About a quarter of the world’s highest-emitting, publicly listed companies fail to report their greenhouse gas emissions and nearly half do not properly consider the risks from the climate crisis in decision-making, new research has found.

The findings show the distance even the world’s biggest companies still have to cover to meet the goals of the Paris agreement on climate change, according to the group of investors coordinating the report.

The research covered a sample of 274 of the world’s highest emitting companies which are publicly listed, and therefore must make official disclosures of key financial data.

It was carried out by the Grantham Research Institute on climate change at the London School of Economics and commissioned by the Transition Pathway Initiative, a group of investors supportive of the Paris agreement, with about $14tn (£11tn) in funds under management.

Of a smaller sample of 160 of the biggest emitters, only one in eight – 20 companies – globally were found to be reducing their emissions at the rate necessary to meet the Paris goal of holding temperature rises to within 2C of pre-industrial levels.

Simon Dietz, co-director of the Grantham Institute, said: “It’s over three years since the Paris agreement was signed, and this research shows the corporate sector is improving its climate planning and performance, but not fast enough. Cutting through the noise, we can see that barely 12% of companies plan to reduce emissions at the rate required to keep global warming below 2C.”

The researchers examined companies in key sectors including oil and gas, steel and aluminium, utilities, car manufacturing and air transport, which combined account for more than 40% of emissions from public companies around the world.

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New rules have been introduced in the UK that require big companies to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions. In many countries they are not required to do so but are encouraged by many stock exchanges and investor groups. The Taskforce for Climate-related Financial Disclosure, backed by the Bank of England, has said such reporting is essential to allow investors to make properly informed decisions about their portfolios.

Faith Ward, co-chair of the Transition Pathway Initiative, said investors would be taking note: “This research shows clear leaders and laggards emerging within sectors from airlines to aluminium, and that gives investors an investment-relevant decision to make today.

“As the effects of climate change accelerate, we can expect to see more capital flow away from those companies that bury their head in the sand, and towards those companies aligning with a 2C pathway.”