CDP 2010 Is Upon Us

We talked in January about the SEC's disclosure guidance and noted the relevance of the Carbon Disclosure Project. It's almost as if I have a hotline to 40 Bowling Green Lane in London, where the CDP offices are. I receved earlier this week their announcement of the 2010 questionnaire. It has been sent to 4,500 companies globally. The number of institutional investors behind the mailing is over 500 "with a combined US$64 trillion of assets under management."

The email has this to say about the SEC guidance: "CDP welcomes the recent climate change risk disclosure guidance by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); an important step in helping US companies better report material climate change impacts to their investors."

Following one of the links in the email, I proceeded to the CDP webpage, where I learned more. The CDP recognizes one of the critical weaknesses of climate change data in a global marketplace: "There is currently no global carbon disclosure framework and ... to minimize the financial and reporting burden for companies, guidance on disclosure of climate change information must be as harmonized as possible."

To achieve that end, CDP manages the activities of the Carbon Disclosure Project(CDSB). The CDSB has prepared a draft Reporting Framework

to further the dialogue of disclosure. In the CDSB's words: "the Reporting Framework provides a workable filter for companies to identify, and for investors to see, the major trends and significant events related to climate change that affect a company’s current or future financial condition."