Finding environmental information on Canadian companies can be a challenge. Many of the largest companies will provide some level of information on their websites and possibly in the form of an annual Environmental or Sustainability report. Other sources of information include federal and provincial government databases and non-government sources such as the Carbon Disclosure Project. Below are the three top sources for finding Canadian Greenhouse Gas data. In a future post I will review each in more detail and provide a detailed “How-to” get the most from each resource.
Top Sources of Greenhouse Gas data on Canadian Companies
- Self reported company data
- Carbon Disclosure Project
- Environment Canada Facility Level Database
1. Self Reported Company Data - A growing number of companies are self reporting GHG emissions data relating to their operations. A first port of call in any search for emissions data should be the company’s website. Sometimes companies make it difficult to find, but common locations include the Environment or Sustainability sectors of the website, in the CSR or Sustainability reports, or under more obscure headings such as Community or even buried in their Annual Reports.
2. Carbon Disclosure Project -The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) represents 534 institutional investors, holding $64 trillion in assets under management and conducts an annual survey of almost 3000 companies internationally. Each year the CDP reports its findings as reports based on industry sectors and national surveys. The 2010 report on Canadian companies and the individual international sector summaries contain detailed emissions data for each company that has reported its GHG emissions to the CDP and is freely available from the CDP Reports page.
3. Environment Canada Facility Level Database – One comprehensive, but sometimes frustrating resource for GHG emission data is the Federally regulated Environment Canada Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reporting Program. The information is freely available to download as an MS Excel spreadsheet, or can be queried online. I say the database is frustrating, because it lists sources by individual facilities, rather than by company. The spreadsheet version of the database does provide Parent Company ownership information, so it is possible to reconstruct a more accurate picture of each company’s emissions, given a little work. The on-line access also allows you to search by Parent Company, providing an overview of each company’s emissions in Canada. Although searching online in this way doesn’t necessarily provide all the relevant facilities when the Parent company is not the sole owner of an individual plant.
