Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) has revealed its 2019 corporate climate action A-list.

The list features the 179 companies that CDP believes are leading the way on corporate transparency and action on climate change. The list commends companies – including Danone, Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP), Nestlé and Unilever – for their impressive environmental achievements.

For example, CCEP made the CDP’s Climate A-list as a result of its actions to cut emissions, mitigate climate risks and use 100 per cent renewable electricity.

“With the threshold for A-list membership increasing significantly in 2019, this milestone moment represents a significant achievement,” said Joe Franses, vice president, sustainability at CCEP. “Our work to understand our climate-related risks, together with our ongoing GHG emissions disclosure has been critical in helping us to achieve this important position.”

Franses added that the bottler is “building a long-term carbon reduction strategy which is aligned with climate-science and a pathway which limits global temperature increase to well-below 2 deg C; all of which demonstrates our clear commitment to tackling climate change.”

Nestlé was recognised for its actions to cut emissions, mitigate climate risks and develop the low-carbon economy. “This pays tribute to our leadership in climate change, which is one of the biggest threats we face as a society and to the sustainability of our business,” commented Magdi Batato, executive vice president, head of operations at Nestlé.

Last year, the company announced that it planned to tackle climate change and committed to zero net emissions by 2050. “We will continue to step up our efforts and we call on others to embark on this journey with us,” Batato said.

According to CDP, Danone secured its place on its A-list following the company’s partnership with Loop Industries, which developed a way to produce FDA-approved virgin-quality plastic food packaging made from recycled plastic waste.

Meanwhile, Japan has overtaken the US to become the country with the most A-list companies. CDP’s list featured 38 Japanese companies (up from 20 the previous year) as opposed to 35 from the US.

CDP, a non-profit global environmental disclosure platform, scored over 8,000 companies from A to D minus – only the top 2 per cent made the A-list. The ranking is designed to inspire companies to take action on corporate sustainability.

“The latest science says we need global emissions to urgently peak and start declining by 7.6 per cent a year to avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis,” warned Dexter Galvin, global director of corporations and supply chains at CDP.

Galvin added that “global business has a critical role to play in this existential challenge. Companies can and should become part of the solution rather than part of the problem. This also unlocks opportunities for fast-moving companies to get ahead, with the STOXX Climate Leaders Index showing that those on the CDP A List outperform their peers on the stock market by 5.5 per cent per annum. Leading on climate action is good business in today’s economy – it will be essential business in tomorrow’s economy.”