Finally after years of urging major corporations in the United States, the Carbon Disclosure Project is beginning to see vast improvements in climate change policy. The 2011 S&P 500 reports how efficiently the top 500 companies in the United States improve their “green” performance by reducing their greenhouse gas emissions, making their business more eco-friendly, and setting future goals of reduction.
As reported by Market Watch, most businesses assumed they wouldn’t see financial benefits from reducing their carbon footprint right away, however the CDP found that more than 50% of green initiatives are offering payback in three years or less. And now that high-level executives are urging green initiatives, employee behavior is improving as well. Because energy costs are typically one of the highest expenses in any business, practicing energy efficiency is becoming increasingly more popular simply because it reduces a company’s overheard, which maximizes profit while minimizing cost.
With all these improvements, there comes some backward movement as well. Although there are 500 S&P companies in total, only 339 businesses disclosed information to the CDP, which was a drop from last year’s 350 respondents. Also, only 14% of companies who do report findings get them verified by a third party, which is a decrease from 23% in 2010.
Though it would be nice to see companies reducing their carbon footprint on their own accord, sustainability becomes less of an environmental issue and more of a strategy to increase profit. Whatever the reason for these companies change in behavior, the environmental will benefit no less.
