Reporting on sustainability becomes more important
Companies face increasing pressure to disclose their corporate sustainability program. Such pressures come from various sources including legislative requirements and increasing public concern. Reporting and disclosure of a companies’ sustainability may be seen as a financial burden, however, they will become increasingly economically relevant (e.g., CO2 price). When an increasing number of companies discloses and reduces e.g., their carbon footprint, the sustainability program gains more relevance for the competition. Finally, information about the sustainability performance of other companies and related information is crucial for competitor analysis. As disclosure becomes more and more relevant for stakeholders and investors, knowledge of how a company performs in comparison with others becomes increasingly important as well. Furthermore, many companies will choose their supply chain based on the scoring of individual companies in ratings such as CDP. Taken these pressures together, analysis that yields information about competitors’ or suppliers’ sustainability program is and will increasingly be a substantial part of business decision making.
Using CDP to report on sustainability
One of the most common and standardized methods for corporate sustainability disclosure is the CDP – (formerly known as “Carbon Disclosure Project” but now has a wider focus beyond carbon). CDP offers a way to measure and manage the risks and opportunities associated with climate change, water security and deforestation. The general aim is to sustain businesses by measuring and understanding their environmental impact. The finished reports send to CDP are stored and full access to the reports of thousands of companies, called “CDP commercial data packages”, can be purchased.
Analysis options of the CDP
The CDP data allows a wide range of possible analyses and insights. Rather simple analysis includes the evaluation of planned greenhouse gas emission reduction targets compared with other companies from the same sector. Among more advanced analyses are the identification of gaps in terms of introduced measures, the identification of potential partners for collaboration (e.g., suppliers) or the identification of similarities/dissimilarities of topics with other companies. For a more in-depth introduction to some potential analysis methods and opportunities see our Whitepaper “CSR and Artificial Intelligence”. The CDP data thus provide a unique possibility to perform various kind of analyses that will help your company in business decision making.
Support by DFGE
DFGE can support you in collecting, analyzing and thus leveraging CDP and other sustainability-related data to gain valuable insights for your CSR Management. Contact us via or via phone: +49 8192 99733 20 to learn more!
