Anthony and I have recently talked to Paul Dickinson, CEO of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) about his organization’s work in compiling data on corporate climate change. CDP works through a group of global investors to conduct an annual survey of the biggest companies in the world with questions on items such as emissions accounting, governance, verification and exposure to various climate related risks. The organization’s reach is certainly impressive. The investor group represents $55 trillion in assets divided among 475 institutional investors. More than 3700 corporations receive the survey with nearly half of them responding. About 70% of the top 2000 global corporations participate.

The thinking behind the initiative is that investors (along with consumers) have the authority to persuade corporations to pay attention to the issue. Once the information is collected it is freely available to the public. Paul mentioned that the data is already used by investors and actuaries to analyze risk as well as by other companies to create emission-lowering solutions.

CDP is one of a number of organizations that are building the information infrastructure necessary for us to better manage our carbon footprints (or environmental impact in general). For instance the information that the CDP is collecting would be a powerful tool in the hands of the well informed consumer. Connecting CDP data with customer facing initiatives such as ClimateCounts or GoodGuide gives consumers the ability to make a more informed choice. Individuals and other organizations could also play a major role in interpreting the data as well as indentifying trends and even solutions that would help corporations become more environmentally friendly. All in all, the important ground work is being laid by organizations such as CDP. We would be interested to learn from our readers about any other initiatives that use such data to change behavior, shape policy or educate.