Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB.LN), Scottish and Southern Energy PLC (SSE.LN), Centrica PLC (CNA.LN), National Grid PLC (NGG), Unilever PLC (UL) and Tesco PLC (TSCO.LN) are among U.K. companies leading efforts in both performance and disclosure to tackle climate change, the Carbon Disclosure Project's 2009 report on the FTSE 350 said Thursday.

This year, more of the FTSE 350 companies responded to the CDP survey than in the past. However, only 35% of FTSE 350 companies disclosed emissions reductions targets compared with 51% of the world's largest 500 companies reporting targets to the CDP.

"With regulation such as the Carbon Reduction Commitment and the E.U. Emissions Trading Scheme making climate change an increasingly material issue, a greater number of U.K. companies need to be setting emissions reduction targets," CDP Chief Executive Paul Dickinson said.

The U.K. government's mandatory CDP scheme, due to start April 2010, aims to get hotels, banks, schools, local authorities and around 5,000 other large organizations that typically spend GBP500,000 a year on electricity to boost energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions. Under the scheme, participants will have to purchase allowances equivalent to their emissions each year with a total overall cap set at 4.4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide a year by 2020.

The CDP said 55% of responding U.K. companies identified the scheme as a risk versus 24% who saw it as an opportunity.

For the first year, U.K. companies were also asked to give details on their activities to mitigate and adapt to climate change. The CDP has published its climate change report on FTSE 350 companies every year since 2005.

Overall, utilities gave the highest response rate and received the highest average performance score in terms of taking action to cut emissions.

Companies in the energy and industrials sector scored the lowest for disclosure on risks and opportunities and energy companies got the lowest average performance score, the CDP said.

The report's release come as delegates from 180 countries have been holding talks in Bangkok, trying to lay the groundwork for a global deal to be hammered out during a U.N.-led conference in Copenhagen in December.

CDP, a London-headquartered non-governmental organization, represents 475 institutional investors with $55 trillion in assets under management.

-By Selina Williams, Dow Jones Newswires +44 207 842 9262; selina.williams@dowjones.com