The Carbon Disclosure Programme ("the Programme") is a three-year programme started in 2022 in partnership with CDP and supported by HSBC, aiming to enhance the support to the BEC Net-zero Carbon Charter ("the Charter") signatories, their business partners and the wider business community in climate related disclosure.
The Programme welcomes all companies in Hong Kong, including the Charter signatories and their business partners to participate in the 2024 Disclosure Cycle, subject to a limited quota.
The window to express your company's interest in joining this Programme is now closed.
Why Joining the Programme
This is an important initiative to support companies in Hong Kong to better understand their carbon emissions and to disclose climate information, which also contributes to
- Increased transparency
- Improved climate stewardship in the global supply chain, and
- Acknowledging climate risk exposure
For companies who are not familiar with climate-related disclosure, this is a good opportunity to understand the process and get a taste of it without additional charges. Companies may also receive a CDP Score Report with their overall and category breakdown scores, benchmarked against the average score in the region and in their own industry, through which companies may recognise their place in climate readiness comparing with their peers, and identify areas for further improvement.
Besides, companies are joining a community of Hong Kong CDP responders in which disclosure experiences are shared, environmental good practices and climate initiatives are recognised. Responses provided by companies would also help BEC to depict a more complete picture for the progress of climate actions in Hong Kong.
How to Join the Programme
Companies can now express their interest through the EoI form. BEC will reach out to companies, invite them to register as a CDP user, and provide guidance support for them to start their climate disclosure journey. Companies will be invited to respond to the Corporate Questionnaire on a yearly basis.
The 2024 Disclosure Cycle began in June 2024.
More information available in CDP’s website
CDP Corporate Questionnaire
The CDP corporate questionnaire consists of 13 modules and organization can expect to see questions in all integrated modules. ‘Environmental Performance’ module include distinct sections and questions that are specific to the environmental themes organizations are invited to report on. A SME questionnaire will be made available to organizations meeting the eligibility threshold.
The Questionnaire asks companies to provide information such as: their risks and opportunities associated with climate change, their emissions, details on their emissions management strategy such as targets, and actions companies have taken to reduce emissions. Companies fill in information depending on their capacity and are not bound to complete the whole questionnaire.
Fee & Information Accessibility
Access to CDP’s Online Response System will be provided to companies joining the Programme for responding to the Corporate Questionnaire. The table below explains the presentation of a company’s name, response and score on CDP’s website.
|
Investor-requested company? |
CDP admin fee |
Submit response publicly? |
Company’s name on CDP’s website |
Company’s response on CDP’s website |
Company’s score on CDP’s website |
|
Yes* |
Need to pay to response |
Yes |
Shown |
Available |
Available^ (ranging from A to D-) |
|
No |
Not available |
||||
|
No |
No need to pay |
Yes |
Available |
“Not Available” (unless scoring an A) |
|
|
No |
Not shown |
Not available |
Not shown |
*Companies not requested by investors may opt to be a “self-selected company”. For more information on “requested by investors”, please refer to CDP’s FAQ.
^Companies may opt for a non-public score if they submit their response for the first time. An “F” means an investor-requested company failed to submit a response.
The following table further describes the procedures and information flow of the Programme. While BEC will receive companies’ responses through CDP, BEC will only disclose aggregated data for informing the climate disclosure progress in Hong Kong, which help identify the strengths and needs of businesses. BEC will not disclose individual company names or their data unless prior consent is obtained.
|
Steps |
Action Party |
Action |
Info Receiving Party |
|
1 |
Companies |
Fill in and submit the Expression of Interest (EoI) form |
BEC |
|
2 |
BEC |
Provide the company names, email domains and other company identifiers |
CDP |
|
3 |
CDP |
Notify companies of their successful registration by email and provide instructions on how to access CDP Online Response System |
Companies |
|
4 |
Companies |
Fill in and submit CDP 2024 Corporate Questionnaire through the company’s response dashboard |
CDP (and BEC) |
|
5 |
CDP |
Score companies’ responses and release the scores |
Companies and BEC |
|
6 |
CDP |
Perform data analysis |
BEC |
|
7 |
BEC |
Provide aggregated response statistics |
Companies, HSBC and the public |
Resources and Support from CDP and BEC
Various resources are offered to participants in helping them for the disclosure:
- Programme events – Events are held to provide an overview of the climate disclosure landscape, explain the Programme and CDP Corporate Questionnaire, and share climate action experiences
- Online support – CDP Education platform provides courses to support companies with their disclosure; Online guidance helps companies disclose to the questionnaire; Capacity Building Showcase is a collection of webinars designed for new responders
- CDP organisational guide for environmental action - The CDP roadmap provides a snapshot of actions companies are taking at each stage of this journey towards environmental excellence
- Technical Support – refer to the CDP Help Center to search knowledge articles and raise any technical support issues regarding the disclosure
- CDP webinars and events – visit www.cdp.net/events for more information
- Ad-hoc support – email further questions to sc.bec@cdp.net, where CDP’s staff will be answering them
CDP
Being the technical partner of the Charter, CDP is a global non-profit that runs the world’s environmental disclosure system for companies, cities, states and regions. Fully TCFD aligned, CDP holds the largest environmental database in the world, and CDP scores are widely used to drive investment and procurement decisions towards a zero carbon, sustainable and resilient economy. Nearly 20,000 organizations around the world disclosed data through CDP in 2022, including more than 18,700 companies' worth half of global market capitalization, and over 1,100 cities, states and regions.
For enquiries about the Programme, please contact Ms Cody Leong of BEC via codyleong@bec.org.hk