ClimateBiz
July 29, 2010

It’s Time to Give Up Spreadsheets for Tracking Carbon Emissions
By: Paul Baier

CFOs, CIOs and sustainability teams at large companies have used spreadsheets for years to track corporate carbon emissions.

We are now, however, at a tipping point where the benefits of carbon management software, also known as enterprise carbon accounting (ECA) software, outweigh the benefits of spreadsheets.

With many large companies recently completing their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reports and Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) questionnaires, and entering budget planning in the fall, it is time to move away from spreadsheets to reduce risk, save money, increase productivity, and establish an enterprise-class source of record for carbon emission data.

Investors and Top Customers Demand High Quality Carbon Emission Data

The calculation and reporting of carbon emissions today is a standard, mainstream business process and needs to be treated as such. The majority of Fortune 500 companies now publicly report carbon emissions via their website and registries such as CDP; companies that don’t are viewed as laggards. 

Regulators, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, and investor advocacy groups, such as Ceres, are demanding more accurate data. Meanwhile, emission data submitted to the CDP is widely available to investors through Bloomberg terminals and Google Finance. Financial accounting groups, including the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), are debating carbon emission disclosure standards and approaches, which will likely become a future requirement.

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