Amid the tense climate discussion today, measuring, managing and disclosing environmental impacts is seen as an important aspect of corporate and civic responsibility. As part of this effort, CDP sends out questionnaires and requests for disclosure to companies worldwide, asking them to provide information on their carbon emissions, climate change risks and opportunities, and other ESG issues.
Responding to these questionnaires and other ESG-related frameworks does have its challenges, however, as it requires the involvement of multiple teams across different departments, such as sustainability, finance, legal and communications. For example, each team must gather and analyze a vast amount of data and information related to the company's operations, supply chain, products and services, and then provide accurate and consistent responses to the questionnaire questions.
Furthermore, the complexity of the process is often compounded by the fact that different questionnaires and frameworks have different requirements and formats, making it difficult to ensure that the responses are relevant and meaningful to the intended audience.
The long-story-short gist of it? Responding to CDP questionnaires and other ESG-related frameworks is a time-consuming and complex undertaking involving multiple teams across different departments.
To streamline the process and make it more efficient for its customers, Workiva, a cloud platform for assured integrated reporting, has announced a new feature that incorporates CDP into its platform. This latest innovation leverages Workiva's ESG Program and ESG Explorer to simplify customers' responses to CDP questionnaires, enabling companies to manage their sustainability data more efficiently and effectively.
“Workiva is uniquely positioned to streamline the disclosure process while applying the same rigor and investor-grade assurance to climate data that’s expected of financial data," said Paul Dickinson, founder and chair, CDP and ESG adviser, Workiva. "Having one single source of truth drives consistency, transparency, and auditability, which ultimately reduces costs and builds trust with stakeholders.”
Workiva offers a cloud platform for business reporting and compliance solutions. Its platform provides a centralized hub for reporting collaboration, automated data collection, and assurance. The platform connects disparate data sources and supports customers' unique reporting needs. Workiva's centralized hub for reporting collaboration and automated data collection saves companies time and resources while ensuring accuracy, consistency, and assurance.
And, as a Gold Accredited Solution Provider, Workiva was selected to pilot a new disclosure API that will enable customers to automatically transfer data from the Workiva platform into CDP's online response system. For the 2023 disclosure cycle, the CDP API pilot is restricted to climate data, but Workiva’s CDP innovation also supports responses to the organization’s forests and water security questionnaires.
"Workiva is committed to investing in continuous innovation and working with partners like CDP to help more companies around the world manage and scale their positive environmental and social impact," said Paul Volpe, Senior Vice President of Growth and head of ESG solutions at Workiva.
From 2024 onward, CDP hopes to work with providers to make it available to responding cities, states and regions, and looks forward to expanding its reach and impact.
Edited by
Alex Passett
