Green Rankings 2009: Carbon Disclosure Project

The Carbon Disclosure Project (www.cdproject.net) is an independent, not-for-profit organization based in the UK that has the largest database of corporate climate change information in the world. CDP gathers data through its annual information requests on behalf of institutional investors, purchasing organizations and government agencies.

CDP's 2009  report on the S&P 500, released September 21st, provides a wealth of information on new and increasingly substantive efforts to capture climate change information, just as the U.S.'s agenda to cut GHGs comes to the fore. This year CDP received 332 responses from companies, or 66 percent of the S&P 500, up from 64 percent (321 companies) last year. GHG emissions disclosure also rose dramatically—to 79 percent of all respondents or 260 companies, up from 73 percent (228 companies) in 2008. Significantly, of those companies reporting actual GHG data, many more have moved beyond Scope 1, or direct emissions (those emitted at a corporation's facilities or subsidiaries) to Scope 2 (so-called "indirect emissions" generated in the production of electricity for a corporation) and to Scope 3 (other indirect emissions, including outsourced production and emissions tied to the end-use of the product). While CDP's respondents this year cited compliance costs as a major risk to them, they also reported that consumers are increasingly seeking out and buying 'environmentally-friendly" products such as fuel-efficient vehicles and energy efficient appliances.