CDP Testimonials

Government

"Climate Change is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century… It is extremely important for investors to take account of climate change in their decision making. I wish the Carbon Disclosure Project success with its further efforts both in Germany and worldwide."
Dr Angela Merkel, German Chancellor

"The Carbon Disclosure Project is vital, and we've got to get everybody to participate in it. Climate change is a problem of prosperity, and of unexamined processes and making investment decisions, which may have made sense yesterday, but don't make sense for tomorrow."
Bill Clinton, Former US President

"Before CDP we had no comprehensive data on corporate greenhouse gas. But with CDP policy makers, investors and companies themselves can take better informed decisions"
Fredrik Reinfeldt, Swedish Prime Minister

"We all have to do our bit to tackle climate change. The active cooperation of industry is essential to the success of emission reduction efforts. The Carbon Disclosure Project is an excellent tool for increasing the exchange of climate information between companies and their institutional investors. I am very pleased that one of Denmark's largest institutional investors has today chosen to partner with the Project."
Bendt Bendtsen, Danish Minister for Economic and Business Affairs, speaking about ATP becoming the first Danish partner

"CDP illustrates how the answer to reducing GHG emissions lies as much with companies and investors as it does with governments, international agencies and the public…No industry can afford to ignore the issue…the project demonstrates that many investors have a comprehensive view of their fiduciary responsibilities to invest prudently, consistent with this government's emphasis on improved investor and corporate governance…I would like to applaud the very high response rate from British companies, I am delighted to see that corporations in this country are aware of the economic implications of climate change and are taking a lead internationally and indeed seizing the business opportunities of early action to address these important issues."
Tony Blair, former UK Prime Minister

"CDP has established itself as the gold standard for carbon disclosure, the largest investor collaboration in the world and an example of how voluntary approaches can achieve results."
Joan Ruddock MP, Minister of State for Climate Change

"The growth of the Carbon Disclosure Project shows that investors are increasingly aware of the impact climate change will have on shareholder value... this is a project that has considerable momentum and that in itself is significant."
Rt Hon Margaret Beckett MP, then Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs UK Government

"It has been a really interesting experience to watch the development of the Carbon Disclosure Project. It’s extremely significant because there is a major shift in awareness of the climate crisis and the need to integrate the behaviour of companies public and private towards the climate crisis, both it’s risks and it’s opportunities in the investment market place and in the business market place generally."
Al Gore, speaking at the CDP2006 launch in New York

"The Carbon Disclosure Project represents 315 institutional investors with assets of $41 trillion, more than a third of total global invested assets'...56% of the S&P500 answered the survey...we believe the SEC should issue definitive guidance in the form of an interpretative release to ensure greater consistency and completeness in disclosure of material information related to climate change and current and probable future governmental regulations of greenhouse gas emissions..."
Senator Christopher J Dodd, Chairman, USA Senate Banking Committee ;
Honorable Jack Reed, Chairman Subcommittee on Securities Insurance and Investment

USA Senate Letter

Investors

"Before the CDP, policy makers could only guess at what companies were actually doing regarding climate change. Today we have much broader and more consistent data than ever before which is enabling researchers, policy makers, investors and other interested parties to make more informed decisions and this is due in large part to the CDP."
Greg Fleming, President of Global Markets and Investment Banking Merrill Lynch

"The CDP supports AIG Investments’ efforts to assess and analyze trends in risks and opportunities associated with climate change and its mitigation. Climate change continues to be a major financial and investment concern for us and our clients."
Win J Neuger, CEO, AIG Investments

"The first step towards managing carbon emissions is to measure them because in business what gets measured gets managed. The Carbon Disclosure Project has played a crucial role in encouraging companies to take the first steps in that measurement and management path."
Lord Adair Turner, Director of Standard Chartered plc

"Climate change and the impact that it will have on key industries such as agriculture, tourism, energy, transport and insurance, is as important as interest rate risk and exchange risk. As a major global investor, we support the CDP and value the information that it provides to help us make informed decisions on the subject"
Henri de Castries, Chairman of the Management Board and Chief Executive of AXA

"We believe it is inevitable that at some point the U.S. will join the other G8 countries and introduce limitations on the emissions of greenhouse gases. That is why we are leading investor collaboration to gather the data on corporate greenhouse gas emissions required to undertake prudent investment management. And that is why CalPERS, CalSTRS and the California Treasury are participants in the Carbon Disclosure Project. We encourage fund managers interested in our business to follow suit."
Steve Westly, Controller of California and Trustee to CalPERS and CalSTRS

"State Street Global Advisors is proud to be a signatory of the Carbon Disclosure Project. We believe improved transparency regarding carbon emissions will better enable us to uncover investment opportunities for clients. It's time corporations across all sectors addressed the challenges of climate change."
Bill Page, Portfolio Manager, State Street Global Advisors

"As an investor, we are concerned to know whether the companies we are investing in are adequately taking account of climate-related risks. However, the data is often not available, sometimes not comparable or of poor quality. As a part of the Carbon Disclosure Project, we hope to collect more reliable data, so eventually, a common emissions measurement methodology can be developed."
Joachim Faber, Allianz AG board member responsible for asset management

"The Carbon Disclosure Project ...[is]... a quiet, mature, expert way to raise the consciousness of CEO's who are under pressure to provide immediate profits for the next quarter's reporting...[it] is a way to give them the sense that looking at the long term is really the smart and sensible way to go."
Trustee of the New York State Common Retirement Fund

"Travelers' commitment to monitor, assess and respond to the risks and opportunities posed by climate change is a guiding principle of our company. Our focus on climate change and its impact is significantly strengthened by the efforts undertaken by the Carbon Disclosure Project, and we are pleased to lend our support and expertise."
Robert Flynn, Travelers Companies

Corporations

"This Carbon Disclosure Project has been visionary in helping businesses understand the risks and opportunities posed by climate change. The CDP provides a trusted way to report our energy and carbon performance."
Rupert Murdoch, NewsCorp

"To exploit these opportunities, and address these risks, a business must understand how much carbon it is emitting, and the source of those emissions. This brings me directly to the Carbon Disclosure Project...it is independent and impartial, it is a clear and transparent mechanism for anyone to see our carbon footprint and to judge our performance at reducing it."
Sir Terry Leahy, Chief Executive, Tesco plc

"The CDP has had more impact than any other corporate reporting exercise of its kind, and must rank as one of the largest ever voluntary reporting initiatives...the specialist focus of the Carbon Disclosure Project provides a suitably rigorous structure for an overview of a company’s response to climate change, and the survey template is a very helpful management tool for us to assess climate-related risks and opportunities in our own business. It also allows us to benchmark our practices against peers."
Sir Tom McKillop, Chairman, Royal Bank of Scotland Group

"The Carbon Disclosure Project does us all a great service in bringing matters to the attention of the investment and business communities. It is an important catalyst for change – the change without which the world will be a very dangerous place."
Sir Christopher Bland, then Chairman BT Group

"The Carbon Disclosure Project is proving a major help to Centrica in measuring the positive impact of our carbon reduction programmes and is bringing increased focus to our climate change strategy. We're therefore delighted to be recognised in the Climate Disclosure Leadership Index for the first time."
Sam Laidlaw, Chief Executive, Centrica 2007