Few corporate suppliers engage clients on climate

LONDON, March 5 (Reuters) - More than 30 of the world's largest companies surveyed their suppliers on how they managed risks related to climate change, but only around a quarter responded, a report published on Thursday said. Cadbury Schweppes (CBRY.L), Dell (DELL.O), Nestle (NESN.VX), IBM (IBM.N), Merrill Lynch MER.N, Proctor & Gamble (PG.N), Tesco (TSCO.L), Unilever (ULVR.L), and Vodafone (VOD.L) are among the 34 companies participating in the Supply Chain Project.

The study, coordinated by UK-based Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), sent questionnaires on behalf of the participants to more than 2,300 corporate suppliers, but only 27 percent returned a completed questionnaire.

Six percent declined to participate, while the remaining 67 percent did not respond at all.

"Looking at the impacts of carbon and climate change, it is difficult to understand why some companies are questioning 'if' they should do something. The questions to be asked should instead be 'what' and 'how'," the report said.

"With critical commercial, financial, operational and brand implications ... it is not an option, it is basic business sense."

The questionnaire focused on issues including climate change risks and opportunities, greenhouse gas emissions reporting and reduction targets and product lifecycles. Industrials represented 31 percent of respondents while financials and energy companies made up around 1 percent each.

Geographically, the highest response rates were in Sweden and South Korea, while Thailand and France showed the lowest.

To read about the Carbon Disclosure Project or its Supply Chain Project, go to www.cdproject.net/ (Reporting by Michael Szabo; Editing by Sue Thomas)