Call for Entries: Europe’s Climate Leaders 2023

Summer 2021 was Europe’s hottest ever — until summer 2022 arrived and smashed the record set only a year before. Such events are made much more likely by climate change, scientists say, and pressure is mounting on businesses and governments to respond by cutting their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

To provide a snapshot of which companies are rising to the challenge, the Financial Times and Statista, the German data provider, publish an annual list of European businesses that have achieved the greatest reduction in their GHG emissions intensity. The entry period for businesses that think they may be eligible for next year’s edition, the third, has just begun.

While the 2023 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 2016 and 2021, it will also draw on other metrics for the first time.

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 SBTi, will help determine the final list, which will be published in an FT print supplement in spring 2023, as well as online at ft.com.

All European companies with a minimum revenue of €40mn or £36mn in 2021 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 2016 and 2021, 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 also 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 also include articles by FT journalists on interesting 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.

▩ ACCESS TO MORE THAN 1M FACTS

All participants that provide us with data on their GHG emissions and revenue will receive a free two-week Statista corporate subscription trial — irrespective of whether or not they are among the companies listed in the ranking.

¹ The use of the label and the word-and-image logo “Europe’s Climate Leaders 2023” 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:

Revenue of at least €40mn/£36mn generated in 2021¹
Must be headquartered in Europe²
Must report emissions data independently
In case a CDP rating is available, the score must be at least B-³

¹ Non-euro countries: currency value equivalent as of 31/12/2021.

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 rating of at least A- is mandatory.

How do I register?

STEP ONE: ONLINE REGISTRATION

Please register with Statista online here by December 22 2022. Alternatively, you can download the form and, upon completion, send it to climate-europe@statista.com 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 then 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 climate-europe@statista.com