Incite and the National Business Initiative (NBI) have jointly launched the South Africa Carbon Disclosure Project Report 2011 at COP-17 on Tuesday 6th December.

South Africa’s major companies are now ranked among global leaders in measuring and reporting on their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This year 83 of the JSE’s top 100 companies responded to the 2011 Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), the highest to date.

It is more than six years since Incite approached the National Business Initiative with the proposal to partner with the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) in London to engage South African business on climate change. From the outset, our aim was to contribute to a more informed appreciation among businesses, investors and the financial media of the strategic investment implications of climate change, and to further encourage the proactive involvement of business in identifying solutions to this significant economic, social and environmental challenge.

Following those early conversations we have seen the publication of five annual CDP reports, each of which has shown an encouragingly high level of South African business participation by global standards. While the response has always been comparatively high – with this year’s 83% response rate being the second highest globally – there has been a profound shift in the nature of the business contribution since the first CDP report in 2007. This is demonstrated in particular by the significant increase in the number of South African companies that are now assessing and reporting on their carbon footprints and that are voluntarily committing to emissions reduction targets.

Although we believe that the CDP has played a valuable role in increasing corporate awareness and action on climate change, it is evident that much still needs to be done if we are to limit the global temperature increase to the 2°C level agreed by world leaders. This will require active leadership from the business and investment community, informed by an understanding that responding to climate change is fundamental to ensuring the sustained creation of value, both for shareholders and society at large. Hopefully the analysis provided in this year’s report, and the shifts prompted by the process of reporting, will further contribute to this understanding.