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ENSURING INTEGRITY AND TRANSPARENCY IN CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION
citizen engagement in and oversight of utility services. While utility companies showed greater responsibility regarding environmental impacts and policies than for other issues, the results remain mixed.
68
Voluntary controls 45
Clear rules
57
Dialogue
56
Disclosure
57
Overall average 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Figure 4.5 Pilot study of Colombian utility company transparency: consolidated results
The evaluation of disclosure revealed some encouraging results. Companies prepared and released reports for stakeholders that discussed environmental management and plans to mitigate their negative impacts on the environment. Many utilities were also found to have posted information on their websites to help consumers use their utilities more efficiently. What was discouraging, however, was a lack of clarity in pricing and the failure of some companies to help customers understand contracts and invoicing. Consumers therefore face more difficulty in understanding and making decisions about their consumption patterns – a problem that could contribute to energy inefficiency and increased emissions.
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The findings on voluntary controls pointed to a lack of corporate promotion of citizen oversight. While companies do make efforts to cultivate dialogue with stakeholders, citizens have access to few effective channels for direct engagement with companies or to solicit information from government oversight bodies.8 One implication of this is that without access to such information, citizens are limited in their ability to work with utility companies and the government in order to assess companies’ impact on Colombia’s emissions levels, or collaborate on GHG emissions reduction initiatives.
3/15/2011 9:42:23 AM