One in three companies with historically comparable data are increasing their greenhouse gas emissions, and six companies do not report emissions at all or only provide fragmented key figures. This is revealed in a review of the climate reporting of 150 Swedish large companies by Klimatkollen and 2050 Consulting.
– It is surprising that so many large companies underperform in reducing emissions, given the Swedish business community’s high profile in environmental matters. Our data also shows that significant reductions that have occurred are often due to sales, shutdowns, or economic downturns, rather than their own efforts. To meet the Paris Agreement, powerful measures are needed in the near term, says Frida Berry Eklund, Co-Founder of Klimatkollen.
The report Companies’ Historical Climate Emissions shows that the proportion of companies reporting emissions has increased significantly between 2015 and 2023, from 9 to 95 percent of the 150 companies. No companies that started reporting climate emissions have since stopped.
70 companies have comparable data for at least three years. Overall, these companies’ emissions increased by an average of 6.1 percent over the past three years. Data comes from the companies’ own sustainability reports from 2019 to 2023.
Six companies do not report greenhouse gas emissions at all or in a comparable manner: Addnode Group, Biotage, Creades, Instalco, SJ, and Traton.
– Despite the difficulty in analyzing historical emissions data, it is an important part of sustainability reporting. Emissions distributed across the value chain for a single year provide an understanding of the company’s climate impact, but it is only when several years of emissions are compared that the company’s ability to translate knowledge into real action becomes clear, says Göran Erselius, Head of Analysis and Founder of 2050 Consulting.
About the report Companies’ Historical Climate Emissions:
- Link to the report is available here
- Of the 150 analyzed large companies, fewer than half, 70 of the 150 companies, have three or more years of comparable historical data on greenhouse gas emissions. For these 70 companies, emissions have increased by an average of 6.1 percent over the past three years. Emissions have decreased on average for 46 companies during the period, but increased for 23 companies.
- Six companies do not report greenhouse gas emissions at all or only as fragmented key figures that do not allow tracking the company’s overall climate impact either for a single year or over time: Addnode Group, Biotage, Creades, Instalco, SJ, and Traton.
- Volvo AB, Atlas Copco, and ABB have been the three largest emitters of the 150 companies in absolute terms since they started reporting emissions in 2019.
- Of the 150 analyzed companies, the proportion of companies reporting emissions has increased significantly between 2015 and 2023, from 9 to 95 percent. No companies that started reporting climate emissions have ceased doing so.
- Of the 150 analyzed companies, the proportion of reporting companies that report emissions in scope 3 has increased from 54 to 88 percent between 2015 and 2023.
For more information and underlying datasets, please contact:
Frida Berry Eklund, Co-Founder, Klimatkollen, frida@klimatkollen.se, 073-620 08 13
Göran Erselius, Head of Analysis and Founder, 2050 Consulting AB, goran.erselius@2050.se, 073-363 13 21
Welcome to our launch webinar
Welcome to Klimatkollen’s and 2050’s open webinar on April 23, where you will get insights from the report’s analysis that will provide valuable insights for the next reporting round. Read more and register here!