What is the Best Climate Reporting Framework for Your Company?

How do we handle the problem of climate change? What is the best way to address sustainability challenges on the planet? Is it possible to operate a carbon neutral economy? These are common questions that face leaders and managers as new sustainability reporting rules and frameworks enter the market.

Initially, matters of sustainability were largely voluntary, but not any longer. Recently, the EU passed the Taxonomy legislation and set two ambitious carbon reduction targets: to cut carbon emissions by 55% by 2030 and achieve carbon neutral status by 2050. Now, almost every other country is following this trend, and companies have no option apart from adopting sustainability and reporting their efforts. To do this, your enterprise or organization will require an appropriate sustainability or climate change reporting framework. 

Keep reading as we highlight the leading frameworks that you can select and use in your organization.

The Best Climate Change Reporting Framework 

There are dozens of climate change and sustainability reporting frameworks, and each of them comes with its own metrics, methodology, and scoring. The frameworks can help you to define the nature of metrics to include and what will ultimately go into the final report for stakeholders. Here are some of the top frameworks that you should consider.

The Carbon Disclosure Framework (CDP)

The Carbon Disclosure Project was founded in 2000, with the primary goal being to correctly link the environmental integrity of companies to their fiduciary duty. It has been improved over the years and now serves over 9,800 firms, alongside 800 cities, states, and regions.

The framework takes the information provided by different parties on specific impacts, such as carbon emissions and deforestation. If you want to report on social and governance issues or the “S” and “G” of ESG sustainability reporting, a secondary framework will be required.

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) 

This is one of the oldest climate change reporting frameworks we know of today. It was developed in 1997 by the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economics (CERES) and the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) in response to the infamous Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. Today, it is used by over 13,000 companies in more than 90 countries. More than 80% of the globe’s 250 largest companies use GRI.

The main advantage of GRI is that it can be used to report all aspects of ESG. It is also an excellent climate change reporting framework for both small and large forms.

Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB)

This climate change reporting framework was developed in the late 2010s and lists 77 industry standards that companies can use to identify and report financially material information for investors. What makes SASB stand out as a reporting framework is that it helps companies identify specific sustainability topics and metrics based on industries, such as transportation and utilities.

We must say that SASB tends to narrow down sustainability reporting and views it from the financial lens. This is why some firms that opt to work with SASB also pick another framework, such as GRI or Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHGP).

Once you have selected the preferred climate change reporting framework, it is important to get one more thing: appropriate sustainability management software. A good app allows you to collect and analyze data for sustainability reporting accurately. A good app would also come in handy to help you automate the process of data gathering, and ensure that it adheres to principles of accuracy and verifiability.

Contact Diginex.com, one of the leading agencies for sustainability management and programs, for help with ESG reporting. They also have professionals who can offer the assistance you need to optimize the benefits of ESG sustainability reporting.