Strategic plan 2014-16 Reducing greenhouse gas emissions Safeguarding water resources Preventing the destruction of forests
We face an unprecedented environmental crisis. The impacts of climate change, water stress and deforestation are today affecting people s lives all over the world and if unchecked will cause devastation for generations to come. National governments have a responsibility to protect their citizens but they cannot do so alone. Corporations, investors and cities must also take responsibility to create the systemic change we need for an environmentally sustainable economy. CDP has built a global system to drive transparency and accountability by these actors. It is no less than society deserves. To develop our plan we listened to corporations, investors, policy makers, regulators, multilateral institutions, nongovernmental organizations and donors. We are grateful to them all for their input. Our plan builds on 14 years of experience of working within the global business system and sets a direction for how we plan to meet the challenges of the future. I hope you will join us on our journey to build a secure and prosperous future for all. Paul Dickinson Founder and Executive Chair
About CDP CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project) is a global not-for-profit organization, founded in 2000 and headquartered in London. We pioneered and provide the world s only global natural capital disclosure system where over 4,500 companies, representing over 50% of the market capitalization of the world s largest 30 stock exchanges, and 110 cities from 80 countries, report, share and take action on vital environmental information. We operate our global disclosure system on behalf of 767 institutional investors representing over a third of the world s invested capital and 66 companies with US$1.15 trillion of annual purchasing spend. The insights it brings enables investors, companies, cities and governments to understand and act on the business case for reducing impacts on the environment and natural resources. 4,500 companies 110 cities 80 countries 767 institutional investors 01
Our vision A global economic system that operates within sustainable environmental boundaries and prevents dangerous climate change. 02
Strategic aims 1 To increase corporate transparency on environmental impact and performance 2 To make environmental performance central to investment and business decisions 2 3 4 To assist cities to reduce their climate impacts and build resilience To support effective policy and regulation to protect the environment 3 03
How we create change Our theory of change is that measurement, transparency and accountability drive positive change in the world of business and investment. CDP requests environmental information from companies on the impacts and dependencies that they have on the world s natural resources and their strategies for managing these. We provide an independent rating system to benchmark corporate disclosure and performance on environmental stewardship. CDP has applied the principles of measurement and transparency in corporate environmental reporting to motivate cities around the world to manage environmental risks and impacts in order to safeguard their future and the wellbeing of their citizens. The process of disclosing information to CDP incentivizes companies and cities to measure, manage and reduce their impact on the environment and build resilience. By providing this high quality information to the market we are changing the way businesses, investors and cities behave and accelerating the transition to a sustainable economy. 04
CDP THEORY OF CHANGE USE INFORMATION TO MAKE INVESTMENT AND PURCHASING DECISIONS CDP INVESTORS AND COMPANIES REQUEST ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION AND ACTION CITIES COMPANIES AND SUPPLIERS USE INFORMATION TO IMPROVE ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE AND BUILD RESILIENCE COMPANIES AND CITIES REDUCE EMISSIONS SAFEGUARD WATER RESOURCES PREVENT THE DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS MAKE TRANSPARENT INFORMATION ON CRITICAL ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS, OPPORTUNITIES AND IMPACTS MEASURE THEIR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT 05
Strategic goal Our strategic goal is to drive action by companies and cities globally to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, safeguard A GLOBAL ECONOMIC SYSTEM THAT OPERATES WITHIN SUSTAINABLE water resources and prevent the ENVIRONMENTAL destruction of forests. BOUNDARIES AND PREVENTS DANGEROUS CLIMATE CHANGE. 06
Strategic aims 1 To increase corporate transparency on environmental impact and performance We will increase disclosure from companies in high impact sectors to gather insight into the environmental performance of companies with the greatest carbon emissions, impact on water resources and use of forest risk commodities. We will collaborate with investors, industry groups and non-governmental organizations to develop sector specific questions. We will target companies in the oil, gas and consumable fuels, electric utilities, metals and mining, transportation, materials and food, beverage and tobacco sectors. We will also target the finance sector to create transparency on the financial owners of emissions. We will scale up our climate program in China, India and Brazil to increase corporate transparency and action to reduce emissions in these rapidly growing economies. In China and India we will work with policy makers and companies to make the case for corporate disclosure and raise awareness of the business benefits of integrating carbon management into business and investment strategies. In Brazil, we will prioritize investor engagement with pension funds as the majority shareholders of Brazilian companies. We will expand the coverage of our water program across major economies and water-stressed regions to increase the number of companies in water-intensive and water-sensitive industries who disclose to CDP. We will collaborate with investors, leading business groups and non-governmental organizations to develop standard water metrics and performance benchmarks to improve the comparability of reported data. We will target the largest producers, procurers and consumers of timber, palm oil, biofuels, beef and soy to disclose to our forest program. We will work with companies to increase transparency and traceability of commodities to create sustainable supply chains. We will extend our disclosure request to include agricultural and marine commodities. We will build on the commodities approach taken by our forest program to understand the natural capital impacts and dependencies of companies producing, procuring and consuming commodities such as rice, cotton and fish. We will incentivize corporate transparency by facilitating shareholder action against companies that do not disclose to CDP. Each year we will publish a list of companies who do not disclose despite being targeted with a request. We will work with investors to identify which companies in their portfolios are not disclosing their environmental impact and facilitate engagement with them, including through filing shareholder resolutions. We will work with companies with significant supply chains to include disclosure as a requirement in their procurement contracts. We will identify opportunities to transform CDP data into a resource for citizens to use in their purchasing and investment decisions. Citizens can have a powerful influence on the behavior of corporations by choosing sustainable goods and services and making sustainable investments. We will collaborate with citizen-focused organizations to develop a strategy to integrate our data into everyday, individual decision making. 07
Strategic aims 2 To make environmental performance central to investment and business decisions We will improve the quality and accessibility of our data by introducing systematic checks of its accuracy, increasing the number of companies that disclose data that has been verified or assured by a third party, and enable companies to tag data using extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) to automate sharing of business information. We will also develop sophisticated analytics applications enabling users to interrogate our data to inform their decisions. We will create a complete carbon data set to enable investors to analyze the carbon risk of their portfolios and incentivize more companies to disclose. In cases where companies do not disclose scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions data we will model the gaps, prioritizing companies in high impact sectors and extending coverage to all companies in the MSCI ACWI Index. We will sharpen our climate performance ratings to identify sector leaders and laggards. We will evolve our ratings methodologies to include metrics that reflect the unique attributes of different sectors and are material to businesses in those sectors. This will include an assessment of the quality of emissions reductions targets against the reductions required by science to limit global warming to 2 C. We will build on our experience of rating corporate climate performance to develop public rankings for water stewardship and deforestation risk management. We will accelerate the uptake of low carbon solutions in the supply chains of major companies. We will work with these companies to increase access to, and uptake of, low carbon solutions by their suppliers by creating a network of technology, service and finance providers to help identify and implement the most financially attractive emissions reduction opportunities. We will increase investor demand for companies to invest in emissions reductions. We will produce sector based research and analysis linking CDP data to financial data to demonstrate how climate change is material to companies financial performance. We will increase the number of investors signing our Carbon Action request to companies to set emissions reductions targets and make investments in emissions reductions that generate a satisfactory return on investment. We will facilitate shareholder engagement with companies that do not take action. 08
Strategic aims 3 To assist cities to reduce their climate impacts and build resilience We will increase the number of cities reporting their environmental risks and actions to mitigate them. We will increase the sharing of best practice on environmental stewardship at national, regional and international level to enable cities to build stronger mitigation and adaptation plans. We will make it easier for cities to disclose by creating a multilingual disclosure interface with information available in Arabic, Chinese, French, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish. We will support cities to manage their environmental impact by sharing data, analysis and research. We will develop an online analytics platform for cities to compare their greenhouse gas emissions and gain insight into the policies and projects other cities employ to mitigate their environmental risks. Our research will examine the economic, social and environmental pressures cities face in developing sustainable and safe futures. We will extend our disclosure platform to state and regional governments to accelerate action to reduce emissions and safeguard water resources. We will work with a group of state and regional governments across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Europe and the USA to develop greenhouse gas emissions and water reporting at the sub-national level. We will become the leading data provider for multilateral institutions. We will leverage our strategic relationship as the reporting platform for the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group to provide insight and intelligence for UN policy makers and the World Bank on the role and actions of cities in fighting climate change. 09
Strategic aims 4 To support effective policy and regulation to protect the environment We will support national governments to develop policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, safeguard water resources and protect forests. We will provide policy makers with data and evidence on the actions of the private sector, cities and subnational governments to make the case for ambitious national and international commitments. We will work with regulators and stock exchanges to incorporate environmental transparency in corporate reporting regulation and listing requirements. We will develop draft regulation and listing requirements to set a standard for best practice in mandatory corporate environmental disclosure. We will launch the world s first framework for natural capital disclosure in mainstream financial accounts. The Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB), a special project of CDP, will engage with policy makers to advocate for the integration of environmental factors into company filings. CDSB will promote the adoption of the framework as a tool for compliance in financial reporting regulation. We will raise awareness of corporate influence on climate policy. We will support policy makers with analysis to identify blocks to progressive climate policy and opportunities for positive corporate engagement. We will make the case for companies to align their sustainability strategies with their policy engagement activities and trade association membership. We will incentivize greater corporate transparency by redefining the requirements of leadership in our climate ratings. We will collaborate with the UNFCCC Secretariat to raise the bar for leadership by companies and investors. CDP is to the future of business what the X-ray was to the future of medicine. Without it we would never see the inside of the patient s health. Christiana Figueres Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 10
Measuring our impact CLIMATE CHANGE INDICATORS 2013 BASELINE 2016 TARGET Number of responding companies with absolute and/or intensity emissions reduction targets for scopes 1 and 2 consistent with limiting warming to 2 C 0 1 100 Annual investment by responding companies in emissions reduction activities Annual CO 2 e emissions reductions achieved through emissions reductions activities by responding companies Total amount of renewable energy consumption reported by responding companies US$36 billion 0.25 Gigatonnes 415 TWh US$65 billion 0.4 Gigatonnes 520 TWh WATER INDICATORS 2013 BASELINE 2016 TARGET Number of companies disclosing water data through CDP Number of companies regularly measuring and with advanced monitoring of water use at facilities Number of companies integrating water into business strategies Number of companies engaging suppliers to report water use, risks and management 593 89 190 117 1,800 630 900 720 FOREST INDICATORS 2013 BASELINE 2016 TARGET Number of companies disclosing deforestation risk data through CDP Number of commodity responses in which companies state they have a commodity-specific policy Number of commodity responses in which companies state they specify third party certification schemes, where third party is defined as deforestation-free Number of commodity responses in which companies state they specify 100% third party certified material or have 100% traceability to farm or forest in the reporting year 139 219 171 32; traceability baseline to be established in 2014 350 450 396 150 CITIES INDICATORS 2013 BASELINE 2016 TARGET Number of cities, states and regions disclosing climate and water data through CDP 110 cities 500 cities 0 states and regions 100 states and regions Number of cities reporting a greenhouse gas emissions inventory Number of cities reporting a risk assessment methodology 70 70 375 375 1 The baseline for this indicator will be set in 2015 following the outcome of research on corporate greenhouse gas emissions targets conducted by the Mind the Science, Mind the Gap initiative between CDP, Greenhouse Gas Protocol and WWF. The target for this indicator may be revised in line with the baseline. 11
Making our strategy happen Strengthening our organization Measuring success Communicating and influencing Collaboration and harmonization Funding our strategy 12
Collaboration and harmonization Our ability to catalyze action at scale owes much to effective collaboration and partnership. Our reputation for independence and transparency means that we can bring business, investors, governments, academics and non-governmental organizations to the table to shape emerging debates, create alignment and normalize new behaviors. Our strategic partners include: Bloomberg LLP BSR Carbon Tracker Ceres C40 Cities FTSE Global Investor Coalition on Climate Change Global Reporting Initiative International Integrated Reporting Council Norges Bank Investment Management Principles for Responsible Investment RobecoSAM/Dow Jones Sustainability Indices R20 Sustainability Accounting Standards Board The Climate Group The Sustainability Consortium United Nations Environment Program United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change United Nations Global Compact World Business Council for Sustainable Development World Resources Institute WWF Communicating and influencing Influencing decision makers and changing behavior requires a strong brand and effective communication. We will expand our communications capacity to reach key audiences around the world through communication channels such as the media, digital marketing and events. We will evolve our approach to communicating the data reported to CDP by focusing more of our reports on critical thematic issues such as stranded assets, carbon pricing, water as a constraint to growth and traceability within corporate supply chains. We will focus on the visualization of our data and providing data in interactive formats. Measuring success We recognize the importance of measuring our impact. The impact measurements presented in this plan provide a high level framework against which we can assess our success and be held accountable by others for the actions we take. We will invest in building our capacity to monitor and evaluate our performance to ensure we secure the best outcomes for the environment and deploy our resources as effectively as possible. Strengthening our organization Our staff are our most valuable asset. We will invest in a human resources function to ensure that they are valued and their career needs recognized, and so we can continue to attract, develop and retain the brightest talent. Robust, high spec IT systems are critical for collecting and disseminating data in a fast and efficient manner. We will continue to invest in our systems to provide a high quality user experience and increase access to our data. Funding our strategy CDP has a diverse funding base. We receive funding from companies and investors through sponsorships, partnerships and memberships and from governments and philanthropic sources in the form of grants. To meet the ambitions of our plans over the next three years, we need to grow our income from all these sources. We have invested in our government and philanthropic fundraising teams with the aim of significantly increasing income from these sources. We have developed a robust fundraising strategy to deliver our plans. 13
CDP milestones 2000 CDP launches as the Carbon Disclosure Project at 10 Downing Street, London 2007 CDP pioneers carbon footprint measurement and disclosure through company supply chains 2010 CDP data becomes available to investors via the Bloomberg terminal network 2002 35 investors with US$4.5 trillion in assets endorse CDP s first climate change information request 2007 CDP forms the Climate Disclosure Standards Board at the World Economic Forum in Davos 2010 CDP launches its water program to drive corporate action on water stewardship 2003 CDP publishes its first global climate change report 2009 UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon endorses CDP as an ally in combating climate change 2010 CDP launches its reporting platform for C40 cities 14
2011 CDP launches Carbon Action with investors to accelerate corporate emissions reductions 2013 CDP is voted the most credible sustainability rating system provider in the world in a survey by Rate the Raters 2013 CDP s analysis of the carbon prices used by US companies is covered on the front page of the New York Times 2012 CDP wins the Zayed Future Energy Prize 2014 767 institutional investors representing over US$92 trillion of assets, more than a third of the world s invested capital, endorse CDP s information request 2013 CDP acquires the Forest Footprint Disclosure Project to broaden its coverage of natural capital 15
CDP enables us to keep score. It is vital, and we ve got to get everyone to participate in it. Bill Clinton 42nd President of the United States 16
To keep up to date on our progress follow us at: @cdp.net www.cdp.net For more information contact: Marcus Norton Chief Partnerships Officer marcus.norton@cdp.net + 44 (0)7833 438 877 CDP is a UK registered charity. Charity number: 1122330 CDP is a 501(c)(3) non profit organization in the USA