Communicating on Climate Policy Engagement

Public policy engagement has rapidly become a crucial aspect of reporting on climate change. While reporting on direct climate impacts and on risks and opportunities remains important, environmental advocates and other stakeholders are calling on companies to demonstrate how they are playing a role in climate policy development. In response, a growing number of companies are reporting on their climate policy engagement efforts, and emerging third-party measurement frameworks are providing a basis for comparison.

How business should report on these efforts, however, remains unclear. Until now, objective guidance has been piecemeal (see Appendix 1), even as companies grapple with the need to answer broad questions, such as those included in the Carbon Disclosure Project’s (CDP) Investor Questionnaire (May 31, 2010), which asks companies to detail their climate policy engagementefforts and how they relate to strategy. To assist corporate social responsibility (CSR) practitioners in identifying key issues and developing a holistic approach to reporting on their company’s climate policy engagement efforts, BSR presents this guide.

BSR’s new report covers: