Makes perfect sense that CDP is literally selling out to a private equity firm. Its continued relevance requires ongoing demand for this voluntary reporting standard. But voluntary disclosure isn’t as important as it once was. But commodifying data to inform investment decisions? That’ll work. 🧵
Environmental reporting non-profit group CDP strikes private equity dealPermira to take majority stake in core operations under energy transition strategygiftarticle.ft.com2/ 12 years ago, I explained the rise of private standards like CDP. These voluntary rules arise when states can’t or won’t regulate and NGOs have lots of technical expertise. But this was in an era when states were still pretending to care about climate, both domestically and internationally.
Rethinking Private Authoritypress.princeton.edu3/ This is also why the so-called “gold standard” on net zero – the Science-Based Targets Initiative – has also progressively weakened its rules. Their new version is just the most recent instance of this weakening.
Corporate climate plans arbiter draws critics on new ‘net zero’ rule bookCompanies able to claim they have made ‘best efforts’ even if they fall short of climate goalswww.ft.com4/ Both SBTi & CDP are fixated on “managing tons:” the obsessive focus on measuring, monitoring & trading GHGs. This distracts from the real challenge: creating green assets & the political interests supporting their expansion. Managing tons has many pernicious effects, as I explain in my new book.
Existential PoliticsA new way to tackle the real politics of climate change through asset revaluationpress.princeton.edu