Climate Change Services

The global economic crisis and climate change have been identified by the United Nations as two of the most significant issues facing the planet. Progressive companies are responding to the climate change challenge by assessing the associated risks while leveraging new opportunities. PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) global network of climate change specialists assists clients in the public and private sector to develop and implement sustainable carbon management solutions.

Client need
Are you:
  • Confident that you are effectively managing climate change risks and opportunities that affect your business?
  • How does your organisation measure up against its peers in terms of your climate change management response?
  • A multinational company operating in a global market under pressure to ensure your business is environmentally responsible?
  • Looking for sustainable ways of managing your entire value chain?
  • Looking for ways of monetizing carbon through CDM opportunities?
Our service offerings (click on the arrows to expand the selection)

Why this issue is important:
Developing a climate change policy and strategy allows a company to effectively manage climate change risks and pursue opportunities; and As the awareness of the significance of climate change gains momentum, a premium is being placed on businesses with a sound and demonstrable climate change strategy.

Our approach PwC provides a client-specific climate change strategy, highlighting regulatory risks, legal risks, opportunities, physical risks, reputational risks and the best path forward for the client. This includes relevant business examples and benchmarking of similarly placed industries.

Why this issue is important:
 

  • Financial and marketing benefits of voluntary carbon disclosure in current and future markets (eg: emissions disclosure to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) for Top 100 JSE-listed companies).
  • Financial benefits resulting from insight into emissions and identification of reductions/energy savings opportunities, identification of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Carbon Credit generation potential.
  • Results of the carbon footprint form the basis for the formulation of a climate change strategy. Carbon has a cost in those jurisdictions that have emissions trading schemes or carbon taxes and many jurisdictions (including South Africa) are either in the process of introducing these or are considering them.

Our approach

  • Quantification of the carbon footprint of a business using accepted international methodologies and South African/industry-specific emissions data.
  • Identification of possible emissions reduction opportunities across the organisation.
  • Greenhouse gas assurance is increasingly being recognised as best practice. The CDP encourages respondents to not only disclose their GHG emissions but also to obtain third-party verification of emissions.
  • Directors may feel they need a higher level of comfort for the sustainability information in their companies’ reports, especially greenhouse gas information as it becomes more closely linked to financial reporting through the provisions of the King Report on Governance for South Africa 2009 (King III).
  • Greenhouse gas assurance provides internal comfort that carbon footprint calculations or reporting of greenhouse gas information is accurate.

Our approach

  • Assess carbon footprint calculation against agreed assurance criteria by:
    • Reviewing systems and documentation; and
    • Performing systems testing and analytical procedures where appropriate;
  • Report to management on the reliability of carbon footprint; and
  • Express an opinion to be published.

Based on PwC’s previous experience as a registered DOE, we are ideally positioned to provide these services. Our range of CDM advisory services includes feasibility studies, market analyses and risk assessments.

Our approach

  • Evaluation of eligibility for registration and approval of potential CDM projects;
  • Review of project design documents (PDDs) for CDM verification purposes; and
  • Development of recommendations and/or a risk profile for selected CDM project types.