New York - The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) today announced
its eighth annual request for information on greenhouse gas
emissions and climate change strategies to over 4,500 companies
globally. Companies this year will report to CDP through an
upgraded system, developed with Accenture, Microsoft and SAP, that
will for the first time utilise the full power of online analysis
tools to drive improved carbon management.

A global, independent, not-for-profit organisation, CDP is the
world’s largest institutional investor collaboration working to
inform the global market place on investment risk and commercial
opportunity. The number of institutional investors that signed
CDP’s annual request for climate change information this year has
risen from 475 in 2009, to a record 534 with a combined US$64
trillion of assets under management. New signatory investors
include Wells Fargo, BNY Mellon, Generali and the Industrial Bank
of Korea.

CDP continues to act on investor interest in emerging markets
with requests for information going to companies in the
S&P/IFCI Carbon Efficient Index. This year CDP is, for the
first time, writing to companies in Turkey, Peru, Morocco, Egypt
and Israel as well as continuing to expand its coverage in areas
such as Asia, Poland, Chile and Mexico.

In order to increase the quality of disclosure globally and
drive greater use of corporate climate change information, CDP has
built a new reporting system with world leading consulting and
technology companies, Accenture, Microsoft and SAP. An improved
questionnaire process will facilitate greater levels of analysis.
In addition, CDP is providing new membership services for reporting
companies that include access to comprehensive analytical tools
which will increase knowledge and insight around corporate action
on climate change.

Founding member companies that have piloted these new reporting
tools include Con Agra, E.ON, Iberdrola, National Australia Bank,
National Grid, Philips, RBS and TUI Travel. Henk de Bruin, Head of
Corporate Sustainability at Philips, said: “Measurement, reporting
and verification of emissions is a vital step for organisations
looking to increase awareness of the impact of climate change and
improve the management of greenhouse gas emissions. The new
reporting tools enable greater analysis of the CDP data to
benchmark against peers and other sectors and geographies.”

This year, CDP is including a performance leadership index,
developed in conjunction with its global advisor,
PricewaterhouseCoopers, which was introduced as a pilot in 2009.
The largest global companies reporting to CDP will receive a
performance score based on the actions they have taken to address
climate change in a strategic manner incorporating such areas as
emissions reduction targets, achieved and expected emissions
reductions, governance structures and employee incentives. Points
will also be awarded to companies that have had their data
externally verified, in order to drive greater levels of
verification.

The carbon performance leadership index will not
replace but complement the existing carbon disclosure leadership
index, which assesses the quality of companies’ reporting and
carbon management strategies.

CDP’s Chief Executive Paul Dickinson concludes: “This is an
exciting year for CDP, with record levels of support from
institutional investors. Our improved reporting system, new
performance index, and greater global coverage will help us
continue to increase transparency and awareness of corporate
climate change action around the world which, critically, enables
organisations to make performance improvements.”

CDP now operates in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile,
China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland,
France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland,
Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Morocco, Mexico,
the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Poland,
Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Singapore,
Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, UK, USA.