The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) is a collaboration of over 315 institutional investors with assets under management of more than $41 trillion. They have released their 5th annual global report, providing the largest and most comprehensive database of strategies from the world's largest corporations regarding the impact of climate change on shareholder value.

On behalf of the collaboration of 315 investors, including Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, CalPERS and AIG, CDP has sent a questionnaire to the world's largest publicly-owned companies each year since 2002. This elicits detailed information on the risks and opportunities posed to the companies by climate change.

Every response has been graded and ranked based on climate disclosure and governance practices. FT500 companies with leading disclosure practise highlighted in the CDLI include Hewlett Packard, Citigroup, Coca Cola, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Royal Bank of Scotland, Allianz and Unilever. The S&P500 report rates companies under the Climate Governance Index on disclosure, emissions reductions and strategy, with leaders including DuPont, General Motors, Consolidated Edison, Alcoa, United Technologies and 3M.

FT500 Report Findings:

The FT500 report is based on responses provided by corporations within the Financial Times sample of the 500 largest listed companies globally. The report concludes that the world’s corporate giants have made “significant progress in understanding and disclosing their positions relative to the risks and opportunities associated with climate change.” In particular, the report highlights a narrowing gap between climate awareness and action among the FT500.

  • 77% of corporations within the sample responded to the CDP questionnaire.
  • 80% of respondents see climate change as presenting risks and opportunities to their business.
  • 95% of those that consider climate change to present a commercial risk have implemented a GHG reduction program with a specific target and timeline.
  • 76% of responding companies reported implementing a GHG emissions reduction initiative compared to 48% in last year’s CDP4 report. This trend suggests that a majority of firms recognize the financial and reputational benefits of improved carbon performance.
  • 56% of the S&P500 responded to the CDP questionnaire.
  • More of the U.S. survey sample sees climate change as presenting commercial risks than opportunities.
  • Only 29% of survey respondents have implemented greenhouse gas reduction programs with specific targets and timelines.
  • The CDP5 response rate increased in all 10 industry sectors of the S&P500, with 9 of the 10 having a response rate greater than 50%, suggesting that American industry has reached a tipping point in addressing this important issue.

Despite an increase in the response rates and quality of disclosure in both samples, there is still a minority of companies who are not engaged in the issues of climate change and who fail to respond to investors’ request for disclosure through CDP. In many cases these companies have not considered the risks or opportunities associated with climate change within their business strategy.

Paul Dickinson, CEO of CDP said: “Increasingly, investors view good carbon management as a sign of good corporate management. Our investors are using the quality of the disclosure as a very useful tool to assess how seriously a company is taking the issues of climate change. As CDP data plays an increasingly important role in informing investors on a company’s approach to climate change, the pressure is increasing on companies to respond. And by moving CDP data collection into company supply chain management, CDP’s reach will grow enormously.”

The companies’ responses to the questionnaire, and an analysis of the responses, is published in the CDP reports and on the CDP website, www.cdproject.net.

The Carbon Disclosure Project is a special project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors in New York, with 501(c)3 charitable status. The group of investors is not a legal entity and the Carbon Disclosure Project has no authority to make any other statement on behalf of the participants.

- Carbon Disclosure Project