Corporate emissions from Asia Pacific firms surge despite transition push: MSCI

Detailed summary

Direct emissions from Chinese, Indian and Thai firms rose between 2015 and 2025, against a backdrop of stronger climate pledges, found MSCI’s Transition Finance Tracker.

Direct emissions from listed companies in several major Asia Pacific markets rose sharply between 2015 and 2025, according to the COP31 edition of MSCI’s Transition Finance Tracker.

Aggregate direct emissions from Chinese companies in the study were 66 per cent higher in 2025 than in 2015. Indian companies recorded a 57 per cent increase, followed by Thai companies at 45 per cent – the largest rises among the Asia Pacific markets shown.

The increases come against a broader backdrop of stronger climate pledges, but uneven progress in delivering emissions reductions.

“Most countries have strengthened their climate commitments, and many more companies have set decarbonization targets,” Linda-Eling Lee, Founding Director of MSCI Institute, wrote in the report’s foreword. “Only some countries have policies strong enough to back their pledges, and listed-company emissions have fallen, but largely in developed markets.”

China has committed to cutting net greenhouse gas emissions 7 to 10 per cent from their peak by 2035, alongside plans to expand wind and solar capacity to 3,600 gigawatts. India has pledged to cut the emissions intensity of its economy 47 per cent below 2005 levels by 2035, although this does not require absolute emissions to fall. Thailand brought its net-zero deadline forward to 2050 and pledged to cut net emissions 47 per cent below 2019 levels by 2035, with international support contributing to delivery.

Corporate pledges include Baosteel’s ambition for carbon neutrality by 2050, Tata Steel’s net zero target for 2045 and Siam Cement Group’s goal of net-zero Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2050.

The chart shows that direct emissions from Chinese, Indian and Thai firms rose 66 per cent, 57 per cent and 45 per cent, respectively, between 2015 and 2025. Image: MSCI

Emissions performance also varied within Asia Pacific. Australian companies’ direct emissions fell 8 per cent over the decade, while those of South Korean companies were broadly unchanged.

The largest…

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