CDP reporting: a guide for businesses
Direct answer
CDP is an international non-profit that runs a global platform on which companies voluntarily report their climate, water and forest data. This is done through an annual questionnaire, usually at the request of customers or investors. The organisation was formerly called the Carbon Disclosure Project. After completing the questionnaire, a company receives a score reflecting the quality of its reporting.
- Clear definition
- Data-driven assessment
- Risks and opportunities visible
- Practical next steps
CDP reporting: scattered information versus Energy Intelligence
More and more large buyers and investors want to know how their suppliers handle climate, water and deforestation. Instead of filling in a separate questionnaire for each relationship, you can report once through CDP and share that data with multiple parties. A manufacturer supplying a listed customer often receives such a request. CDP standardises that enquiry and turns your answers into a comparable score.
- You report by completing the annual CDP questionnaire on climate, water and deforestation; the outcome is a score.
- Participation usually follows a request from a large customer or investor, but a company may also register itself.
- The scores are public and range from a leadership level down to a basic level, with a separate score if you do not respond.
Insight
Traditional approach
Information is scattered across portals, documents, invoices or separate spreadsheets.
Modern approach
Data, context and interpretation are brought together into a clear decision picture.
Decision-making
Traditional approach
Choices are made based on averages, assumptions or occasional analyses.
Modern approach
Scenarios, KPIs and current measurement data make the trade-off more concrete and repeatable.
Follow-up
Traditional approach
Actions often stay non-committal or disappear into separate reports.
Modern approach
Follow-up actions, monitoring and reporting are linked to the same energy data.
How does CDP reporting work?
You report by completing the annual CDP questionnaire. Since 2024 this has been one integrated questionnaire covering climate, water and forests together, with a shorter version for SMEs. You answer questions about your emissions, targets, policy and risks, among other things. For the emissions figures, CDP aligns with the GHG Protocol, the international standard for calculating greenhouse gases. Afterwards, CDP assesses your answers and assigns a score. This ranges from a leadership level down to a basic level that mainly shows you shared data. If you do not respond to a request at all, a separate score reflects that.
- One integrated questionnaire for climate, water and forests; a shorter version for SMEs.
- You describe your emissions, targets, policy and risks over the past year.
- The GHG Protocol is the underlying standard for calculating your emissions.
- The score reflects the completeness and quality of your answers, not performance alone.
Why do companies take part?
Most companies complete CDP because a large customer or an investor explicitly asks them to. Suppliers to a group that reports itself often see the request passed down through the chain. Taking part shows that you are transparent and helps you retain a relationship. It also provides a benchmark: you see how your score compares with similar companies, and the best-scoring companies appear on the public A List. The questionnaire is aligned with other frameworks companies deal with, such as the European reporting obligation CSRD and setting science-based targets. That way you do not have to gather the same data over and over.
- Often a firm requirement from a customer or investor in the chain.
- A score makes your approach comparable with that of other companies.
- The enquiry aligns with frameworks such as CSRD and setting climate targets.
- Report once, serve many parties, instead of separate questionnaires.
What should you watch out for?
CDP reporting is time and data intensive. You need reliable figures on your energy use, emissions and sometimes your entire chain, and you do not gather those in one afternoon. Expect preparation, internal coordination and access to meter data and procurement data. Bear in mind that your score becomes public: customers, investors and others can see it. A low or missing score therefore also stands out. Moreover, CDP mainly measures how well you report and manage, not whether your absolute emissions are low. A good score is not proof of a small footprint, but of complete and structured disclosure.
- Gathering reliable emissions and consumption data takes the most time.
- The score is public; a low or missing score is visible too.
- A high score shows good reporting, not automatically low emissions.
- Plan internally in good time: chain data is often the hardest to obtain.
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