The papers, your boss, your clients, the new intern... everyone's talking green. Thankfully, The Greenery gives you a daily update on what's going on environmentally in UK marketing, business, politics and science. Green things and marketing things, living in beautiful synthesis. Awesome.

Tuesday 9 October 2007

The Guardian on the CDP

Terry Macalister (no relation) has just published an article about the CDP report on the Guardian website. He makes two particularly interesting points.

1) more companies than ever are asking that their disclosure not be made public - unless you're a green crusader, maybe companies feel it's safest at the moment to get on with things quietly and avoid potential pitfalls.

2) Macalister comments on the lack of information on indirect emissions. Once supply chain becomes the real focus, life should get interesting.

Some excerpts. The first illustrates some of the problems with actively promoting your green creds:

A report in June by the Advertising Standards Authority says it's a "growing trend" for complaints to be made by the public - and upheld by the agency - against companies making unsubstantiated claims.

...

Here in the UK, although response rates among FTSE350 companies to today's CDP survey were up from 49% in 2006 to 70% this year, there was also an increase in the number of respondents who did not want their disclosure made public. In addition, there was only the most microscopic response from any firms on "indirect" greenhouse gas emissions which is unfortunately optional under the current project rules.

...

Another issue that clearly must be tackled is the desperate need for establishing common standards on what constitutes a carbon footprint. Few companies have truly credible reporting systems in place and carbon emissions need to be measured, accounted for and reported in a way that everyone must adhere to.

Full article: http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/2007/10/there_is_little_doubt_that.html

No comments: