Climate and Energy Benchmark

Aim

Our world needs a major decarbonisation and energy transformation to prevent the climate crisis we’re facing and meet the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C (2.7°F). Without urgent climate action, we will experience more extreme weather events, rising sea levels and immense negative impacts on ecosystems. These will impact each and every one of us for decades to come, but more so the most vulnerable populations and regions. 

The private sector plays a critical role in driving decarbonisation and must take action now to meet the Paris Agreement goal. WBA’s benchmarks are an accountability mechanism, which highlight industries and companies that are leading the way in this transformation, and form an evidence base to hold laggards to account. They empower all stakeholder groups: businesses, civil society, governments, trade unions, academia and others, to act collectively towards achieving decarbonisation in this decade of delivery.  

Our Climate and Energy Benchmark covers rankings of 450 of the world’s most influential, keystone companies in high-emitting sectors like automotive, electric utilities, oil and gas, transport, buildings and construction. These sector benchmarks will be regularly updated.  

Just transition

Sustainable development requires striking the right balance between economic, environmental and social components. The decarbonisation of our global economy will only succeed if climate justice includes solutions for workers and communities – the social component – in what is known as a ‘just transition’.

As part of our work on decarbonisation and energy transformation, the 450 keystone companies will also be ranked on their progress towards a just transition. These 450 companies employ around 24 million people worldwide and hold immense influence to drive a just transition. The companies will be assessed for their alignment with the Paris Agreement goal alongside their approach to addressing the social challenges of a low-carbon transition. The assessments will be based on the ACT methodology as well as WBA’s just transition and core social indicators.

The assessments will be the first of their kind, publicly available and free. They will measure what these companies are doing to minimise negative impacts on workers, communities and the most vulnerable, as they work towards their low-carbon goals.

Scope

The Climate and Energy Benchmark tracks keystone companies in the highest emitting sectors, identified through extensive consultation and research. It includes industry groups from TCFD recommendations, and covers listed, private and state-owned companies in these sectors, headquartered across 64 countries.  

Methodology

The Climate and Energy Benchmark measures the readiness of companies to transition to a low-carbon economy, using the future-oriented ACT methodologies. ACT (‘Assessing Low-Carbon Transition’) methodologies use the most ambitious scenarios available from the International Energy Agency (IEA) to calculate company pathways and assess companies against the 1.5°C Paris goal. ACT seeks the views and opinions of a wide range of stakeholders including companies, NGOs, academics and other interested parties through public consultation. All ACT resources and our methodologies for launched benchmarks can be found here. 

WBA has also developed core social indicators and just transition indicators. We will assess the companies in the Climate and Energy Benchmark with these in 2021 to create our Just Transition Assessments. From 2022, each sector benchmark in the Climate and Energy series will comprise an integrated assessment using ACT, as well as the core social and just transition indicators. 

Partnership with CDP and ADEME

WBA is developing the Climate and Energy Benchmark in strategic partnership with CDP and ADEME (The French Agency For Ecological Transition). The Climate and Energy Benchmark aims to accelerate the global decarbonisation and energy transformation. It measures and ranks keystone companies across high-emitting sectors by operationalising the Assessing Low-Carbon Transition (‘ACT’) methodologies, together with WBA’s just transition and core social indicators. These influential, keystone companies are assessed on their past performance, current strategies and forward-looking targets and alignment with the Paris Agreement.