Companies must set more aggressive targets to give earth a fighting chance at avoiding irreversible damage, according to a UK nonprofit

Scientists and world leaders have agreed that to avoid environmental catastrophes like super droughts and mass extinctions, the Earth’s temperature cannot exceed 2C above pre-industrial levels. But the world is quickly burning through the amount of carbon dioxide it can emit to avoid that level of global warming – and some warn we’ll have exhausted the carbon budget within 30 years.

While governments around the world have committed to reducing their emissions, the corporate world is lagging behind, according to a new report from CDP, a London-based nonprofit that collects and distributes data on corporate environmental impacts.

Released Wednesday, the Mind the Science report delivered a sobering set of conclusions about climate change, criticizing companies for failing to adhere to targets that might help avoid catastrophic warming.

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The good news is that companies are recognizing the very real threat of climate change and taking steps to mitigate its effects. According to the report, 81% of the world’s 500 largest companies have set targets to reduce their carbon footprints.

The bad news is that most companies aren’t doing enough. The report looked at 70 of the most energy-intensive companies across the aluminum, cement, chemicals and electric utility sectors. Together, these companies were responsible for 9% of global emissions in 2014.

According to the report, only six of those companies, including Hong Kong-based utility CLP and Swiss cement company Holcim, had set long term targets that were large enough to help keep warming within 2C. Twenty two of the companies haven’t publicly declared an emission reduction target, and nine companies don’t even monitor or report their C02 emissions.

“It’s a very significant fraction,” said Pedro Faria, author of the report. “It’s a point of concern that there is no real transparency in terms of the amount of C02 they put into the atmosphere each year.”

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Of the companies that have set emissions targets, few have long term targets in place that extend beyond 2030. The report suggests that when a company’s short term goals expire in the next few years, businesses should set new targets that are more aligned with contemporary climate science.

Faria said setting long term goals – and soon – is especially important for energy-intensive companies, which will likely need to invest in a lot of new, high tech equipment to reduce emissions.

“Their capital assets last decades, so investment made now will have impacts on their emissions in 20, 30 or 40 years,” Faria said. “They need to have this long term vision.”

But some companies are doing it right. The report highlighted a few that are setting ambitious, scientifically-backed goals.

NRG Energy Inc, the largest US power producer, has committed to cutting its greenhouse gas emissions 90% by 2050, while Italian power company Enel plans to be carbon neutral by then. Swedish retail giant H&M and food group Nestle also have committed to setting long term, science-based targets.

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Setting ambitious emissions goals is not only good for the environment, but it’s also good for business. According to the report, companies that set CO2 targets were more profitable than those that didn’t, delivering 9.9% in returns over a 12-month period compared to 9.2% for companies without goals.

In conjunction with the report, the CDP on Wednesday announced a global campaign to urge companies to align greenhouse gas emissions targets with climate science. The Science Based Targets Initiative, launched in collaboration with UN Global Compact, the World Resources Institute and the World Wildlife Foundation, aims to enlist 100 companies by the end of this year and 250 companies by 2020.

“These companies know that science-based targets are in their long term interest, and they are ready to lead in the low carbon economy of the future,” said Cynthia Cummis, deputy director of the Greenhouse Gas Protocal at the World Resources Institute, a global research organization that focuses on sustainability. “We hope this critical mass will be the tipping point to making science-based emissions targets standard business practice.”

The Science Behind Sustainability Solutions blog is funded by Arizona State University Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives. All content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled advertisement feature. Find out more here.