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Europe’s great industrial economies were built on fossil fuels: decarbonising them was never going to be easy. Even so, this year has delivered a sharp check to the continent’s green ambitions.
Popular opposition to greenhouse gas reduction measures — spearheaded by farmers, who staged disruptive protests in Brussels and across the EU in February — led to setbacks for green parties in June’s European parliament election.
Meanwhile, some of the most polluting companies have softened their green commitments. In March, for example, oil company Shell dropped a 2035 greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction target, though it says it is still aiming for net zero by 2050.
Apparently positive news for environmentalists has come with qualifications. While data showed that the EU’s carbon emissions from fossil fuels reached a level not seen in 60 years in 2023, thanks to rapid expansion in renewable energy, the bloc’s leading scientific advisory group warned that it needed significantly to accelerate its emissions-cutting efforts to hit its goal of net zero by 2050.
That will require a concerted effort by the continent’s businesses — whose performance on GHG emissions is what Europe’s Climate Leaders has been tracking since 2021. Compiled by the Financial Times and Statista, the German data provider, it is an annual list of the companies that have achieved the greatest reduction in their emissions intensity. The entry period for businesses that think they may be eligible for next year’s edition, the fifth, has just begun.
While the 2025 Europe’s Climate Leaders list will highlight the businesses whose Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions intensity — that is, emissions relative to revenue — fell the most between 2018 and 2023, it will also draw on other metrics.
Scope 1 and 2 emissions, which arise respectively from a company’s own operations and from the energy it purchases, are relatively easy to measure.
Far harder to account for, though in many cases far larger, are so-called Scope 3 emissions, which occur elsewhere in the value chain. Businesses’ transparency on these, together with their performance as assessed by climate standard-setters CDP and the Science Based Targets initiative, and their progress on absolute emissions (to which greater weight will be attached for this edition), will help determine the final list. That list will be published in an FT print supplement in spring 2025, as well as online at ft.com.
All European companies with a minimum revenue of €40mn or £36mn in 2023 are eligible for consideration (see below for the full list of eligible countries). In order to participate, we invite you to fill out a short questionnaire about your company’s GHG emissions for all available years between 2018 and 2023, and its revenue over the same period (or, for banks, the net interest income). We also ask you to send us a data verification form, which needs to be downloaded and signed.
Eligibility for the list will be determined by the compound annual reduction rate (CARR) of the emissions intensity. Potential candidates will be contacted by Statista or can put their name forward at the Statista website, which also has more information about the methodology, conditions of participation and useful contacts.
Why should my company participate?
▩ NEW BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES
Inclusion in the Europe’s Climate Leaders list will be a visible and public acknowledgment of your company’s environmental performance that extends far beyond your specific industry and country. It will generate attention for your business on the part of potential partners, customers, employees and investors around the world.
▩ EFFECTIVE MEDIA COVERAGE
The full list will be published in a special report, a supplement within a weekday edition of the FT newspaper and on FT.com. The report will include articles by FT journalists on companies, sectors and trends within the sustainability field.
▩ REPUTATION
All companies that make it on to the list may use the award logo for marketing purposes¹.
¹ The use of the label and the word-and-image logo “Europe’s Climate Leaders 2025” for marketing purposes is subject to a one-off payment of a licence fee. Inclusion in the ranking, however, is completely free of charge.
Who is eligible?
To be considered for inclusion in the list, your company must meet the following criteria:
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Revenue of at least €40mn/£36mn generated in 2023¹
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Must be headquartered in Europe²
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Must report emissions data independently
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In case a CDP score is available, the score must be at least B-³
¹ Non-euro countries: currency value equivalent as of 31/12/2023.
² Eligible to participate are all companies from these countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK.
³ For companies with emissions of over 2mn tonnes CO₂-equivalent, a CDP score of at least A- is mandatory.
How do I register?
STEP ONE: ONLINE REGISTRATION
Please register with Statista online here by November 15 2024. Alternatively, you can download the form and, upon completion, send it to [email protected] or to the postal address given.
STEP TWO: DATA VERIFICATION
Your emissions and revenue data need to be verified. The necessary form must be downloaded, signed in person by a managing director or a member of your executive committee (chief executive or chief sustainability officer) and sent to Statista by email, fax or mail. All necessary address details can be found on the form.
Contact details
Should you have any additional questions or would otherwise like to contact us, please email [email protected]