Two Pharma Companies Reach Top 20 in UK Sustainability Rankings

Two pharmaceutical companies, AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline, have been ranked in the top 20 companies for outstanding efforts in sustainability performance in the Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index (FTSE 100) climate change business leaderboard, published by EcoAct.

EcoAct researches the sustainability reporting performance of FTSE 100 companies every year, compiling a leaderboard and report to show how each company is managing carbon reduction and if they are making any progress. The 2019 edition was the ninth consecutive leaderboard and report and featured AstraZeneca and GSK in joint 20th position for outstanding efforts.

However, the report has demonstrated that, for the most part across the United Kingdom, not enough is being done by businesses to tackle carbon emissions and manage climate change to meet government targets. According to the report, despite 81% of companies in the FTSE 100 having some sort of emissions reduction target in place, 85% of companies do not have sufficient strategies to limit global warming to safe levels. Additionally, the report shows that only 8% of companies have managed to achieve carbon neutrality.

“What has become crystal clear over the last year is that the climate emergency is no longer a distant concept,” said Stuart Lemmon, managing director, EcoAct, in a press release. “In our ninth year of examining climate performance of the UK’s largest companies, while we have seen progress, change is simply not happening fast enough. It is now imperative that companies urgently step up to their responsibilities to drastically reduce carbon output.”

Source: EcoAct