Exploring the validity of corporate climate reporting under the Global Reporting Initiative, Carbon Disclosure Project, and Greenhouse Gas Protocol

This chapter examines the validity of current approaches to corporate climate reporting under the top three most commonly used voluntary reporting frameworks, namely the Global Reporting Initiative’s (GRI) G4 guidelines, the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol). We define reporting validity as being the degree to which disclosures accurately reflect the company’s contribution to wider climate processes and thresholds. In this study, the three frameworks are evaluated to determine whether or not they allow for valid climate disclosures, specifically in terms of the comprehensiveness of the disclosures and their connection to the company’s sustainability context.