Four major companies - Estée Lauder, Kellogg's, DBS Bank and Clif Bar - have joined RE100 - the 100% renewable energy campaign for businesses, led by The Climate Group in partnership with CDP a week before Climate Week NYC 2017 takes place in the US.

This brings the total number of companies that have committed themselves to sourcing 100% renewable electricity across their global operations to 106. RE100 said their actions are helping to drive important changes in electricity markets.

The Climate Group’s Chief Executive Officer, Helen Clarkson, welcomed the news: “By joining our campaigns, corporates like The Estée Lauder Companies, Kellogg, DBS Bank and Clif Bar are demonstrating the highest level of commitment to climate action and setting an example at Climate Week NYC."

Beauty products manufacturer Estée Lauder has committed to sourcing 100% of its global electricity consumption from renewable energy technologies by 2020 having powered its operations with 45% renewable electricity in 2016. Cereals and snack-maker Kellogg's has goals to achieve 40% renewable electricity by 2020 and 100% by 2050, which is aligned with its commitment to reduce its direct greenhouse gas emissions by 65%.

Asian financial services group DBS has an interim target of transferring its Singapore operations (65% of global total) to renewable electricity by 2030. RE100 said the bank would take advantage of RE100 knowledge sharing activities to identify options for going renewable in other markets to meet the 100% renewable electricity target.

Clif Bar & Company, an American maker of organic foods and drinks, has purchased renewable electricity certificates equivalent to 100% of its total operations for the last 10 years, but it was now exploring more direct ways of sourcing renewable energy RE100 said.

Separately UK-based telecoms company, BT, has committed itself to a tougher carbon emission reduction target having met its goal set in 2008 of cutting its carbon emissions by 80% by 2020 four years early. BT now aims to reduce its carbon emissions by 87% by 2030.

BT said set the 2030 target, approved by the Science-Based Targets Initiative, is aligned with the most ambitious aim of the COP21 Paris Agreement. This aim seeks to limit global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit it even further to 1.5°C by the end of the century. To meet this target BT said it would be targeting innovative ways to further reduce its dependency on fossil fuels, for example through the adoption of low carbon vehicles in its fleet and reducing the carbon intensity of buildings.

Meanwhile, institutional investors are making it clear that they do not believe that firms in the banking sector globally are taking enough action to respond to the challenge of climate change. Responsible investment pressure group ShareAction and investment firm Boston Common Asset Management, have coordinated a letter signed by over 100 investors with $1.8 trillion assets under management, to the chief executives of 60 of the world’s largest banks.

The letter's signatories comprise pension funds, asset owners, and asset managers such as Candriam Investors Group and Hermes EOS, and the targeted banks include Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, JP Morgan Chase, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and TD Bank.

The letter - which forms part of a wider investor campaign - calls for more robust and relevant climate-related disclosure to be supplied to investors on four key areas: climate-relevant strategy and implementation, climate-related risk assessments and management, low-carbon banking products and services, and banks’ public policy engagements and collaboration with other actors on climate change.

Catherine Howarth, chief executive of ShareAction, said: “Millions of people have an interest in how these banks respond to climate change, whether as citizens affected by the frightening physical impacts we hear about almost daily now in the news, as pension savers whose funds invest in these banks, or indeed as customers of these banks. We are hugely encouraged that this substantial group of global institutional investors has come together to press banks for meaningful action on climate-related risks and opportunities.”