WASHINGTON (Reuters) - European companies areworking harder at disclosing their financial risks associatedwith greenhouse gas emissions than North American companies,according to an annual report.

Every year for the last decade, the Carbon DisclosureProject has asked 500 global companies on behalf of 534institutional investors representing more than $64 trillion ofassets under management, to measure and report theiremissions.

It also asks them to assess how climate change would affecttheir future financial health.

In this year's survey, Europe had 20 percent of the bestperforming companies in the CDP's global list of 500 companieswho are taking action to outline the risks, while North Americaonly had 6 percent.

Since 2005, the European Union has put mandatory caps ongreenhouse gas emissions from large sources. The United States,the world's second biggest greenhouse gas polluter after China,has no federal limits on emissions of the gases blamed forwarming the planet. There is no clear plan for it to do so,since climate bill supporters failed to secure passage in theSenate in July.

CDP said the global companies that disclosed their risksthe best in 2010 were Siemens AG, Deutsche Post, BASF, Bayer and SamsungElectronics.

The report showed companies were taking two strategies onclimate investing: investing in energy efficiency, in part tosave money, and development of products and services enablingcustomers to cut their emissions.

"Fueled by opportunities to reduce energy costs, secureenergy supply, protect the business from climate change riskand reputational damage, generate revenue and remaincompetitive, carbon management continues to rise as a strategicpriority for many businesses," Paul Dickinson, the chiefexecutive of the CDP, said in a release.

To see the report, please click:https://www.cdproject.net/en-US/Results/Documents/CDP-2010-G500-pw.pdf (Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by David Gregorio andMarguerita Choy)