corporate Health Check.
Corporate Health Check
The CDP Corporate Health Check assesses businesses in terms of five climate and nature pillars: disclosure, target setting, governance, strategy and progress. Each company is assigned one of four levels – Level 1: Falling Behind, Level 2: Meeting the Minimum, Level 3: Showing Ambition and Level 4: Charting Change – based on their disclosure through CDP in 2024.
Businesses that disclose information through the Health Check have cut emissions by 2% per annum in recent years, while global emissions rose 1% each year.
However, just one in three firms are ‘on track’ to meet their own emissions targets, with European firms ahead of those in other regions. Some 46% of companies in Europe are on track to meet their emissions targets, ahead of Asia and North America (both 33%), Africa, Latin America and Oceania (less than 25%) and China (19%).
‘Tangible action’
‘Only 10% of […] companies demonstrate tangible action to address the climate and nature emergency, with just 1% reaching the highest level assessed,’ the report noted. ‘These companies on track to deliver their targets are successfully pulling four key business levers by integrating their disclosure data into their governance and strategy.
‘Disclosure alone is an important first step, but businesses must pull other levers using this data to drive Earth-positive action.’
Governance and strategy
According to CDP, companies that are making the most progress are those that can ‘most effectively pull key governance and strategy levers’, including firms that link executive pay to achieving climate goals to encourage sustainable business practices.
As the report noted, protecting the planet while also pursuing profit is achievable. ‘Businesses that see the advantage of sustainability are reducing their impacts and remaining competitive in the market at the same time,’ it said. Read more here.
