Benchmarking tool to throw light on corporate carbon data

Carbon research firm CO2Benchmark will next week launch a new online carbon benchmarking tool, designed to help businesses and green consultants easily compare the environmental performance of those companies that publicly release carbon data.

The tool, which is currently in beta and will be officially launched at the Sustainabilitylive! Show in Birmingham next week, is based on emissions data from 2,500 organisations from 20 countries and allows users to search the data and compare the performance of different companies.

It also features carbon data released by those companies covered by the European emissions trading scheme, as well as more granular data on the carbon footprint of different parts of individual business.

Speaking to BusinessGreen.com, CO2Benchmark managing director Reginald Warlop said that the company had collected carbon data from across a raft of different annual and CSR reports and collected it together in one database for the first time.

Some of the data will be made available for free, while users will have to pay a subscription to access the more in-depth information. "We expect it to be of use to carbon consultants and CSR execs, as it will allow them to see how a business is performing against its peers and quickly identify areas for improvement," Warlop said.

He also rejected suggestions that the absence of universal carbon reporting standards would undermine the effectiveness of any benchmarking tool, arguing that once company's disclosed carbon data they set their own benchmarks that they can be compared against.

"Companies are already starting to converge towards the GHG Protocol, but we state in the data what standard a company has used and if they have disclosed any carbon data then they have put a stake in the ground," he said.