Key Changes to the 2018 CDP Water Security Questionnaire Posted February 21, 2018 by Zoey Kriete With the release of the 2018 CDP Water Security questionnaire, CDP continues to raise the bar on water stewardship disclosure and performance. This year, CDP has made a number of modifications to the questionnaire including an updated title in response to changing trends in sustainability reporting and increasing investor interest in value chain risks and opportunities. The latter has been driven by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations released in June 2017 which are designed to “help firms understand what financial markets want from disclosure in order to measure and respond to climate change risks and encourage firms to align their disclosures with investors’ needs.”[1] From Cape Town, South Africa to Sao Paulo, Brazil, we are witnessing unprecedented, sustained drought in densely populated areas of the world. Companies can no longer rely on consistent availability of potable water in many areas of the world. To ensure business Read More
2018 CDP Climate Change Questionnaire: Influence of the TCFD and other Key Changes Posted January 8, 2018 by Zoey Kriete Following the financial crisis in the late 2000’s, the G20 established the Financial Stability Board (FSB) to identify and mitigate threats to the global financial system. In 2015 the FSB, led by New York City’s former Mayor Michael Bloomberg and comprised of members from global banking institutions, insurance companies, institutional investors, industrial and consumer products companies and experts on financial accounting and public disclosure, created the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). The Task Force was developed in direct response to a: belief that climate change represents a growing systemic threat; lack of high-quality, consistent financial information related to the potential risks and opportunities associated with climate change; and growing need for transparency in company valuation and the ability to assess the risks organizations are facing. After numerous rounds of input, the TCFD published a set of recommendations in June 2017 to “help firms understand what financial markets want Read More
Making the most of your 2017 CDP Climate Change response Posted April 11, 2017 by Jordan Chamberlain CDP is an international nonprofit working to transform the way organizations respond to climate change issues and natural resource degradation. Backed by 827 institutional investors with $100 trillion in assets during the 2016 disclosure cycle, CDP holds the largest collection of voluntarily reported climate change, forest, and water data in the world, based on information requests sent to thousands of participants each year. CDP’s climate change program is the most prominent of its initiatives. Each year, CDP requests information on climate change policies and practices from the largest global companies: in 2016, approximately 1,100 companies responded to the CDP climate change questionnaire. This level of engagement by the world’s leading companies is recognition that stakeholders, and in particular investors, are focused on climate change as a business issue. This year, CDP Climate Change responses are due June 29th (CDP Water and Forests responses are also due June 29th). The reporting Read More
