Announcing the Carbon Disclosure Project Project

Have you ever wondered what drivers are at the root of corporate social responsibility?  While I have discussed many of them in previous posts, this blog has yet to conduct a deep dive into the role that disclosure requests play in motivating CSR.  These days, major corporations receive a slew of requests for disclosure about everything from sustainable resource use to diversity practices.  As energy efficiency rises to the forefront as a concern for all types of stakeholders, there is increasing pressure for corporations to provide information on energy usage and carbon footprint measurement.

Founded ten years ago, the Carbon Disclosure Project is one of the most significant pieces of evidence that energy efficiency has become a mainstream concern.  Today, 2500 organizations around the world disclose information in response to requests for CDP data, typically motivated by either demand from investors or requests from buyers seeking to understand their supply chain.  By asking for such information, investors and companies can evaluate who is well-prepared for an energy-constrained future, and add that into the equation when evaluating with whom they should be doing business.  In fact, participation in CDP has become so standard that Google Finance includes CDP scores in their Key Stats section (net profit, operating, and EBITD margins, ROA, ROE, and number of employees are Google's only other six key stats).

But what is actually involved in assessing a company's carbon footprint?  I was interested in exploring this subject, and with this aim in mind suggested that Justmeans allow me to fill out the CDP questionnaire on their behalf on a voluntary basis.  My intention was a blog series designed to expose the challenges and ambiguities of participating in carbon disclosure.  Justmeans liked the idea, as did CDP, who gave me access to their questionnaire for purposes of this exercise.

With all that said, here is my proposed format of this series.  The CDP questionnaire consists of sections exploring governance, risks and opportunities associated with carbon footprint issues, strategy, emissions, and communications.  Over the course of the next couple of weeks, I will be working through Justmeans' answers to CDP's questions about these topics and blogging about my through process along the way.

As I begin this series, I would like to thank Justmeans and Carbon Disclosure Project for the opportunity to pursue this project.  My hope is that reading this series will inspire other companies to consider the insights and challenges that go hand-in-hand when responding to CDP and will find what I write useful as they think about their own carbon footprints.  I also hope that CSR practitioners will take the time to share their own experiences responding to the survey and comment on what aspects of the process they find useful or overwhelming.

Photo credit: grumble_bum