Just a small number of the world's heaviest-emitting companies have set greenhouse gas reduction targets that will be ambitious enough to prevent global temperatures rising by more than 2 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, new analysis shows.

A report by CDP, U.N. Global Compact, World Resources Institute and WWF shows that 81 percent of the world's 500 largest companies have set emissions reduction or energy specific targets. However, only the most proactive have set goals in line with the emissions reductions climate scientists believe are required to minimize the risk of "dangerous" levels of climate change.

Few companies have set meaningful targets

The report assesses emissions reductions goals from 70 energy-intensive companies, which together account for 9 percent of global emissions, and found that only 28 have targets in line with the internationally agreed goal to stop average temperature increases exceeding 2 C.

"Either they do not cover a meaningful percentage of the organisation's emissions, or they are insufficiently long term, or they are simply not ambitious enough," the report stated.

"That is because most targets are set in response to existing or expected regulations, or are based on projects or investments that are underway or in the pipeline. Such approaches to target setting may deliver incremental reductions, but they will not lead to the low-carbon transformation of businesses and economies we need to tackle global warming."

Companies that have set targets in line with the 2 C target include NRG Energy, Sodexo, Hennes & Mauritz and BT Group.

U.N. to business: Get it together before COP21

The report came as thousands of business leaders and investors gathered in Paris for a major corporate summit to call on world leaders to strike a global deal on climate change later this year, which will come into effect in 2020.

Writing in The Guardian, U.N. climate chief Christiana Figueres and Laurent Fabius, France's minister of foreign affairs, said that business action on climate change would be crucial to success in the COP21 Paris conference in December.

"The efforts made by businesses — along with those made by cities, regions and civil society — are obviously no replacement for the crucial measures that must be taken by states, whose action is decisive, but they will strengthen these measures. The central — and fair — idea is that governments should not be the only ones combating climate change," they wrote.

This article first appeared at BusinessGreen Plus.