LRQA participates in CDP 2011 China Report Launch in Beijing
14/11/2011
LRQA emphasised the importance of carbon emission report verification at the CDP 2011 China report Launch in Beijing. Organisations that report correct data are more likely to reduce emissions and improve their profits.
LRQA recently participated in the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) 2011 China Report Launch event which took place in Beijing on November 3, 2011. CDP is an independent not-for-profit organisation based in the UK. Hundreds of large global organisations from developed economies measure and disclose their greenhouse gas emissions, water use and energy consumption. Whilst currently the number of companies that report their emission in China is low, CDP expects growth from the supply chains of their big multi-national clients as they move to adopting a low carbon policy.
During the launch event, the attendees had the opportunity to listen to presentations from the local Chinese government body, environmental agencies, CDP UK representatives , financial institutions as well as best practice corporations. CDP also shared the major findings of the 2011 CDP global and China reports.
Richard Gunawan, Vice President for Business & Sustainability Development, LRQA Asia cited examples from the CDP report stating that globally 68% of companies already integrate climate change initiatives into their overall business strategy, 74% of the global 500 respondents disclose absolute or intensity emission reduction targets. He also highlighted the importance of verification prior to publishing CO2 reports . At the very least, incorrect reporting could cause internal embarrassment to the management and externally could harm the brand reputation of the organisation .
Through carbon emission report verification, LRQA can check if correct methodology and data was entered. According to the CDP, most organisations that report correct data were able to reduce emissions and improve their profits. In addition, external verification ensures that the organisation is meeting the international standards and protocols thus providing greater confidence to the stakeholders and general public.
Gunawan shared that while the number of companies reporting their GHG emissions has gone up quite remarkably; verification of emissions has decreased in the year on year analysis, as stipulated in the 2011 report.