Investors and customers are demanding more data from companies on their climate change risks, sustainability practices, energy efficiency, and leadership commitment for environmental stewardship. In response, the Carbon Disclosure Project is supporting companies and cities to disclose their environmental impact with the aim to make environmental reporting and risk management a standard. Improving corporate awareness through measurement and disclosure is essential to the effective management of carbon and climate change risks. The CDP is driving self-reported disclosures on climate change, energy, water and forest risks, as well as insights and actions towards a sustainable economy. With energy strategy, measurable reports and goals, companies are investing in productivity and risk mitigation toward a more sustainable business practice.
What Are You Expected to Do?
Based on your existing energy and sustainability strategy, you are expected to prepare and submit CDP Disclosure performance on an annual basis for CDP to review and score your performance. Once you go through and develop your company’s annual CDP questionnaire response, the CDP scoring methodology assesses progress towards environmental stewardship. This is accomplished by reviewing the level of detail and comprehensiveness of the content, as well as the company’s awareness of climate change issues, management methods and progress towards action taken on climate change in your response.
In order to improve or maximize your scoring and to ensure quality submittals, consider working with a 3rd party expert. The independent 3rd party consultant will work with you to develop and implement your CDP disclosure plan that includes your measurable goals for climate change mitigation, efficient use of resources, productivity improvements, and managing risks in all disclosure areas. The 3rd party consultant will assist you in gathering information, inventorying your GHG emissions and water use and resources.
What Does Improving Your CDP Score Mean to You?
Higher CDP score tells your customers and investors that you are on the right path. Higher scores also indicate your commitment to sustainability and understanding your impact on the environment and how you are managing climate related risks. Better environmental management leading to better scores resulting in companies realizing:
• Enhanced reputation and value addition
• Proactive risk mitigation
• Attract investment
• Achieve operating cost savings
• Lower financing costs and better investment profile
• Recognition by your customers and your business community
How Can Your Supply Chain Help You Achieve Higher Scores?
Ensuring your supply chain is also following your sustainability goals to support your business requires transparency from your vendors and service providers toward your company’s overall sustainability performance goals. Toward this goal, you will need to ask for supplier data and analysis so that you have a supplier benchmarking, documenting and ensuring that your suppliers are transparent in meeting your sustainability goals.
How Do You Maximize Your Scoring?
Before the final disclosure is submitted, fully review your response or get assistance to ensure and identify ways to maximize your score. Once you go through this disclosure process a few times, you will have acquired sufficient experience in scoring assessments to make sure that your responses are following CDP scoring approach and all of your questions are answered and supported properly.
In preparing your submittals or maximizing your scoring, Our assessment and scoring services will include the following steps:
- Step 1. Through the review of your previous CDP score(s), we will provide specific and actionable strategies to improve CDP response from the identified gaps
- Step 2. Collect and review source data and develop GHG emissions for all relevant scopes
- Step 3. Collect information and prepare response to current year CDP Climate Change Questionnaire and address the gaps identified in Step -1 above.
- Step 4. Provide as needed support to your internal staff and coordinate response submission to CDP’s online database.
If you need assistance for CDP reporting and scoring expertise, please feel free to contact Lincus.