More than 5,500 private companies are on CDP Cities, a global platform for disclosing environmental data that helps cities manage such data to track climate goals. Businesses that currently disclose through the platform represent about $2 trillion in annual procurement, according to a recent webinar about the benefits for private companies that use the tool.
The Benefits of Disclosure
According to CDP, municipal operations produce about 3 percent of the average city’s emissions -- the lion’s share of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) come from private businesses and operations.
Companies that are looking to move a clean economy forward and are disclosing environmental data with CDP benefit from lower borrowing costs and improving valuations. Also, in disclosing their climate projects, they can seek climate investment.
For example, Moody’s Investors Services uses CDP Cities to assess a credit worthiness. Generally, CDP’s more than 800 investors look to the platform because it standardizes formats for understanding how cities and businesses are managing and measuring environmental risk, said Julia Casciotti, corporate engagement for CDP North America.
Bloomberg and Google also pull data from the platform, which is communicated to the broader environmental, social and governance marketplace. Casciotti noted the market for low-carbon goods and services is a $5.5 trillion market.
Collaboration with Cities
The platform is heavily focused on matchmaking -- creating collaboration between cities and businesses with common climate goals.
Cities, like New York, encourage collaboration with business partners. Universities, hospitals and building managers are collaborating to achieve the citywide climate goal of reducing GHGs to 80 percent below 2005 levels by 2050 through the NYC Carbon Challenge. The challenge focuses on aggressive actions that will reduce building emissions.
According Casciotti, a recent departure of the United Status from the global climate change agreement is not deterring U.S. governments nor businesses from climate action. On the CDP-backed WeArtStillIn.com, they have stated: “It is imperative that the world know that in the U.S., the actors that will provide the leadership necessary to meet our Paris commitment are found in city halls, state capitals, colleges and universities, investors and businesses.”
Cities benefit from corporations disclosing environmental data on the CDP Cities platform because they:
- Identify corporate participation and levels of environmental leadership -- what are these businesses’ commitments and levels of environmental transparency?
- Use disclosed data to identify public private partnerships (P3s)
Understanding where businesses stand helps cities with carbon-conscious procurement. Casciotti noted there is a trend in government procurement to ensure approved suppliers are managing environmental risk and reporting on their environmental management practices as well as the resources they consume to deliver products and services.
To create potential P3s, standardized CDP Cities data matches cities with companies that are working on the same goals. The tool can provides participating cities with snapshots of local companies response data.
Three Questionnaires for Corporations
Businesses can disclose data on three measures: climate change, water and forests (which relates to value chain), once per year.
Nearly 2,000 companies in North America have completed the CDP Cities climate change questionnaire, nearly 400 have addressed water and 60 disclosed forests data.
For water, questions like “Are there water risks that could present substantive changes to your business, operations or costs?” lead the way to descriptive details, which the CDP Cities platform scores.
This year’s corporate questionnaires are due June 29th.
Learn more about businesses disclosing environmental data on the CDP Cities website.
