www.carbon-clear.com
CASE STUDY
VIRGIN ATLANTIC
CDP REPORTING
Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd is a British airline
company, operating globally. They provide
a range of long haul flights, many of which
are trans-Atlantic. In 2015 Virgin Atlantic
flew 5.9 million passengers and employed
over 8000 people.
Business Need
Virgin Atlantic approached Carbon Clear
in 2013 to review the scope of their CDP
reporting program and to seek support in
improving their CDP scores. At the time,
Virgin Atlantic only reported to the Supply
Chain Questionnaire and wished to review
the materiality of the Forests and Water
programmes, in order to determine their
future reporting strategy.
Today Virgin Atlantic report to both the
CDP Supply Chain Questionnaire and
the CDP Forests Questionnaire. Their key
business drivers for responding to both
questionnaires include improving the
communication of their sustainability
initiatives to customers and shareholders,
as well as positioning themselves as
an industry leader on climate change
adaptation and mitigation.
The Solution
Carbon Clear conducted a full reporting
gap analysis across the climate change,
water and forests workstreams to assess
the materiality of each area to Virgin
Atlantic, and devise a reporting strategy
going forward. Following the review, Virgin
Atlantic opted to report to the Supply Chain
and Forests questionnaires.
Each year we continue to work closely
alongside Virgin Atlantic to collect all the
relevant data for the CDP questionnaires
and provide concise analysis on key areas
for improvement and development. By
gaining an in-depth understanding of the
organisational structure, performing a
competitor analysis and becoming familiar
with Virgin Atlantic’s existing sustainability
initiatives, Carbon Clear are able to advise
on a range of sustainability areas.
In 2016 this includes; supporting in the
calculation and provision of a robust
carbon footprint, the full modelling of
Scope 3 emissions, and working with Virgin
Atlantic to drive further performance
improvements in the Supply Chain and
Forestry questionnaires. A key part of
this is the ongoing improvement in the
articulation of risks and opportunities
associated with climate change.
www.carbon-clear.com | 020 3589 9444 | © Carbon Clear
www.carbon-clear.com
CASE STUDY
VIRGIN ATLANTIC
CDP REPORTING
VALUE ADDED
As well as helping to deliver high quality
CDP submissions and improve year on
year scores, Carbon Clear continue to
work in partnership with Virgin Atlantic
to identify areas for improvement
across their carbon management and
environmental reporting workstreams.
For the Forests Questionnaire, Carbon
Clear’s approach and engagement
with the relevant teams enabled Virgin
Atlantic to obtain a ‘Leadership’ rating
for Timber. The CDP process has also
initiated discussions about how Virgin
Atlantic can best mitigate the risks and
capitalise on the opportunities climate
change poses to the business.
“Carbon Clear provided an excellent and
complete CDP service, working with us to
continuously improve our underlying data.
They also helped shape our response so that
it accurately reflects our approach to climate
change as well as meeting the requirements
of CDP. We’ve worked with them for a number
of years and have enjoyed year on year
improvements for all of our disclosures.”
How Carbon Clear Can Help You
In order to disclose to CDP, companies need
to be measuring and recording their carbon
emissions data. Depending on the level of
maturity of your company’s environmental
reporting, Carbon Clear can add value in a
number of ways.
We can help to identify and prioritise
the steps required to improve your
sustainability program, and enhance your
CDP score. This may include ensuring that
your carbon footprint calculations are of
sufficient scope and quality, advising on
the areas for improvement in your previous
CDP responses, or developing a carbon
management plan from scratch.
Our experts will then help to compile and
report your Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions data,
calculate reductions and develop qualitative
and risk assessment reporting for CDP. This
can be done for the Investor, Forests, Water
and Supply Chain questionnaires.
Jessica Cross-Brown, Virgin Atlantic
www.carbon-clear.com | 020 3589 9444 | © Carbon Clear