Local companies rank in top five for climate reporting

South African companies continue to excel in the field of climate change reporting disclosure. The CDP’s 2013 Global 500 Climate Report has revealed that 63% of the South African companies in the Global 500 achieved disclosure scores of over 90%. This ranks South Africa amongst the top five countries in the world.

The annual CDP Global 500 Climate Change 2013 report analyses the climate strategies of the world’s largest 500 listed corporations and reveals the best performers. Out of the eight JSE-listed companies that featured in the Global 500, Kumba Iron Ore achieved the highest disclosure score.

Promethium Carbon, a climate advisory consultancy that assists companies in climate change strategy and reporting, expects to see a continuing trend in South African companies being leaders in climate change reporting.

“This is significant because by 2015, approximately 75% of the world’s GDP will come from regions with carbon pricing on the agenda. In addition, by 2015, South African companies will be faced with mandatory greenhouse gas emissions reporting as well as carbon tax,” said Robbie Louw, a director of Promethium Carbon.

“The companies that performed well in the disclosure leadership index are well positioned to benefit from these developments,” said Mr Louw.

Over the last three years, Kumba Iron Ore has placed increasing emphasis on this process and as such achieved a disclosure score of 98%.

Alex Mgadzah, executive head Safety and Sustainable Development at Anglo American - Kumba Iron Ore, has seen the benefits to his organisation: “Participating in the CDP has provided structured and consistent tools for looking at our carbon footprint and measuring our performance.”

“It has delivered value and continues to inform the focus of our improvement efforts. In addition, we have seen greater collaboration across our organisation with a corresponding shift from managing risks to pursuing opportunities.”

The JSE Top 100 CDP report was released by the NBI on the 28th of November 2013.

About Promethium Carbon

Promethium Carbon is a dedicated carbon and climate change advisory firm. The company enjoys the position of being a trusted advisor to major international corporations operating out of South Africa. They are knowledge leaders in the carbon industry. Services include carbon project development, footprinting and disclosure and climate change strategy development. More information is available at www.promethium.co.za

Their clients have achieved the following in recent years:

• 10 Registered CDM projects within 3 African host countries (South Africa, Kenya and Namibia).
• Registered Wind, Solar CSP, Solar PV, Trigeneration and Hydro Programmes of Activities.
• European Energy Risk deal of the year award for Emission Reduction Purchase Agreement, 2010, for a transaction advised by Promethium
• Consistently assist companies achieving top 10 scoring of the CDLI of the CDP.
• Achieved 100% score of carbon strategy on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for strategy drafted by Promethium
• 1st place for Scope 3 disclosure in the EIO’s emissions tracking of the BRICS 300, and 3rd place in the Global 800 for disclosure drafted by Promethium.
• Assisted the Department of Energy as technical expert in drafting the Integrated Energy Plan
• Assisted the Department of Environmental Affairs in drafting a case study for South Africa’s Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) strategy.

The full report is available for download here.