CDP Reporting: The Complete Guide to Disclosure, Scoring and Data

What Is CDP Reporting?

CDP reporting is the annual process of disclosing environmental data to CDP, a global non-profit that runs the world’s largest environmental disclosure system. Companies, cities, states and regions answer a standardized questionnaire covering climate change, water, forests and, increasingly, broader nature topics. CDP then scores eligible responses and makes the resulting CDP data available to investors, customers and the public.

Reporting to CDP is voluntary. In practice, most large companies disclose because the people they depend on ask them to: capital markets signatories, major purchasing organizations and, more and more, regulators who look to CDP-aligned data.

What Does CDP Stand For?

CDP originally stood for the Carbon Disclosure Project. The organization was founded in London in 2000 with a simple idea: ask companies, on behalf of investors, to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions.

As its scope grew beyond carbon to water, forests and other environmental issues, the organization shortened its name to “CDP.” Today, CDP is the official name, not an acronym. You’ll still see “CDP Carbon Disclosure Project” used interchangeably in search and conversation, but the modern CDP covers far more than carbon.

CDP at a Glance

• Founded: 2000, as the Carbon Disclosure Project
• Type: Global non-profit disclosure system
• Who discloses: Companies, SMEs, cities, states and regions
• Themes: Climate change, water security, forests, plus biodiversity, plastics and (new in 2026) ocean
• Scale (2025 cycle): 23,100+ disclosing organizations; nearly 20,000 companies scored
• Who requests data: 640 investor signatories representing US$127 trillion in assets, and 270+ major purchasers requesting data from roughly 45,000 suppliers

Why CDP Disclosure Matters

A strong CDP disclosure does more than tick a box. It signals to the market that your organization understands its environmental risks, manages them, and can back its claims with data.

Investors Use CDP Data to Price Risk

Capital markets signatories request CDP disclosure because they need comparable, decision-useful environmental data. Asset managers feed CDP data into ESG ratings, portfolio screening, engagement priorities and stewardship decisions. A missing or weak response can raise questions about governance quality and transition readiness, and can affect your cost of capital.

Customers Use CDP to Choose Suppliers

Through CDP’s supply chain program, large buyers ask their suppliers to disclose. For many B2B companies, a CDP response is now a prerequisite for winning or keeping contracts, especially with buyers working on their own Scope 3 targets. Your emissions are their emissions.

Regulators and Standards Are Converging on CDP

CDP has aligned its questionnaire with the ISSB’s IFRS S2 climate standard since 2024, and it maps to frameworks such as , TNFD and GRI. That means the data you prepare for CDP increasingly overlaps with what mandatory regimes like CSRD, ISSB-based national rules and California’s SB 253 require. Treat CDP as a dress rehearsal for regulated disclosure, and you’ll build the data collection systems, governance processes and audit readiness required anyway.

Your CDP Score Is Public Reputation

A CDP score is one of the most widely recognized environmental benchmarks in the market. Companies on the A List use it in investor decks, sales conversations and employer branding. Companies that don’t respond when asked receive an F, which is also visible to requesters.

How CDP Reporting Works

CDP runs on an annual disclosure cycle. Understanding the mechanics helps you plan resources and avoid last-minute surprises.

Who Is Asked to Disclose

Most companies disclose because they receive a formal request from:

• Capital markets signatories: investors who ask companies in their portfolios to disclose
• Supply chain members: large purchasers who ask their suppliers to disclose
• Voluntary self-selection: companies that choose to disclose without a request, often to meet customer expectations or build credibility

Cities, states and regions disclose through a separate track with its own questionnaire.

The Annual Disclosure Cycle

CDP runs one disclosure cycle per year, and starting in 2027, that cycle moves significantly earlier. Each cycle follows a similar pattern:

1. Requesters build their lists in late winter. For 2027, investors and customers can submit request lists from the week of February 22 to the week of April 19.
2. The response window opens on the CDP Portal in spring. In 2027, it opens the week of April 26, about seven weeks earlier than the mid-June opening companies are used to.
3. Companies submit before the scoring deadline to be eligible for a score. In 2027, that deadline falls the week of July 26, about seven weeks earlier than the mid-September deadline in 2026.
4. A later final deadline accepts responses that will not be scored. In 2027, that’s the week of September 6.
5. Scores are released privately to disclosers (targeted for September 2027), then published for eligible companies (targeted for November 2027) and shared with requesters.

CDP says the earlier timing responds to stakeholder requests to better align with internal deadlines, mandatory reporting and annual report publication. It’s also improving its copy-forward functionality and introducing an AI-enabled response suggestion feature to help teams respond faster.

Fees and Access

Disclosing companies and SMEs pay an administration fee before submitting. The fee structure is the same regardless of which themes you answer, with reduced tiers for organizations headquartered in certain economies. Cities, states and regions are exempt. Check CDP’s current fee schedule before budgeting, as tiers can change year to year.

Inside the CDP Questionnaire

The CDP questionnaire is the heart of the process. If you last looked at it before 2024, it has changed significantly.

One Integrated Questionnaire, 13 Modules

Since 2024, CDP has replaced its three separate questionnaires (climate change, water security and forests) with a single integrated corporate questionnaire built from 13 modules. Companies select the themes that apply to them during questionnaire setup, and questions are tailored by sector and company profile.

The modules cover topics such as:

• Introduction and organizational boundaries
• Identification, assessment and management of dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities
• Disclosure of risks and opportunities
• Governance, including board oversight and management responsibility
• Business strategy, including transition plans and scenario analysis
• Environmental performance by theme (climate, forests, water, plastics, biodiversity)
• Further information and sign-off

The Environmental Themes

• Climate change: Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, targets, transition plans, energy, climate-related risks and opportunities. Scored.
• Water security: withdrawals, discharges, water stress exposure, wastewater treatment and pollutants. Scored.
• Forests: exposure to high-impact commodities such as cattle, palm oil, soy and timber, with cocoa, coffee and rubber added to scoring in 2026. Scored.
• Plastics: production, use, targets and, from 2026, design-for-recycling questions. Unscored currently, likely to change in a few years.
• Biodiversity: impacts and dependencies on nature, aligned with TNFD. Unscored.
• Ocean: introduced for the first time in 2026 and integrated across existing modules. Unscored while companies build data.

What’s New in the 2026 CDP Questionnaire

CDP published its 2026 questionnaires and guidance in April 2026. Key changes include:

• Ocean-related disclosure integrated across modules, unscored for 2026
• Cocoa, coffee and rubber added as scored forest commodities
• Expanded plastics and water questions, including wastewater treatment levels and pollutant management
• Adaptation and resilience woven into climate governance and strategy questions
• Stronger TNFD alignment on nature-related risk, oversight and targets
• GHG verification under ESRS accepted for EU Member States
• A new aviation sector questionnaire

CDP does not expect major questionnaire changes for 2027, so the 2026 questionnaire is your best guide for preparing next year’s response.

The CDP SME Questionnaire

Small and medium-sized enterprises can respond to a shorter SME questionnaire. For 2026, SMEs can achieve an SME A score for climate change (previously capped lower), and optional, unscored forests and water modules have been added. RE100 members are no longer eligible for the SME questionnaire, regardless of size.

How the CDP Score Works

Your CDP score measures how comprehensively you disclose and how advanced your environmental management is. It is not a pure measure of emissions performance, but rather a measure of transparency, process maturity and action.

The Four Scoring Levels

CDP scores responses across four progressive levels:

A company that is requested to disclose but does not respond, or provides insufficient information to be evaluated, receives an F.

Essential Criteria

To reach certain score levels, you must meet essential criteria, baseline requirements that act as gates. For example, reaching Leadership on climate typically requires elements such as third-party verification of emissions, a credible transition plan and ambitious targets. Miss an essential criterion and your score is capped, no matter how strong the rest of your response.

The CDP A List

The A List recognizes the top performers each year. For the 2025 cycle, nearly 900 companies made the Corporate A List, fewer than one in twenty of the companies scored. A small group achieved a “Triple A” across climate, forests and water.

Who Sees Your Score

Scores are released privately to disclosers first. For the 2026 cycle, CDP plans to release scores to disclosers the week of November 30. In 2027, that moves earlier: CDP aims to deliver scores to disclosers in September and publish public scores in November. Public availability depends on the response type and your privacy settings. Scores are also shared with the investors and customers who requested your disclosure.

CDP Reporting Timeline: 2027 Key Dates

The 2026 response window is now closed, and the 2027 cycle looks very different. Every major milestone moves earlier, and the scoring deadline shifts from September to July.

Dates reflect CDP’s announced 2027 cycle. CDP considers these dates provisional and will confirm exact score release dates later. Always confirm on the CDP Portal, as timelines can shift.

What the Earlier Timeline Means for Your Team

The 2027 cycle pulls CDP into the same spring and early-summer period as annual reports, sustainability reports and, for many companies, CSRD and other mandatory disclosures. Teams that used to start CDP in June will now be halfway through the response window by then, with the scoring deadline landing in late July instead of mid-September.

Planning tip: High-performing teams won’t wait for the portal to open. For a 2027 response, plan to:

• Close prior-year data in Q1. Finalize Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, energy and water data by February or March.
• Book verification early. Third-party verification statements need to be in hand before the scoring deadline in the week of July 26, so engage your verifier in Q4 2026 or January 2027.
• Draft before the portal opens. Prepare governance, strategy, risk and target narratives in Q1, so the response window (opening the week of April 26) is spent on review and refinement, not first drafts.
• Align with your sustainability report. Build governance, emissions, targets and risk content once and reuse it in both, so the two disclosures tell the same story.
• Move to monthly or quarterly data collection. Validating data throughout the year means most annual figures are ready close to year-end, not months later.
• Secure approvals and the admin fee early. Sign-off from legal, finance and leadership now has to land by late July, not mid-September.

How CDP Aligns with Other Frameworks

One of the biggest shifts in CDP reporting is its interoperability with other standards. Mapping these overlaps is the single biggest efficiency gain available to multi-framework reporters.

The practical takeaway: if you’re preparing for CSRD, ISSB or SB 253, much of your CDP data already exists somewhere in your organization. The challenge is connecting it.

What CDP Data You Need to Prepare

A complete CDP response draws on data owned by many teams: sustainability, finance, operations, procurement, risk, legal and facilities. Here’s what to gather.

Governance and Strategy

• Board and management oversight of environmental issues
• Incentives linked to environmental targets
• Climate transition plan and scenario analysis
• Policies and public commitments

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

• Scope 1 direct emissions, by source and geography
• Scope 2 emissions, location-based and market-based
• Scope 3 emissions across all 15 GHG Protocol categories, with methodology and data quality notes
• Year-over-year changes and the reasons behind them
• Third-party verification statements

Targets and Performance

• Absolute and intensity emissions targets, with base years
• Science-based target status
• Renewable energy consumption and targets
• Progress against each target

Risks and Opportunities

• Identified climate, water and nature-related risks and opportunities
• Financial impact estimates
• Physical and transition risk assessments
• Your process for identifying and managing risks

Water and Forests (If Relevant)

• Water withdrawal, discharge and consumption by facility, especially in water-stressed areas
• Commodity sourcing volumes, traceability and deforestation-free commitments

Common CDP Reporting Challenges

Even experienced teams hit the same walls every cycle.

Survey Fatigue and Manual Data Chasing

Hundreds of questions, dozens of contributors, endless spreadsheets and email threads. Teams spend weeks collecting data instead of improving performance, and the same data points get requested again for CSRD, ISSB, EcoVadis and customer questionnaires.

Fragmented, Siloed Data

Emissions live in one tool, energy in another, water in facility spreadsheets and risk assessments in slide decks. Without a single source of truth, numbers don’t reconcile, and inconsistencies across disclosures become a credibility risk.

Scope 3 Complexity

Scope 3 is often the largest share of a company’s footprint and the hardest to measure. Supplier data is inconsistent, spend-based estimates are imprecise, and CDP expects clear explanations of methodology and coverage.

Verification and Audit Readiness

Essential criteria for higher scores often require third-party verification. If your numbers can’t be traced back to source data and calculations, verification becomes slow, expensive and risky, and greenwashing exposure rises.

Year-Over-Year Consistency

When team members change or methodologies shift, reproducing last year’s response becomes a forensic exercise. Scorers notice unexplained changes.

How to Improve Your CDP Score: 8 Best Practices

1. Read the scoring methodology first. CDP publishes its scoring methodology alongside the questionnaire. Use it as your blueprint for where points are earned and which essential criteria gate each level.
2. Close the essential criteria gaps. Identify which criteria are capping your score, such as missing verification or an incomplete transition plan, and prioritize them before anything else.
3. Get your emissions verified. Third-party verification of Scope 1, 2 and relevant Scope 3 emissions is one of the most reliable levers for moving into Management and Leadership bands.
4. Set science-based targets. Validated targets demonstrate ambition and credibility, and strengthen your response across the targets and strategy modules.
5. Publish a credible transition plan. Show how you’ll get from today to your targets, with milestones, capital allocation and governance.
6. Expand Scope 3 coverage. Move from spend-based estimates toward supplier-specific data for your most material categories, and explain your methodology clearly.
7. Answer every applicable question fully. Blank or vague answers cost points. Be specific, quantify wherever possible and reference supporting documents.
8. Review your scoring feedback. Treat last year’s score report as a gap analysis and build next year’s plan around it.

How Sustainability Software Streamlines CDP Reporting

The companies that consistently score well on CDP share one trait: they treat sustainability data like financial data. It’s centralized, controlled, traceable and ready for scrutiny at any time. That’s hard to achieve with spreadsheets and point tools.

An enterprise sustainability platform changes the equation.

Collect Once, Report to Many

Instead of rebuilding your answers for every framework, map your data once and reuse it across CDP, CSRD, ISSB, GRI, SB 253 and more. Novisto supports turnkey compliance with 34 global standards, regulations and frameworks, so the data you collect for CDP automatically works harder across your entire reporting calendar.

Audit-Grade Data Lineage

Every number, decision and calculation in Novisto is traceable and defensible. When your verifier or a CDP requester asks where a figure came from, you can show them the source, the calculation and the approval trail in seconds. That’s what makes verification faster and higher CDP scores achievable.

Automated Data Capture

Replace survey fatigue with automated data connectors, validation rules and structured workflows. Assign questions to contributors across the business, track progress in real time and eliminate the email chase.

Carbon Accounting Built In

Calculate Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions in the same system you report from, with emission factor libraries and consolidated data across entities, so your CDP climate response is built on numbers you can trust.

From Disclosure to Performance

CDP reporting shouldn’t end when you hit submit. Novisto connects reporting to what comes next: analyzing performance, spotting emissions hot spots, benchmarking against peers and driving decarbonization. This is the Novisto Virtuous Sustainability Cycle in action: Plan, Data Capture, Calculate, Report, Analyze and Act, with assurance at the center.

The result: less time chasing data, more time improving the performance your CDP score reflects.