Resource Database

Sustainability challenges like climate change, water scarcity and human rights abuses put people, the planet and the global economy at risk — and corporate boards have a critical role to play in driving the solutions we need to tackle these challenges with urgency and at scale.

So how can corporate boards oversee their companies in a way that ensures they are leading the way on sustainability?

To answer this question, we evaluated the board systems of the world’s largest companies and showcased the results in our newly released report, Systems Rule: How board governance can drive sustainability performance. We found that companies with robust systems for board oversight are better positioned for sustainability performance.

However, we found that while most large global companies say that their boards oversee sustainability, their systems are largely piecemeal. Our analysis also shows that companies with systematic approaches to board governance — including the right mandates, the right people and the right incentives like executive compensation — perform best on key sustainability measures.

Climate change poses severe risks for businesses, which companies as well as governments need to understand in order to take appropriate steps to mitigate their effects. This however represents a significant challenge as climate change risk assessment is itself a complex, dynamic and geographically diverse process. Risks to businesses are further complicated by aspects such as the nature of the value chain creation, the location of the business and relationships and interdependencies with customers and suppliers.

Systemic climate risks, which result from the potential for cascading impacts through inter-related systems, pose particular challenges to risk assessment, especially when risks are transmitted across sectors and international boundaries. Most impacts of climate variability and change affect regions and jurisdictions in complex ways, and techniques for assessing this transmission of risk are still somewhat limited. Here, we begin to define new approaches to risk assessment that can account for transboundary and trans-sector risk transmission, by presenting: (i) a typology of risk transmission that distinguishes clearly the role of climate versus the role of the social and economic
systems that distribute resources; (ii) a review of existing modelling, qualitative and systems-based methods of assessing risk and risk transmission; and (iii) case studies that examine risk transmission in human displacement, food, water and energy security. The case studies show that policies and institutions can attenuate risks significantly through cooperation that can be mutually beneficial to all parties.

This study updates the report "2 Degrees of Separation", and for the first time quantifies risk of overinvestment under a 1.75ᵒC scenario using International Energy Agency’s - Beyond 2 Degrees Scenario, Sustainable Development Scenario and New Policies Scenario.

This by CDSB paper focuses on IFRS 7, 9, 15, 17 and IAS 36 and 37, exploring some of the main points applied to traditional financial instruments and how they could help organizations report information about climate-related risks and opportunities in their mainstream report.

This joint CDSB and CDP research assesses the level of preparedness of companies to disclose material climate-related information according to the TCFD recommendations. This study looks at the disclosures from 1,681 companies across 14 countries and 11 sectors to the CDP Questionnaire in 2017, which were made around the time of the launch of the final TCFD recommendations in June 2017.

This report updates and expands CDP’s research and League Table for the global automobile original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), first published in February 2015 and again in March 2016. It ranks 16 of the largest publicly listed automotive companies on business readiness for a low-carbon transition. The areas assessed in the CDP League Table are aligned with the TCFD recommendations.

This paper provides an original survey of indicators used by enterprises in ESG reporting to provide empirical inputs for the identification of core indicators.

This series of webpages outlines Conoco Phillips' approach to utilizing scenarios in the capital planning process, integrating carbon risk management into strategic planning, managing carbon asset risk and using carbon-pricing in decision making.

The Climate and Development Knowledge Network supports decision-makers in designing and delivering climate compatible development. CDKN do this by combining research, advisory services and knowledge management in support of locally owned and managed policy processes. Working in partnership with decision-makers in the public, private and non-governmental sectors nationally, regionally and globally.

SNAP provides several platforms for looking at historic climate trends and climate projections in Alaska and western Canada.

This website provides a range of data, tools, publications and resources for understanding a changing world and how it affects natural resources, livelihoods, and communities.