Press Release London 13th November 2007. Climate Risk Europe Limited (CREL) today together with the Aldersgate Group called upon Prime Minister Gordon Brown to ensure the Climate Change Bill provides rigor to carbon reporting. See the letter below or on Pg 17 of todays FT.
Dear Prime Minister,
Climate change is one of the most critical issues that businesses and investors face today. Consequently they require detailed and accurate information on the risks and opportunities that it presents.
However, despite improvements in the number of companies disclosing information on carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, current reporting levels are still too low. In addition, the information that is disclosed is often not comparable because of the use of different calculation methods. This lack of transparency not only obscures the true contribution of corporate UK to national or international carbon emissions, but also undermines the comparative advantage that should accrue to companies with good carbon reporting and control.
It is of vital importance that this issue is addressed in the Climate Change Bill, the Government’s long-term framework for reducing carbon dioxide emissions and adapting to climate change which is about to be introduced to Parliament.
We believe a common protocol that is consistent with international reporting standards would demonstrate that companies have used the appropriate process to assess risks, define boundaries, measure emissions and report on them in a way that is meaningful, consistent and comparable.Such transparency would create a level playing field for UK businesses, allowing investors and consumers to make low-carbon choices and comparisons. It would also support the aims of the Climate Change Bill, and would make emissions trading schemes and other policy initiatives to cut emissions easier to design and implement. As a result, the London Stock Exchange could become a world leader in carbon accounting and reporting.
Carbon emissions are now a material commodity with an economic and financial value to business, investors and the City. They need to be properly defined, measured, accounted for, audited and reported in a similar way to other physical commodities and financial instruments. The signatories of this letter ask you to support the introduction of enabling powers in the Climate Change Bill to ensure that UK companies report clear and comparable information on their greenhouse gas emissions and other factors relating to climate change.