Environmental analysis of top companies estimates environmental damage

An as-yet unpublished document from the United Nations (UN) has revealed the cost of the environmental damage caused by the world's 3,000 largest companies.

The Guardian reported the findings, which estimates that the biggest firms around the globe cause $2.2 trillion (£1.43 trillion) worth of damage to the natural world each year.

According to the news provider, one-third of profits at the organisations responsible would be wiped out if they were forced to pay for the "use, loss and damage to the environment".

It also explained that a UN-commissioned study, which will examine the costs of climate change, is expected to lead to calls for companies to pay for these detrimental effects to the environment through the abolition of subsidies, higher taxation and stricter regulation.

Industries such as agriculture, transport and energy would be likely to suffer the most should any of the suggested measures be introduced, the newspaper noted.

A recent blog post on the Guardian from Andrew Simms, policy director of the New Economics Foundation, commented that companies need to find a "balanced environmental budget", whereby they can reconcile their consumption of natural resources with the amount of waste produced in the process.

Posted by Joseph Hutton