Companies in the Asia-Pacific region are still largely indifferent to efforts to contain global warming and other climate-change risks, with only 8 per cent signing up to plans to reach net-zero targets, according to an industry report. Only 8 per cent of companies in the region have put in place their plans to meet net-zero carbon emission targets at the end of 2021, according to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). It underscores the urgency for chief executive officers to step up in the region deemed highly vulnerable to climate deterioration. CDP is a non-profit organisation that runs the world’s environmental disclosure system for companies, cities, states and regions. Together with climate solutions provider South Pole, it analysed data disclosed by 3,879 companies in the region which account for 14 per cent of global market capitalisation. “What the Asia-Pacific region does or does not do today to address the looming climate crisis will be felt across the entire world,” John Davis, director for Asia-Pacific at South Pole, said in a press statement on Friday. Floods in China’s central Henan province in July killed more than 300 and cost more than US$17 billion in damages. China suffered the second worst setback from the catastrophe, among 50 major flood events which caused US$82 billion of losses last year, according to Swiss Re. Climate change: China suffered world’s second worst losses from floods in 2021, Swiss Re study shows CDP and South Pole found that only 291 of the 3,879 firms had established their net-zero targets in 2021. While companies showed increased commitment in 2021, there was still a significant ambition gap in meeting the Paris Agreement targets of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050, it said. Fewer than four in 10 companies currently follow a specific low-carbon transition plan, according to the CDP report. Among 65 per cent with active emissions reduction targets, fewer than one in three had science-based targets that provide a defined pathway with increased efficiency and accountability. Despite efforts to develop new sources of renewable energy, green power accounts for only 5 per cent of the electricity used by the top 100 largest energy-consuming companies, the report added. The findings follow the latest periodic reports from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change this year, which reiterated calls for rapid, sustained, and large-scale greenhouse gas emission reductions globally Chinese manufacturers lack plan on carbon emissions without firm targets The Asia-Pacific region is more vulnerable to climate-change risks because of its densely populated coastal areas and dependence on natural resources and agriculture, the IPCC report showed. For example, parts of West and South Asia are at risk of losing groundwater even more quickly, and affected nations could lose up to 6 per cent of gross domestic product through inaction, it added. There are some encouraging findings from the CDP report, nonetheless. The number of enterprises reporting through CDP in the Asia-Pacific region has increased by 29 per cent from 2020, and more than a fivefold jump over 2016. The report showed almost all respondents having management-level oversight for climate-related issues, suggesting awareness among corporate executives. Yet, actions to reduce emissions in the region still lagged behind efforts by global counterparts. For example, 600 companies responding to CDP reported lower emissions in 2021, totalling 267 million tonnes of net carbon dioxide reduction. While this is a positive sign, it only represents 1 per cent of the total emissions reported in the region for 2021. As the region continues to recover from the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is critical that companies develop ambitious long-term decarbonisation strategies and green finance initiatives, according to CDP. “The decisions we make over the next five years will determine whether reaching net-zero by 2050 is achievable,” said Donald Chan, managing director for the Asia-Pacific at CDP. “We need all actors in our economy – national and local governments, businesses, and capital markets – to be united in ambitious, urgent, system-wide action.”