A FTSE SMALL CAP Group Counsel & Company Secretary writes...
Do companies actively engage with CDP Worldwide – and if so, what have your experiences been to date?
As a company, we have consistently refused to participate with CDP since 2013, preferring to engage directly with our shareholders and other stakeholders directly, but I would be interested to find out if this is a minority view now?
Given the huge number of players in the whole ESG ecosystem, are CDP the right organisation to engage with?
Whether you are compelled to engage with CDP depends on whether your shareholders are their signatories. If they are not – which is becoming increasingly unlikely given the large number of investors signed up to them – then it is a choice. I find the questions are v general in the ‘basic’ questionnaire, and probably not that useful given that the answer reiterates data already provided in our annual report, but answering the ‘full’ questionnaire would simply take too many resources at present. I would be interested in finding out how many of you are considering hiring a consultant/ a part time member of staff to deal with the increasing number of ESG requests: FTSE Rssell, CDP, ISS, Glass Lewis…etc