A Change in the Climate

Only one in ten of the companies responding to this survey, published May 2007 by the Economist Intelligence Unit, said they comprehensively monitor their carbon impact across the entire business. One-quarter of companies monitor some or all of their emissions in parts of their operations, and 18 percent simply measure energy efficiency. One-third of the companies, 32 percent, said they neither monitor their emissions or have any plans to do so in the near future.

North American companies trail behind the rest of the world in cutting carbon costs, according to the survey. Only 7 percent of companies based in North America pay attention to their carbon footprint, and 41 percent neither monitor their emissions or plan to start such monitoring programs. In Europe, 28 percent of companies monitor their emissions, and 32 percent of companies globally do so.

The report did find that there are signs of progress across companies worldwide. Among companies that do not currently monitor their carbon output, more than a quarter, 28 percent, said they intend to have a monitoring program in place by 2010.