Benchmarking

 

The Carbon Benchmarking Project plans to produce a series of reports on corporate performance on climate change. In order to compare like with like, these will typically either focus on specific business sectors (e.g. supermarkets, car makers) or activities (e.g. managing carbon in the supply chain). They will typically involve the following process:

Phase

Objective

Scoping

 

 

 

Public comment period

 

 

 

Benchmark finalisation

 

 

 

Data collection and validation

 

 

 

Report preparation

 

 

 

 

Launch

 

 

 

Review

Define benchmark scope and structure. Recruit acceptable Independent Advisory Committee (IAC).

 

 

 

Seek comment from expert bodies, investors, consumer organisations, and other stakeholders.

 

 

 

Select indicators, finalise normalisation and scoring methods and communicate to companies.

 

 

 

Collect data from companies and confirm accuracy.

 

 

 

Analyse data. Provide narrative context which enables readers to understand key findings, and subtleties.

 

 

 

Ensure visibility for benchmark, while minimising inaccurate coverage.

 

 

 

Get feedback and learn lessons for next year's benchmark.

The first reports are under development and will be published in 2008, starting with a survey of the UK supermarkets sector.

 

If you represent a company and are interested in participating in the development of a benchmarking framework for your sector, please contact the project director.