Leading credit ratings, benchmarks and analytics provider S&P Global announced today a broad set of climate initiatives, ranging from emissions reduction commitments to reporting and disclosure to advocacy. Included in today’s announcement is a target for the company to achieve net zero emissions by 2040.

On the path to net zero, S&P Global also announced that it has set an interim target to reduce emissions by 25% by 2025, using 2019 as a base year including both absolute scope 1 and 2 emissions from operations as well as absolute scope 3 emissions from business travel.

The company reported that its targets have been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). SBTi was formed as a collaboration between CDP, World Resources Institute (WRI), the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), and the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), with the goal to establish science-based environmental target setting as a standard corporate practice. Achieving approval of targets by SBTi is a significant milestone for companies’ sustainability efforts. S&P Global’s targets are consistent with reductions required to keep warming to 1.5°C, in line with SBTi’s most stringent category. S&P Global has also signed the Business Ambition Pledge for 1.5⁰C, a call to action from a global coalition of UN agencies, business and industry leaders.

Ewout Steenbergen, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for S&P Global, said:

“Global firms play a significant role in addressing the environmental challenges that affect us all, and at S&P Global, we embrace this responsibility. We are proud that the SBTi validated our goals and see them as a step forward in S&P Global’s sustainability journey, building on our long history of transparency and disclosure – including our early support for the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.”

In addition to signing on to the Business Ambition Pledge for 1.5⁰C, S&P Global is also a sponsor of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), supporting and advancing work for global climate action, particularly through upcoming events such as COP26, and Steenbergen recently signed the CFO Net Zero Statement of Support organized by Accounting for Sustainability (A4S), committing to continued emissions reductions in support of the transition to a net-zero emissions economy.

On the disclosure and reporting front, the company has become one of the first to introduce a Carbon Adjusted Earnings Per Share metric into its financial reporting, providing transparency into the cost of carbon emissions from company operations and integrating climate change considerations in the decision-making process.

Annette O’Hanlon, Chief Corporate Responsibility & Diversity Officer for S&P Global, said:

“Climate stewardship is a key focus of our broader sustainability efforts. Through our work with UN Climate Change, as well as our support for Business Ambition for 1.5º C, we are contributing to tangible progress in bringing about a more sustainable future.”