Why are collision repairers being asked to report our emissions data?
The Government has passed legislation making climate-related disclosures mandatory for most large financial businesses, such as banks and insurers.
As a result, insurance companies must measure and report the carbon emissions associated with not just their direct operations (scope 1 and 2 emissions) but also the indirect emissions associated with their wider value chain (scope 3 emissions), which includes the claims supply chain.
What’s the benefit of using a carbon accounting software?
While measuring and reducing carbon emissions is an effective way to mitigate the impacts of climate change and future proof our businesses, the reality is that access to quality data, technology and resource constraints remain key barriers to doing this.
The aim of this pilot is to make it as easy as possible to collect and report emissions data for all parties, while also exploring opportunities to further improve the sustainability across both industries.
How many business activities do I need to measure?
At this stage, Insurers will only be collecting emissions data associated with fuel and electricity purchases (known as scope 1 and scope 2 emissions).
However, you can also choose to explore multiple business activities, giving you greater business insights.
Why is this being rolled out to the collision repair industry first?
Feedback is that many collision repairers want to be seen as leaders in sustainability, and many are already talking steps in this area. Also, most repairers already have a contract /relationship with more than one insurer, so it makes sense to trial an industry collaborative approach.
Why is the pilot open to Xero customers only?
Cogo has an existing partnership with Xero, so the software is already integrated. From July 1, MYOB customers will also be eligible to expand the test pool. The success of this pilot will determine the consideration for manual input and integration with other accounting software providers.
What happens to the emissions data?
At the end of the pilot, Cogo will calculate and provide emissions data to the participating insurers through ICNZ, ensuring transparency and fairness. Each insurer will have access only to the emissions data relevant to them, in the form of an emission intensity factor for each of their repairers. Insurers will use the individual intensity factor to calculate their total emissions based on a dollar-per-claim spend.
Insurers will use this data to support their mandatory reporting of supply chain emissions, as well as exploring other sustainability activities in the future.
Does this mean insurers will be able to see all my expense data and receipts?
Nope. Insurers will only see emissions data, calculated on a dollar-per-claim basis. This is the benefit of using a third-party app via Cogo.
Does this mean the Government can see my emissions data?
Climate disclosures will be made available for public view, but the emissions data being disclosed is not going to be granular enough for the government to have specific interest in.
Why don’t insurers just use proxies or broad estimates based on nationwide data?
This is an option, and some insurers are starting with this, but there are challenges with data quality and this limits the ability to explore tangible sustainable leadership opportunities for the industry. We see value in trialling an industry-collaborative approach.
What happens after the pilot?
Participating insurers will gather stakeholder feedback and determine next steps. If successful, the idea is to roll this out to other supply chain related businesses.
Is emissions reporting mandatory for collision repairers?
At this stage, only large insurers, banks, and other large corporations are legislatively required to report their supply chain emissions (as part of wider climate-related disclosures), but there are obvious flow on impacts to the collision repair industry. This is why some insurers are asking for repairers’ help and working to make it as easy and efficient as possible, with added benefits around business optimisation and sustainability.
