Scoring system devised to calculate carbon emissions

The Carbon Disclosure Project and FirstCarbon Solutions have joined forces to put together a carbon emissions scoring system. Alex Blackburne finds out about it.

Two of the world’s leading environmental bodies have teamed up to score companies based on their level of climate change performance and the subsequent disclosure of results.  

The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and FirstCarbon Solutions have joined forces, with the latter using the former’s supply chain to rate nearly 1,300 suppliers, in an attempt to achieve more effective carbon management across the globe.

Over 3,000 organisations worldwide “measure and disclose their greenhouse gas emissions, water management and climate change strategies” with the help of CDP, whilst FirstCarbon Solutions helps “businesses and enterprises to easily understand how their environmental performance can impact their business”.

The pair will assess such brands as Vodafone, PepsiCo and Wal-Mart, all of whom are part of the CDP’s supply chain.

Responses to the CDP’s request for climate change information have increased nearly 13 times over since it began – from just 235 responses in 2003, to 3,050 last year, in 2010.

Whilst 69% of the 350 largest UK companies responded to the CDP’s information request in 2010, only 51% of the largest 600 organisations in the FTSE All Share submitted their figures on carbon emissions.

This proves that the CDP still has a long way to go in terms of securing widespread acceptance of their scheme.

Nigel Topping, Chief Innovation Officer at the Carbon Disclosure Project explained how there was a need for this kind of system in global business.

“In response to a growing awareness of climate change risk and opportunity within a company’s supply chain, and a wider shareholder and consumer appetite for emissions reporting transparency, we have introduced our carbon performance scoring system to CDP supply chain.  

“The 50 companies that request climate change data from suppliers through CDP are now better able to identify those organisations that are leading the way in carbon management, as well as those who need to improve in this area.”

The scores collated by the two companies will help CDP Supply Chain members to track performances and set themselves annual targets as they attempt to lower their carbon emissions.

Picture source: Paul Falardeau