The previous three rounds of the CDP targeted the world’s largest 500 companies, the FT500, starting in February 2003.

The members of the CDP have decided to expand their research in 2006, working in collaboration with domestic investor groups to deliver carbon emission questionnaires to the leading companies around the world.

The CDP will work with the Investor Group on Climate Change to deliver the CDP4 questionnaire to the companies listed on the ASX100 and the NZ50.

CDP coordinator Paul Dickinson said that the potential impact of human activity on climate change has significant implications for global investment.

“Examples include changes in weather patterns; political and regulatory momentum moving against significant carbon emitters; the development of emissions-sensitive technologies, products and services superseding those existing today; and shifts in consumer sentiment due to a corporation's stance on climate change,” he said.

Dickinson said that information regarding emissions relevant to global investment was often not available or was provided in formats that made it difficult to compare results.

“The Carbon Disclosure Project aims to encourage the development of a common emissions measurement methodology and to facilitate its integration into general investment analysis,” he said.

In total, CDP4 will approach 1800 of the largest companies around the world, based on market capitalisation, asking companies to provide information on the carbon emissions of their operations or provide a reason why they do not believe the request is relevant to their business.

In a recent publication by Australasian legal firm Phillips Fox, entitled Climate Change Up-Date: Full Disclosure: CDP4 Raises Host of Legal Traps for the Unwary, ASX100 companies were advised to take care when responding to the CDP4.

Phillips Fox said the questionnaire needed to be treated with as much care as any other market disclosure, emphasising the legal implications of providing inconsistent information, or of not responding at all.

“Companies responding to the CDP4 information request must remember it is fundamentally about long-term share value, despite its environmental overtones.”

Phillips Fox also said business executives needed to have a detailed understanding of climate change and its relationship with their operations, or risk exposure to liability for breach of duty when making decisions about company initiatives that involve material climate risks.

The Carbon Disclosure Project is a special project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisers.

Throughout the three previous rounds of the CDP, the investment group has collected more than 800 responses from the FT500 companies and made them freely available through its website, www.cdproject.net.

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