Navigating Urgency and Complexity: How TripleWin Supported AVI-SPL's Rapid CDP Disclosure
Challenge
AVI-SPL, a small-cap enterprise with global operations, received a climate disclosure request from CDP to share their environmental data and reduction targets as a supplier to customers who have set public-facing science-based targets (SBTs) for themselves.
AVI-SPL had a decision to make: to disclose or not to disclose. It could have joined the ranks of the nearly 30,000 companies who receive requests every year but choose not to disclose. The potential risks of non-disclosure are substantial including reputational damage, a default “F” score from CDP, and the possibility of losing revenue opportunities to competitors with a better track record of disclosure and environmental management. But AVI-SPL saw the invitation to disclose as an opportunity to showcase their commitment to operational decarbonization and climate change mitigation.
Despite their desire to disclose, the challenge for AVI-SPL was complex and multifaceted.
- Urgency: AVI-SPL received the CDP disclosure request in early spring and had to complete its first CDP questionnaire by July — just four months later. (Compare this to the 12 to 18 months it typically takes to complete a partial disclosure, or two to three years for a full disclosure.)
- Preparedness: AVI had not yet conducted a carbon inventory prior to receiving CDP’s request to disclose, which would have provided the data necessary for filling out the questionnaire. Given the global size and complexity of AVI-SPL’s operations, the data involved were hefty and intricate.
- Complexity: Being a private company, AVI-SPL had to navigate the complexities of disclosing appropriately: the right kind and amount of carbon data that would be relevant and useful to external stakeholders, but without revealing sensitive strategic and financial information about its business.
Need for technical expertise: The highly nuanced, technical language of the CDP questionnaire is hard to understand for most first-time disclosure responders. Redundancies, undefined terms, and jargon from the GHG Protocol can flummox even many sustainability consultants who don’t speak “carbonese.”
Solutions Delivered
TripleWin guided AVI-SPL step-by-step through a tailored, strategic approach to completing the CDP climate disclosure questionnaire. The process included deciphering and translating the highly technical questions, defining terms within the specific context of AVI-SPL’s business, gathering relevant information by conducting the company’s first carbon inventory, and then ensuring appropriate disclosure. The goal throughout this process was to provide valuable information to external stakeholders while safeguarding confidential business details — and to do it on time.
Project Learnings
Carbon emissions metrics
AVI-SPL’s status as a fast-growing, private company required careful consideration of the units used for measuring and disclosing carbon emissions.
- Measuring emissions: It’s important to distinguish between absolute carbon emissions and carbon emissions relative to the size of one’s operations (i.e., carbon intensity). Companies that are growing quickly should focus their disclosures on carbon intensity, because it’s a better indicator of climate stewardship.
- Disclosing emissions: The denominator used for carbon intensity—square footage, unit sales, sales revenue, and so on—can reveal the structure of one’s operations, and should be selected carefully. External metrics, chosen for public consumption, should be distinguished from internal metrics, used for setting reduction targets and measuring progress.
TripleWin advised on selecting the most suitable denominators for AVI-SPL’s carbon intensity metrics; ensuring a comprehensive and strategic approach to carbon intensity measurement.
Understanding the questionnaire
For a company completing their CDP questionnaire for the first time, simply understanding what the questions are asking is a significant and respectable first step. This understanding requires deep knowledge of both the language of finance and climate, emphasizing the need for expert guidance. TripleWin’s experienced carbon accountants were instrumental in not only deciphering these complex languages, but also translating them into disclosures that make strategic business sense.
Client Outcomes
Despite the fast turnaround, AVI-SPL successfully met the CDP disclosing deadline on time. This enabled the company to receive a crucial score from CDP, providing guidance for reducing its footprint. The disclosed information allowed AVI-SPL to maintain positive relationships with key customers and initiate the allocation of its carbon footprint across customers, aiding them in reporting their Scope 3 emissions.
Looking ahead, AVI-SPL anticipates more CDP requests from customers, and is also preparing for potential regulatory requirements in Europe. The successful completion of the project has positioned AVI-SPL to complete its next year’s carbon inventory and CDP disclosures, and also publish its first comprehensive impact report. Perhaps most important, the new data is influencing initiatives to reduce its footprint, accelerating the company on its path to environmental stewardship.
3 Steps for Private Companies Looking to Complete their First CDP Disclosure
- Understand the questions. Define technical terms within the context of your specific business and operations.
- Gather data. Determine what information is already available and what needs to be gathered. Conduct a carbon inventory for the reporting year (or multiple years from a target baseline year), if you have not yet done so.
Disclose appropriately. Receive guidance on the right type and amount of information that is necessary to disclose to adequately inform external stakeholders.
Experts
TripleWin Advisory is a boutique corporate consultancy focused on circularity solutions for industry. TripleWin offers a suite of tools to support clients in charting a practical, circular and sustainable course for their business. These tools include:
- Carbon inventories and setting science-based and Net Zero carbon goals
- Materiality assessments and sustainability roadmaps
- Building circular business models supported by financial analysis
- Risk scenario models using the TCFD framework
- Workshops and courses to build employee agency and corporate competency
We work with leaders in the following industries: apparel, footwear & textiles; information technology; metals; beauty; food & beverage; healthcare; building construction; human resource management; and retail.
TripleWin Advisory is an approved CDP climate change consultancy Accredited Service Provider (ASP). We are woman-founded, owned and led; a public benefit company.
AVI-SPL is a global provider of collaboration technology solutions. Founded in 1979, the company designs and integrates audio-visual solutions to enhance communication and productivity for business and government entities. Their focus is on simplicity, scalability, and measurability to ensure clients achieve their objectives.
Headquarters:Tampa, Florida
Industry:
Unified communications and collaboration (UC&C)
Main Product:
Digital workplace transformation, managed services, virtual events
In their words
“TripleWin coached our team on what data we would need to collect and provided shared templates for logging our values as we progressed. They further provided live guidance to me as I completed the carbon-related questions through CDP to ensure I accurately reported our carbon inventory. The TripleWin team is very knowledgeable and a delight to work with.”