Ben & Jerry's, Daimler among 150 companies making climate pledge

More than 150 businesses have pledged to pare their carbon footprints in ways that are designed to help stave off the worst effects of climate change.

The corporate commitments from ice cream maker Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc., car manufacturer Daimler AG and 153 others dovetail with carbon-cutting vows from 177 countries that signed the climate deal inked in Paris last December. Since international climate negotiators reached that accord, 41 new companies have filed letters pledging to pare their carbon footprints with the Science-Based Targets Initiative, a campaign run by environmental and other groups.

The newest entrants include MetLife Inc., SunPower Corp., Owens Corning and South Korea-based biotechnology developer LG Life Sciences Ltd.

The Science-Based Targets Initiative acts as a cheerleader for the growing move by businesses to shrink their carbon footprints. It also vets companies' emissions reduction targets and their plans for meeting them. So far, the group has approved 13 companies' plans to reduce emissions and is evaluating 45 other businesses' blueprints.

Cynthia Cummis, a deputy director in the climate and energy program at World Resources Institute, one of the four organizations running the initiative, said companies have been enthusiastic in setting ambitious climate targets. "Our technical reviewers cannot keep up with the number of targets being submitted," she said in a news release.