New York – The world’s biggest companies are making climate change a higher priority, in part through more widespread disclosure of carbon emissions, according to an annual report released Monday by a nonprofit group.
The report from the Carbon Disclosure Project tracked how companies plan to deal with the risks and opportunities associated with greenhouse-gas emissions and energy use.
“The big thing this year is the huge increase in the level of seriousness with which climate change is being incorporated into the corporate strategy of companies,” Carbon Disclosure Project chief executive Paul Dickinson said.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced Monday that the company would begin measuring energy use for seven product categories in a partnership with the CDP.
A typical Wal-Mart Supercenter, which combines a full grocery section with general merchandise, carries about 200,000 items in thousands of categories.
For the time being, the world’s biggest retailer would not yet use the data to choose its suppliers of DVDs, toothpaste, soap, milk, beer, vacuum cleaners and soda.
“This is an important first step toward reaching our goal of removing non-renewable energy from the products Wal-Mart sells,” its chief merchandising officer, John Fleming, said in a statement.
British supermarket chain Tesco PLC, a Wal-Mart rival, announced plans in January to label 70,000 food items to show consumers the amount of carbon emitted during the production, transport and consumption of each one.
Tesco plans to enter the U.S. market starting this year.
