We sat down with Pietro Bertazzi, Global Director Policy Engagement and External Affairs to find out more about the CDP government dashboard, and the exciting benefits this tool will bring to partners and policy makers.
Pietro, what exactly is the CDP government dashboard?
Before COP27, the UN’s emissions gap report warned that we have no credible pathway in place for limiting warming to 1.5 degrees. Unless governments raise their nationally determined contributions (NDCs), the world will experience increasingly catastrophic climate impacts as the temperature rise reaches 2.6 degrees.
We’ve launched the CDP government dashboard, our first online analytics tool for policymakers, to empower governments with the data and insights they need to make effective policy decisions on climate and nature - and accelerate action to limit warming to 1.5°C.
The dashboard is part of CDP’s government partnerships program and enables our partners to explore critical corporate and subnational environmental data. By partnering with CDP, governments effectively use their authority to promote corporate and local government climate and environmental disclosure and action.
What data is available?
The following data sheets are currently available, including:
- Global disclosure: disclosure figures for nearly 20,000 non-state actors, including insights on CDP scores.
- Forests: analysing corporate performance to combat commodity-driven deforestation.
- Water security: showing impacts and actions of companies to safeguard water and limit risks.
- Task force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures: focusing on the four TCFD areas of corporate governance, risk management, strategy and metrics & targets.
This is just a start; we’ll be adding more. All data can also be filtered by country or region, disclosure year and relevant policy processes including international events or forums and conventions.
How will this tool support governments to achieve their climate goals?
This makes it easy and intuitive for government partners and policymakers to explore CDP’s data. This is a comprehensive overview of the environmental transparency and action at a country level, with over 18,700 companies and 1,100 cities covered. The dashboard therefore supports governments to track progress towards national goals, such as net-zero and nature-positivity.
Policymakers can see the progress of climate and nature targets set by companies, cities, and regions who use CDP to disclose. This can be as simple and powerful as using their authority to raise the level of environmental disclosure, which helps to understand country-level progress, as well as identifying areas for specific policy intervention.
So how will this work in practice?
A few examples. We’re providing national governments with a better understanding of the budgetary needs of their cities to increase resilience to climate change. We’re handing policymakers solid evidence on how high-quality corporate reporting standards drive action. And we’re allowing policy experts to dive deeper and identify best practice in corporate governance and initiatives throughout value chains. With this comparable, consistent data, disclosed directly by companies and local governments to CDP, policymakers gain a uniquely comprehensive view of the underlying factors affecting their environmental targets.
What do you expect the impact of this data tool to be?
We’re looking for faster implementation of policies that drive non-state actors to set science-based emissions reduction targets, develop climate transition plans and implement nature-related actions in line with a 1.5°C, resilient future. In light of the recent UN report, governments need to close the gap between their national commitments and the efforts to actually deliver them in the real economy, financial system, and lower levels of government.
With insights from this dashboard, governments can establish policies that bring better environmental disclosure – and see the impact. Likewise, we know national NDCs are falling short: this tool can embolden states to raise and track them. And the possibilities for data-driven policymaking are huge: from tax and subsidy policy to public procurement. CDP's government dashboard provides access to key corporate and subnational environmental KPIs and visualized data points.
How can government partners access the dashboard?
All governments and policymakers working with CDP can register here. Once approved and logged in, users can explore all data sheets available and download a user guide.
Will there be any changes or new features to the dashboard in the coming months?
CDP will expand the dashboard continually to provide further in-depth insights covering supply chains, financial institutions, and the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Our government partners will of course be kept up to date.
We hope that all current and future government partners and policymakers will make use of the data and insights this tool offers to build policies that limit global warming to 1.5°C and achieve a full recovery of nature.I’d like to conclude by adding that this project was only made possible with funding from the European Commission, the Ministry of Ecological Transition of Italy and the European Union and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, who we thank for this vital support.
For more information, check out the government dashboard explainer video below: