S1E129: Are climate and environment disclosures helping to cut carbon?

Climate and environment data disclosures are vital. But what really matters is real action on cutting emissions and nature protection.

Synopsis: Every first and third Sunday of the month, The Straits Times analyses the beat of the changing environment, from biodiversity conservation to climate change.

There’s a saying in sustainability circles: What gets measured, gets changed. 

And this applies particularly to companies, which are the major source of carbon emissions heating up the planet. Companies are also top sources of damage to nature, especially biodiversity loss. Corporate supply chains, products and services all have a carbon and nature footprint. So, what companies, as well as cities and public institutions, decide really matters. 

But until recently, companies were under no obligation to fully measure and report their impacts and what they were doing about it. 

Times have changed. A growing number of countries, including Singapore, are mandating annual corporate climate disclosures. And likely soon, nature impact disclosures, too. 

One organisation that has been at the forefront of corporate environmental disclosures is the non-profit CDP. 

But can we really trust the data in corporate climate and environment disclosures? Who's checking? And are disclosures really making a difference?

With us today to tell us about this is Sherry Madera, Chief Executive of CDP, which manages an environmental disclosure system for companies, cities, states and regions.

Highlights of conversation (click/tap above):

2:01 What data is being provided to CDP and is it getting better?

5:20 What percentage of companies, cities and public institutions that share data with CDP come from Asia?

7:32 How are investors using the data given to CDP?

9:40 What are the main gaps in the data? And where are companies, cities and others failing to take action?

12:42 How can we really trust the data supplied to CDP? How do you check it?

16:14 In what ways is data disclosure translating into real action on the ground? Some examples?

Produced by: David Fogarty (dfogarty@sph.com.sg), Ernest Luis & Amirul Karim

Edited by: Hadyu Rahim

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