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The
initiative came as negotiators gathered in Paris try to reach an
accord on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and is intended to
go beyond the often vague promises of corporate action on the
issue.
U.N. Global Compact, a voluntary U.N. scheme, and
non-governmental organizations including the U.S.-based World
Resources Institute (WRI) have been attempting to persuade
business to set carbon goals since the Kyoto Protocol in 1997.
The WRI and its partner organizations said more than 100
companies had committed within the next two years to set
targets, assessed on the basis of U.N. standards as a meaningful
contribution to warding off a global average temperature rise of
more than 2 degrees Celsius, viewed as a threshold for
potentially catastrophic climate change.
Coca-Cola Enterprises (the European bottling partner of
Coca-Cola Co <KO.N>), Dell, Enel <ENEI.MI>, General Mills <GIS.N>,
Kellogg, NRG Energy <NRG.N>, Procter & Gamble <PG.N>, Sony and
Thalys have already had goals approved equating to nearly 2
billion barrels of oil not burned over the lifetime of their
targets.
Kellogg, which like other food companies is sensitive to extreme
weather that inflates the cost of ingredients and makes them
scarce, committed to a 15 percent reduction in emissions
intensity per tonne of food produced by 2020 versus 2015, the
joint statement said.
"It's a core business issue in terms of, can we have enough
access to foods over time?" Diana Holdorf, chief sustainability
officer at Kellogg, said in Paris. "Security of supply is
critical to our business."
Other corporate climate commitments linked to the Paris
conference included Unilever, Nestle, Procter & Gamble and
others saying last month they had signed up to emissions
targets.
(Editing by David Holmes)
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