Corporations lack access to carbon data – report

[Karl]

Environmental Finance, 24 July 2008 –

Information on carbon emissions is not filtering through organisations as well as other key business data, according to a guide on “best practice” carbon strategies from the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and consultancy IBM. The authors of the guide, Making Advances in Carbon Management interviewed organisations to discover how they manage carbon, including utility companies Centrica, Scottish and Southern Energy, and United Utilities, banks HBOS and Lloyds TSB, retailer Tesco, media firm Thomson Reuters and insurer Aviva. The report concluded that, “at present, as might be expected, carbon data does not flow within organisations with the same ease as long-established data like financial information but all our participants expect this to change for the better.”

Five key themes emerged during the research, the guide said. They were:

• The importance of definitions of greenhouse gas emissions;

• Stakeholders engagement;

• Carbon information management;

• The emerging role of the carbon information manager; and

• How carbon emissions can be controlled and influenced within a larger organisation.

CDP chief executive Paul Dickinson said: “Many companies face challenges in collecting data and in developing a carbon strategy. The guidelines are designed to support corporate executives in the implementation of climate change strategies and ensure that best practice data is readily available to carbon managers, experts and novices alike.”

Source: World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)