Climate Change Watch Dog Gains Traction

We've often noted that accountability begins with "counting," and this is no less true with respect to climate change.

This year a letter signed by 315 institutional investors from around the world worth a cumulative $40 trillion was sent to 2,400 global companies to determine 1) what they were doing about climate change and how big their emissions of greenhouse gases were, according to a recent article in the Economist.

The sponsoring organization, the Carbon Disclosure Project is seeking to be the "gold standard" for carbon disclosure methodology and process. According to CDP's website, it is the largest repository of corporate greenhouse gas emissions data in the world.

According to recent coverage of the CDP5 reports in the International Herald Tribune:

...first the good news from this year's result: 77 percent of the 500 largest listed companies globally answered the questionnaire, and 76 percent of those companies reported implementing a greenhouse gas reduction plan, compared to only 46 percent of those answering last year.

Partly explaining the gap is that many companies in Europe now have to keep track of their emission to comply with EU rules; American companies do not.

The U.S.business community continues to lag behind other developed countries on addressing emissions reductions, but the trends are moving in the right direction. We've been told that several of the nation's largest foundations are preparing to announce large scale initiatives to fight global warming in the coming year.

As President Clinton urged in his expansive keynote address announcing the results, "There is no question that we can make this work...And it all begins with keeping score."

Carla E. Dearing