GoldenBee Consulting and CDP jointly released 2023 CDP China Nature Report

source:goldencsr date:2024-06-21 10:13:29

In the morning of June 14, 2024, hosted by GoldenBee ThinkTank, the 19th International CSR/ESG Forum with the theme of New Productive Forces Driving Sustainable Development and the Release Ceremony of "2024 GoldenBee CSR China Honor Roll" was held in Shangri-La Beijing. At the forum, GoldenBee Consulting and CDP Global Environmental Information Research Center (hereinafter referred to as "CDP") jointly released From Consensus to Action, Accelerating the Progress of Corporate Nature-related Risk Management- Chinese Companies' 2023 CDP Nature-related Information Disclosure Report. Co-compiled by both parties, this is the first report in China to analyze the present situation of Chinese companies’ nature-related information disclosure based on TNFD disclosure recommendations, and the first comprehensive nature-related report covering forest, water and biodiversity by CDP, which will set an important baseline for the follow-up analysis of the progress of Chinese companies' CDP nature-related information disclosure.

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Ms. Dai Yibo, Vice President of GoldenBee Consulting, and Mr. Li Fei, Co-Director of Disclosures at CDP, jointly release the report.

Ms. Dai Yibo, Vice President of GoldenBee Consulting, mentioned in her speech: "according to the World Economic Forum's Global Risks Report 2024, biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse has risen to the third place among the top ten risks in the world. Facing global crises and challenges, countries around the world have reached an unprecedented consensus on nature conservation, and have adopted relevant policies and regulations for companies to set up standards and baselines on biodiversity conservation. The standards related to nature-related information disclosure is becoming mainstreaming and mandatory, catching up with that of climate information disclosure. "

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Mr. Li Fei, Co-Director of Disclosures at CDP, interprets the report.

At the forum, Mr. Li Fei, Co-Director of Disclosures at CDP, interpreted the report and shared the 2023 CDP corporate disclosure results and core findings of this report with the guests.

In 2023, the number of companies disclosing information on climate change, water security and forests was 23,293, 4,815 and 1,152 respectively globally through CDP platform, among which 4,735 companies responded to biodiversity questions. The number of companies in China (including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) participating in CDP information disclosure on climate change, water security and forest was 3,439, 694 and 100 respectively, and the number of companies responding to biodiversity questions has reached 1,556. Compared with that in 2022, the growth rate of number of companies in China disclosing information of biodiversity, water security and forest in CDP platform was 36%, 12% and 27% respectively.

In terms of governance, most boards of directors of Chinese companies that responded to CDP questionnaires engaged in the management of nature-related issues, showing that the top management of Chinese companies have attached great importance to nature conservation. Nearly 40% of the Chinese companies that responded to CDP water security questionnaires took incentive measures in water-related management, higher than that of the global average. Besides, the proportion of companies to develop forest conservation-related policies and make public commitments also increased significantly compared with that in 2022.

In terms of strategy, 78% of companies that responded to the CDP forest questionnaires and 50% of companies that responded to the water security questionnaire, integrated these two issues into their strategic and financial planning. However, Chinese companies were still in the initial stage on the issues of biodiversity, with only 10% of the responding companies formulating biodiversity strategies and 9% of them disclosing biodiversity-related information. At the same time, Chinese companies carried out wide cooperation in the value chain on the issues of deforestation. In 2023, companies disclosed for the first time that they started to engage with small farmers and provided corresponding financial incentives for suppliers to reduce the impact of deforestation at the value chain end.

In terms of risk and impact management, in 2023, 80% of companies responding to forest questionnaires and 70% of companies responding to water security questionnaires started to implemented risk assessment. The analysis shows that companies were more sensitive to forest-related reputation and market risks, product services or market opportunities. While in water security issue, acute physical risks, policy transformation risks and efficiency improvement opportunities, have received more attention.

In terms of indicators and goals, the number of companies that set forest-related goals has been increasing year on year. In 2023, 20 companies started to implement landscape and jurisdictional management approaches, and 60% of responding companies set water-related goals. While only 9% of responding companies regulated biodiversity-related indicators, indicating that Chinese companies shall redouble their efforts in setting biodiversity goals and indicators compared with the other two issues.

In the future, GoldenBee Consulting will join hands with CDP to promote nature-related information disclosure of Chinese companies, and follow the mandatory trend of nature-related information disclosure. At the same time, GoldenBee Consulting will continue to pay attention to the different needs of companies in ESG and sustainable development, keep up with nature issues such as climate change and biodiversity, support Chinese companies to continuously improve their capabilities of nature-related management on risks and opportunities to proactively tackle with the global challenges of natural loss.

CDP runs the global environmental disclosure system with rich and comprehensive dataset on corporate level. Working with more than 740 financial institutions with over $130 trillion in assets, CDP pioneered using capital markets and corporate procurement to motivate companies to disclose their environmental impacts, and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, safeguard water resources and protect forests, and providing impetus and tracking progress for building a more sustainable economy as well as protecting people and the planet.

As the pioneer in China to promote companies' engagement in biodiversity, GoldenBee Consulting applies leading approaches and technologies of biodiversity to provide consulting services of biodiversity management and information disclosure based on the global biodiversity framework. GoldenBee Consulting is committed to promoting the mainstream of biodiversity management in business, and incubating biodiversity business solutions in China.

Please click to download the Report.