Carbon emissions of top British brands unveiled

The first annual Brand Emissions study failed to disclose the carbon emission performances of some of the top 600 brands in the UK. Conducted by Edinburgh University Business School and the ENDS Carbon team, the Marketing magazine and its sister title Brand Republic commissioned the study to publish companies’ emission targets. The study is in collaboration with the Carbon Disclosure Project in the UK.

The research revealed that top brand leaders, which include McDonald’s, Harvey Nichols, Porsche, Google, Burger King, Dyson, Facebook, McKinsey and Amazon, have failed or no available emission reduction targets. Meanwhile, companies in the pharmaceutical, publishing, food retail and telecommunications performed well in reducing emissions.

Moreover, supermarket top brands, namely Tesco, Asda, Marks & Spencer, the Co-op, Sainsbury’s and Morrison, scored well in the survey. Meanwhile in the car industry sector, BMW, Volkswagen, General Motors and Renault were placed on top spots. However, car rental and hotel sectors ranked last on the study.

The survey also revealed that about 400 brands have significantly increased their emissions, have lowered emission targets or does not publish any report at all.

In totality, there were only about five per cent of the UK’s top brands who partake in cutting their emissions and a total of 121 brands across the country meet the government’s goal in reducing greenhouse gases.

The Brand Emissions survey is done annually to track emission progress against the UK government’s target of curbing carbon emissions. A detailed analysis of the study results will be published on 9 December.