Green Channel Staff, Questex Media Group, Inc – Apr 22, 2009
Large enterprises are unprepared for the inevitable coming wave of carbon regulation, a Gartner survey of businesses worldwide has found.
Nearly half of those surveyed said their organization’s planning was not influenced by the prospect of carbon pricing or regulation, and another 36% said they were not sure what preparations their company was making.
Gartner said the businesses were almost certain to be subject to carbon reporting and pricing in the future and now was the time to begin. IT management teams needed time to gather the necessary data to establish carbon tracking and reporting systems.
A total of 45.7 % of respondents said that carbon pricing was not influencing their organizations planning, while just 18.3% said it was influencing their organization’s planning for the next 24 months.
The international survey was based on a questionnaire sent to 626 enterprises about their plans for carbon reporting and pricing, and current and future implementation of carbon reporting or management systems.
“While the number of enterprises using or planning to use carbon tracking systems exceeds those legally required to do so, given the inevitable requirements to support carbon reporting in the future, the percentage of enterprises preparing is low,” said Gartner research vice president Simon Mingay.
Regardless of current regulations, enterprises should be building carbon information systems because pressure will inevitably “come down the supply chain to be transparent about carbon emissions,” Mingay said.
When it came to preparedness for the next two years, the UK and France recorded some of the lowest percentages at 7.9% and 10.5% respectively, compared to 21.1% of Chinese and 20% of Indian enterprises.
However, as a region Western Europe was best prepared – 32% said they had some kind of system in place, twice as many as Asia-Pacific or US businesses.
A further question about whether organizations would be implementing reporting or management software during the next 18 months showed most were not yet thinking about how carbon pricing or reporting requirements will affect their business.
“This apparent lack of preparation, and the inevitability that most enterprises will come under increased scrutiny from customers, investors, partners, key stakeholders and, eventually, regulators, should come as a wake-up call to policymakers, boards, senior leadership teams and CIOs,” said Mingay.
“Despite the lack of specific regulations, midsize and large enterprises in developed economies need to recognize that they will be paying for their emissions at some point — it’s just a matter of when, how much and through what kind of mechanism.
“Regardless of the recession, enterprises will find themselves under increasing pressure from stakeholders, including investors and customers, to be more transparent about emissions and reduction programs.”