4 Things Your Company Needs to Know About the Carbon Disclosure Project

4 THINGS YOUR COMPANY NEEDS
TO KNOW ABOUT THE CARBON
DISCLOSURE PROJECT

SSC Blog

4 Things Your Company Needs to Know
About The Carbon Disclosure Project

It's that time of year again when
thousands of companies start
preparing their annual Carbon
Disclosure Project (CDP) Report.

In 2011, more than three
thousand organizations
participated, and if you are one
of them (or plan to add your
name to the growing roster),
here's what you need to know:

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Copyright © 2012, Strategic Sustainability Consulting. All rights reserved.

#1. Participation in the CDP Is
Voluntary (Sort of)

No company is required by law or
regulation to disclose their carbon
emissions or climate change
strategy via a CDP Report.

However, many large retailers (like
Walmart) and institutions (like Bank
of America) are now asking their
suppliers to participate.


#1. Participation in the CDP Is
Voluntary (Sort of)

Additionally, investors are using the
data generated by CDP to evaluate
climate change preparedness and
commitment to disclosure. In these
volatile economic times, it pays to be
uber-responsive to customers and
investors.

So if you're hearing rumblings about
CDP, you'll want to make sure you
allocate enough time and manpower
to crafting a good response.


#2. Information You Submit to
the CDP Is Publicly Available

The fact that "disclosure" is in the name of the
organization should tip you off, but it bears repeating:
anything that you submit in your CDP Report will become
publicly available.
That means people can
download your full report,
look at industry-
aggregated data, or look
at specific value chain
impacts.



Some of this access requires a paid subscription, but the
key thing to know is that NOTHING that you submit
should be confidential, proprietary, or violate fair
disclosure laws.
(Fortunately, you can
choose which questions to
answer. While "the more
the better" in terms of
your overall score, you can
skip over anything that is
too sensitive for the
public.)



• 5/24/2012 Update: (Thanks to CDP for reaching out with
clarification.) There *is* an option for companies to choose to make
their CDP reports "not publicly available." If that option is selected,
your information will be added to other companies' responses and
used for aggregate analysis, but your individual answers will NOT be
available to the general public. An important caveat: if you are
responding to an investor request or a supplier request (e.g. like
Walmart) -- your individual answers WILL be made available to the
requesting organizations -- even if you choose not to make your CDP
report publicly available.
• So, it bears repeating that you should carefully review your answers
(preferably with your General Counsel) to ensure that you are abiding
by your legal disclosure requirements. For more information about
who gets to peek at your report, check out CDP's helpful guidance
page.


#3. CDP Is Not a Carbon
Calculator

About half of the questions on the CDP
Assessment are related to your
organization's carbon footprint. It asks
you to enter in amounts for your Scope 1,
Scope 2, and Scope 3 emissions
(including the data, the sources that are
included in your calculations, GHG
emissions factors, and the overall GHG
accounting methodology you used).

The assessment, however, does NOT tell
you how to go about calculating your
carbon footprint--you will need to
undertake that project as a separate task.

#3. CDP Is Not a Carbon
Calculator

So if you're just getting started with
this whole CDP thing, make sure to
give yourself several months in
advance to get your data in order.

(If you need assistance with
calculating your carbon footprint, we
can help! We have a streamlined
process that will get you up and
running in as little as 60 days,
including third party validation and
review!)


#4. CDP Is More Than Just
Numbers

Your carbon footprint information is
just the start of what's included in the
CDP Assessment. In addition, you'll
need to answer questions about the
opportunities (positives) and risks
(negatives) associated with climate
change, including (but not limited to):
 Impact of changing weather
patterns
 Geographical impacts
 Impact on products and services
 Supply chain impacts

#4. CDP Is More Than Just
Numbers

Depending on which category you fall
into (e.g. Walmart supplier, Investor,
etc.), your deadline may shift--most
are around June-July.

But one thing is for certain: if you
don't have a game plan for CDP, you
need to get one immediately. Don't
wait until the last minute!


Don't wait until the last minute!

We can't tell you how many frantic phone calls we field at
the end of May and beginning of June--so may we suggest
that you take a few minutes this month to figure out what
needs to be done, who needs to be involved, and what
resources you'll need to deliver a great CDP response?


Don't wait until the last minute!

If you'd like a helping hand through this planning process
(or want to hire us to help you calculate your carbon
footprint and prepare your organization's CDP report), then
contact us today. We'd love to hear from you!


Read this blog entry and more by visiting the SSC
website today:
Strategic Sustainability Consulting Blog

What are your thoughts? Join the
conversation on twitter @jenniferwoofter!

4 Things Your Company Needs to Know About the Carbon Disclosure Project

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4 Things Your Company Needs to Know About the Carbon Disclosure Project