At the start of every year, the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA) updates its SDG2000 list which spotlights the 2,000 most influential companies globally.
“While governments around the world are responsible for achieving SDGs within their borders, business action is voluntary.”
These companies play pivotal roles in industries our societies depend on: food, energy, housing, internet, transportation, and finance. Their collective revenues ($45 trillion) are equivalent to 42% of the global GDP.
“With this influence, they could significantly accelerate sustainable systems transformation and deliver progress towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but they are currently falling behind,” WBA writes.
The situation revealed by the WBA’s latest SDG2000 update, published last week, is alarming to say the least: Less than a third of these companies, 29% of them, have submitted greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets to the Science Based Target initiative (SBTi).
The companies include Apple, Samsung, Coca Cola, Ørsted, Alibaba, and Barclays. Among the top 10 revenue-generating businesses, only Apple and Walmart have SBTi-recognized emissions targets.
We published an updated list of the 2,000 largest and most influential companies in the world – the #SDG2000. Find out why you should care about the sustainability performance of these companies👇https://t.co/YOdSdHYTfI #AllAtOnce #CorporateAccountability pic.twitter.com/ecwTdAMe4k
— World Benchmarking Alliance (@SDGBenchmarks) January 22, 2024
Another worrying finding is that, while “[a]ccountability requires transparency from leading companies,” as the WBA writes, only 122 of the 2,000 companies disclose all relevant data. Over two-thirds of these are headquartered in Europe and North America, while over half of all SDG2000 companies come from these two regions.
Gerbrand Haverkamp, Executive Director of the World Benchmarking Alliance, stressed the importance of accountability:
“We have passed the halfway mark on the deadline to achieving the SDGs and only 12% of the targets are on track. We are not delivering what the world requires. Without accountability, businesses will not take the action both people and planet desperately need — which is why the SDG2000 list is essential to ensuring transparency and scrutiny of the world’s most significant companies. We must strengthen corporate accountability and make the impact of companies consequential to their success.”
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The WBA also found that “[a]lmost all companies disclosing all information are publicly listed but there were also four privately owned companies (Cargill, Charoen Pokphand Group, Elsewedy Electric and Ferrero).”
This, the WBA notes, shows that “private ownership does not need to be a barrier.”
Highlighting positive strides, the WBA showcased two Nordic energy companies leading the way in emissions reduction targets and committing to reaching Net Zero by 2040: Ørsted and Neste.
Ørsted, for example, is “taking actions such as committing 100% of its CapEx to low-carbon technologies, and aiming to reduce its scope 1 and 2 emissions by 98% by 2025, compared to a 2006 baseline,” the WBA writes.
“While governments around the world are responsible for achieving SDGs within their borders, business action is voluntary. And yet there is no way we can reach these goals without the might of the corporate world,” Gerbrand Haverkamp said. “With the clock ticking, businesses must get back on track.”
In light of this, the WBA is urging these companies to act and calling on their shareholders to hold them accountable.
Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed here by the authors are their own, not those of Impakter.com — In the Featured Photo: Shipping containers in a busy cargo port. Featured Photo Credit: CHUTTERSNAP.
