– known as Scope 3 under the protocol - analysis by research firm Signal Climate Analytics seen by Reuters showed a range of approaches in how they disclose the data and for the assumptions underpinning their calculations.
Subaru told Reuters the 130,000km figure referred to vehicles sold in Japan. For the EU, it used 162,500km and for North America, where it books most of its sales, 228,800km, information it has not previously made public. Nonetheless, many investors scrutinise carbon emissions data to gauge how polluting a company is, how it compares with rivals and how this might affect its bottom line and share price.
Only big investors have deep enough pockets to pay for such data and employ teams to assess it, leaving smaller investors at a disadvantage, experts say.The EU has made carbon disclosures mandatory for about 50,000 companies operating in the bloc from next year while new US rules should come this year as governments look to replace a patchwork of private sector norms with binding rules, making it easier to crack down on greenwashing or exaggerated climate-friendly claims by companies.
Another area of investor concern is how companies account for their own energy use, or Scope 2 emissions.