Eleven major COP26 sponsors produce more CO2 emissions than entire UK

Written by mirror.co.uk on November 2, 2021. Posted in Current News

The conference is being billed as the “last best hope” to stop global damage that threatens to wipe out coastal towns and cities and make critical areas of the planet uninhabitable.

Last year the UK’s emissions total produced within the country was put at 326 million tonnes.

But a probe has found that was overshadowed by the global output of 11 sponsors, understood to have poured millions of pounds each into the talks which open today in Glasgow.

Just five – ScottishPower, Hitachi, Unilever, Reckitt and National Grid – recorded a combined carbon footprint of almost 280 million tonnes, matching 85 percent of the UK’s own total.

The damning figures were compiled by investigative website The Ferret, which is itself based in Glasgow.

Former Green Party leader Caroline Lucas told the Sunday Mirror: “The Government is making hypocrisy the hallmark of its approach to the talks. Far too many companies are talking up their environmental responsibility while in reality doing far too little. They need to walk the talk and start implementing the policies needed to address an accelerating crisis.”

The companies, described as “principal partners”, were all chosen by the UK Government – which is hosting the two-week climate summit.

Officially called The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, it is the most significant environmental summit since 2015’s Paris Agreement.

Around 30,000 people will gather at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC).

Among them are 120 heads of state – including US president Joe Biden, France’s Emmanuel Macron and ­Canada’s Justin Trudeau – as well as teen climate activist Greta Thunberg.

The target is an international deal on climate goals, including net-zero ‘greenhouse gas’ emissions by the middle of the century. A key aim is to prevent the global temperature from rising by more than 1.5C.

The 11 “principal partners” will be given significant prominence at the event, staging 13 events of their own – giving a huge shop window to advertise themselves and to talk up their green credentials.

The firms last night each issued statements defending their environmental record.

They insist they are all already making progress towards “ambitious” targets. And they warn that some emissions put down to them may have been double-counted, as direct and indirect emissions could overlap.

The analysis broke down emissions into three categories. Scope One and Two cover those directly due to a firm’s operations, such as buildings, vehicles, electricity and heating.

Scope Three are indirect, including goods and services it buys in, transportation, and use of its products.

Spanish energy giant Iberdrola , parent company of ScottishPower, was the biggest polluter of the 11 – contributing more than 72.7 million tonnes. Despite ScottishPower boasting its portfolio is made up solely of renewable energy, Iberdrola has opened two fossil gas plants in Mexico since 2018.

And while it says 80 percent of its energy was from green sources in the first half of 2021, it has faced criticism as Spain’s eighth biggest polluter – and causing water shortages in three towns.

Japanese multinational Hitachi narrowly trailed Iberdrola with emissions of nearly 72.4 million tonnes.

Third was Unilever , with more than 61 million tonnes. Research last year found the firm also produces 70,000 tonnes of plastic a year.

But it has pledged to make all of its plastic packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025, and cut all ties with palm-oil suppliers found to be responsible for Indonesian wildfires.

Consumer goods firm Reckitt had emissions of nearly 36 million tonnes in 2020. And it has been criticised for still using unsustainable palm oil.

Reckitt claims 75 per cent of its 2020 emissions were caused by use of its appliances in people’s homes.

And it claimed to have reduced the direct carbon footprint from its factories by 50 per cent since 2012.

National Grid ’s annual emissions narrowly trailed Reckitt, at just under 36 million tonnes. Its US operation has faced a backlash over plans to build a fracked gas storage and transport facility in New York.

It says it is aiming for net-zero emissions by 2050 and has achieved a 68 percent cut since 1990. Lower emitters among the “principal partners” are Sainsbury’s, Glaxo­SmithKline, Microsoft, SSE, Sky and NatWest.

Sainsbury’s did not publish a breakdown of indirect emissions for 2020. But if these remained the same as its 2018-19 baseline figures, it would have topped 27 million tonnes.

However, it is the only supermarket globally given the highest rating by the Climate Change Disclosure for taking action on climate change for seven consecutive years.

It is also the retailer with the second-highest proportion of loose fruit and vegetables in Greenpeace rankings – and this week announced it was cutting five years from its target to become net zero, committing to 2035 instead of 2040.

GlaxoSmithKline added nearly 16 million tonnes of emissions, while Microsoft produced more than 11 million tonnes.

A partnership between Microsoft and oil giant ExxonMobil has been shown to risk an increase in its annual emissions by 21 per cent.

The tech giant is also one of the biggest corporate buyers of flights despite running a video conferencing platform – but says it is urging staff to use its Teams more and is launching a “focus on sustainability”.

SSE emitted 11 million tonnes in 2020, largely due to operating Peterhead power station.

It says Peterhead is Scotland’s only major thermal power station and provides important system stability for the country’s electricity grid.

The firm says this lets more renewables projects go ahead, giving the plant a role in the energy transition.

Broadcaster Sky produced more than two million tonnes, while the lowest of the 11 was NatWest – according to its sustainability report. However, the NatWest data appears not to take into account the emissions caused by its investment in fossil fuels projects to the tune of $13.39billion between 2016 and 2020.

NatWest funds are also linked to the Cerrejon coal mine in Colombia, one of the biggest in the world.

Rebecca Newsom, Head of Politics at Greenpeace UK, said: “Companies must be put under much more pressure to align with the globally agreed goal to limit warming. We need ambitious regulations without delay. Anything less would let companies off the hook and allow them to greenwash.”

See more here: mirror.co.uk

Header image: emso.eu

Editor’s note: For 26 years, the rich & powerful have been having their COP conferences, where they tell us carbon dioxide; the gas of life, will destroy the planet, and lecture the world how to live with much less of everything. They tell us we must stop driving, flying and eating meat, while they swan off to various locations in their private jets and have lavish banquets. These people are the biggest hypocrites in the world.

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