Services offered by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) are evolving to help companies at every stage of their reporting, representatives from the two organizations said last week.
CDP development manager Patrick Crawford and GRI technical development manager Bastian Buck were speaking on an Environmental Leader webinar, The Business Case for Sustainability Disclosure.
A recording of the webinar is available here.
During the webinar, Crawford outlined CDP Reporter Services, which includes a number of components to help companies move beyond simply reporting their carbon footprint. One of these services, CDP Analytics, uses SAP software to provide reports that can help with benchmarking performance and showcasing best practice. DuPont is using this software to examine data on leading sustainable companies, and is sharing this data with internal strategy teams.
Another Reporter Service, CDP Insights, offers roundtable sessions and webinars on topics suggested by members, so they can share their experiences and learn from each other.
But most companies are at an early stage in the evolution of their reporting, Crawford said. To better help them, CDP has worked closely with SAP to develop a light version of SAP Carbon Impact on Demand. The organization also offers workshops to help companies get started with reporting.
Other recent CDP initiatives include Carbon Action, an investor advocacy program which encourages companies to make year-on-year emissions reductions; and a disclosure program for water. In February, the organization announced that the number of institutional investors using the CDP to seek data on companies’ water management had risen by over 150 percent in one year.
“If climate change is the shark, water is its teeth,” Crawford told the webinar.
And as water rises up the sustainability agenda, CDP and GRI have begun collaborating on a water disclosure project, Crawford and Buck said.
Buck said that GRI’s services around its reporting framework now include a training program, with more than 60 certified training partners and more than 5,000 individuals trained so far, as well as educational and resource publications. GRI has also been increasing its regional representation, with focal points now in the U.S., Australia, Brazil, China and India.
In addition, Neil Krefsky, SAP’s sustainability solutions marketing director, told the webinar that his company offers both GRI- and CDP-certified content.
The GRI and CDP have created a linkage document to show how companies can use the two frameworks in tandem. The document (pdf) is available here.
- To listen to a recording of the webinar, The Business Case for Sustainability Disclosure, click the link.