Our Guide to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)

CDP, formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project, is the organization that runs the system companies, cities, states and regions use to report their climate, water and forest data. Investors, banks and corporate buyers then rely on CDP's scores to compare what they receive.

For US companies, CDP usually shows up as a request from a major investor, bank or corporate customer. About 75% of S&P 500 companies already respond, according to CDP, so the questionnaire has become a routine part of environmental reporting.

The 2027 cycle starts earlier than usual, with the response window opening the week of April 26, 2027, so companies that expect a request should check the new timeline early.

CDP's 2026 disclosure data shows how far the system reaches. The companies that disclose through it account for nearly two thirds of global market capitalization, including 75% of the S&P 500 and 78% of the STOXX Europe 600.

Companies and other entities take part by submitting self-reported data through the CDP Portal in response to annual questionnaires. The questions cover climate change risks and opportunities, greenhouse gas emissions, energy, water use and deforestation.

When Was CDP Founded, and How Is It Run?

CDP was founded in 2000. Since then it has grown into one of the largest sources of environmental performance data for investors and other stakeholders.

According to its About page, CDP has operated as an international non-profit made up of CDP Worldwide (UK), CDP North America, Inc. (US) and CDP Japan, directed by a board of trustees and a board of directors. In June 2026, CDP announced that it will become two separate organizations: CDP, a commercial entity backed by the investment firm Permira that keeps running the disclosure system, and CDP Foundation, a charity focused on science that stays on as a shareholder. CDP expects the change to complete within six months of the announcement, subject to regulatory approvals, and says its products, services and 2026 disclosure cycle continue as planned. The admin fees that disclosing companies pay, covered below, go toward CDP's tools and technology.

Beyond collecting data, CDP scores every response. According to CDP, its questionnaire and scoring methodology give organizations a reason to measure and manage their environmental impacts.

The cards below give a snapshot of CDP, with figures taken from CDP's About page and its January 2026 A List announcement as of November 2026.

CDP states its purpose as surfacing new information that supports Earth-positive decisions to protect future generations, and its vision as a world where people, planet and profit are in balance. To work toward it, CDP engages investors, companies, cities and governments so that each can measure its environmental impact, become more aware of it and treat preventing dangerous climate change as a normal part of business.

The data gathered through that measurement then guides these organizations as they work to reduce their environmental footprint.

What Are the Core Values of CDP?

CDP lists four values on its website: we move together, we find solutions, we champion transparency and we promote optimism.

According to CDP, disclosure helps organizations uncover data and insights that offer immediate value while building long-term resilience.

A company enters CDP's system in one of two ways. A requester asks it to disclose, or the company chooses to supply its information on its own behalf as a self-selected company. Either route runs through the CDP Portal.

Requesters can be Capital Markets Signatories (investors), Supply Chain members, Banks program members, Private Markets members and members of the RE100 initiative. The cards below explain what each of the main requesters wants the data for.

What Are the CDP Deadlines for 2027?

The 2026 cycle had its scoring deadline in the week of September 14 and closed on October 28, whereas CDP's 2027 timeline starts earlier, so that stakeholders can use data and scores to meet their own internal deadlines.

Because CDP publishes these dates by week and may adjust them, companies should confirm their planning dates on the CDP Disclosure 2027 hub. According to the hub, the 2027 response window is one month shorter than in previous cycles, and CDP expects to offer on-demand extensions for the scoring deadline, as it does in 2026.

What Is a CDP Score, and How Does the Scoring Scale Work?

CDP scores responses from D- to A across four levels: Disclosure, Awareness, Management and Leadership. Scoring is mainly automated, according to CDP's FAQ: CDP-trained accredited scoring partners assess open-text responses, and CDP's internal team collates the results and runs quality checks.

Moving up a level takes a minimum score and passing the essential criteria for that level. According to CDP, an organization that does not meet them is not eligible to be scored at that level, even when its points clear the threshold. At the Leadership level, CDP gives examples such as a publicly available 1.5°C-aligned transition plan that the company actively tracks, engagement with suppliers on environmental issues and, possibly, an organization-wide Scope 1 and 2 reduction target validated by the Science Based Targets initiative.

A company that Capital Markets Signatories asked to disclose and that does not respond is marked "Did not disclose". Some summaries call that an F, yet the label sits outside the D- to A scale and, according to CDP, reflects missing information to evaluate and carries no verdict on the company's environmental stewardship.

The top performers make the A List. CDP announced the 2025 list on January 8, 2026, with 877 companies, and as of November 2026 its Scores and A Lists page now shows 899 companies on it, about 5% of the nearly 20,000 companies scored. The scoring methodology changes each year, so scores from different years are not always directly comparable.

CDP asks for information on a wide range of business operations, and companies answer the questions that relate to issues material to their activities.

Since 2024, CDP has used one corporate questionnaire instead of three separate ones for climate change, forests and water security. Every company answers the climate questions, whereas forests and water questions appear only when a request, the company's sector or a self-assessment calls for them, or when the company opts in. Companies answering the full questionnaire also respond to supplementary plastics and biodiversity questions, which are not scored for Disclosure, and CDP added ocean-related questions in 2026.

What Does the Climate Change Module Cover?

The climate module asks for data on GHG emissions across Scopes 1, 2 and 3, along with energy use and internal carbon pricing, all of which relate to climate risk. It is aligned with the TCFD recommendations since 2018 and IFRS S2 since 2024, and its emissions requirements follow the GHG Protocol, so one set of answers can feed several reporting obligations.

Some modules are sector-specific, and CDP assigns sectors through its Activity Classification System, so companies also answer questions tied to their own activities.

What Are Scope 1, 2 and 3 Emissions in CDP Reporting?

CDP's climate requirements are aligned with the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, Scope 2 Guidance and Scope 3 Standard. Companies disclose emissions in three categories, and each covers a different part of the carbon footprint.

Scope 3 usually matters most. In 2023, corporates reported supply chain emissions that were on average 26 times greater than their direct operational emissions, according to a CDP and Boston Consulting Group report. The questionnaire asks for Scope 3 data, and CDP publishes a technical note on which Scope 3 categories matter most in each sector.

What Do the Water Security and Forests Modules Cover?

These two modules apply when a request, the company's sector, a self-assessment or the company's own choice triggers them. The cards below show what CDP says about each.

CDP charges companies an annual admin fee to disclose. Companies pay when a Capital Markets Signatory requests their disclosure or when they disclose voluntarily as a self-selected company, and the amount depends on region and fee tier.

What Are the CDP Fee Tiers?

CDP offers three tiers: Enhanced, Foundation and Essential, although Essential is not available in North America. The Enhanced tier adds benefits such as a comparative analysis report that benchmarks a company's disclosure against 10 peers of its choice. CDP raised admin fees by about 5% globally in 2026.

Who Is Exempt From the CDP Fee?

Companies pay no admin fee when their only requests come from Supply Chain members, Banks Program members, Private Markets members or the RE100 initiative. A request from a Capital Markets Signatory changes that, since the company then pays, while cities, states and regions disclose without an admin fee.

The fees due appear in the CDP Portal before disclosure, and CDP's FAQ page lists the exact amounts for every region.

These are CDP's 2026 rates. They exclude local taxes and apply equally to the SME and full questionnaires. CDP had not published 2027 fees at the time of writing (November 2026), so CDP's FAQ page remains the reference for current amounts.

CDP encourages companies to report their environmental data on their own initiative, and it calls this type of disclosure a self-selected company (SSC) response.

An SSC pays the administrative fee, which varies by tier and region. Its responses are made available to the investors who participate in CDP, and it receives a score under the same methodology as other companies if it answers the full corporate questionnaire by the scoring deadline. Smaller companies that meet CDP's eligibility rules, based on the revenue and headcount entered in the questionnaire setup, can choose the simplified SME questionnaire instead of the full one. Supply chain members and other stakeholders, such as initiatives like RE100, see an SSC's response only if the company makes it public. SSCs register to disclose through CDP's Help Center.

No law requires a company to respond to CDP. In practice, though, a request from a major investor is hard to turn down, since a company that Capital Markets Signatories asked to disclose and that stays silent is marked "Did not disclose" in the data those investors see.

CDP gives companies a structured way to address climate change, deforestation and water security risks and to show investors and customers how they manage them. In 2026, Capital Markets Signatories asked more than 43,000 organizations to disclose, and investors, banks, corporate buyers and policymakers all use the resulting data.

Reporting also builds the data foundation for later steps such as setting targets, tracking progress and answering other climate disclosure requests. Companies that have already measured their Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions with the GHG Protocol will find the questionnaire's emissions sections familiar.

Scores give requesters a common benchmark across companies, and the A List adds public recognition for the leaders.

A single response to the CDP reporting framework can feed several reporting obligations, which is a practical strength for companies that report under more than one framework. CDP publishes mapping documents on its framework alignment page that show how the questionnaire corresponds to each standard.

How Does CDP Relate to ISSB and IFRS S2?

Since 2024, CDP's climate questionnaire has been aligned with IFRS S2, the climate standard of the International Sustainability Standards Board, which CDP treats as the baseline for its climate disclosure. CDP's climate datapoints have also followed the TCFD recommendations since 2018, covering governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics and targets, and the Task Force itself was disbanded in 2024, with its responsibilities folded into the IFRS Foundation. Companies already disclosing through CDP are therefore well placed as jurisdictions adopt ISSB standards, and CDP notes that jurisdictions accounting for nearly 60% of global GDP are taking steps to do so.

How Does CDP Relate to the CSRD and ESRS?

CDP states that its questionnaire is substantially aligned with the pre-Omnibus ESRS climate standard, ESRS E1, and that it will publish mappings for the revised ESRS once they are formally adopted. The EU's Omnibus I Directive, which took effect in March 2026, narrowed the scope of the CSRD. A US group is covered only if it generates more than €450 million in EU turnover and has an EU subsidiary or branch with more than €200 million. Companies that are in scope can reuse much of their CDP data, although a CDP response alone does not make a company compliant.

How Does CDP Relate to Nature-Related Reporting?

CDP is partially aligned with the recommendations of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), which helps companies that need to report nature-related dependencies and risks alongside their climate data.

Companies disclose through the CDP Portal. Once a company has been requested or has registered, its dashboard shows which requesters asked for its data and which questionnaires it needs to answer, and the steps below show how the process runs.

CDP supports companies at every stage of disclosure. In the CDP Portal, companies can preview the questionnaire, the guidance and the scoring methodologies and export them as PDFs, and CDP's question bank and glossaries explain what it asks and why.

Smaller companies can respond through CDP's SME questionnaire, which nearly 11,000 companies used in 2025, according to CDP. Since 2026, it can award an A score for climate change, although CDP notes that the SME A is not equivalent to the full corporate A. CDP is also phasing in an optional AI feature that pulls relevant data from unstructured documents into a response.

What One-on-One CDP Reporting Support Is Available?

CDP's Reporter Services program offers companies structured guidance, including Score Feedback Calls, Gap Analysis Calls and a Final Review of the draft response before the deadline. In 2026, the Score Feedback and Gap Analysis Calls are open to all companies, not only members, although availability for non-members may be limited. CDP's global network of Accredited Solutions Providers (ASPs) adds hands-on support with emissions measurement, questionnaire preparation and score improvement.

Greenly is a CDP Accredited Solutions Provider. Its platform works as CDP reporting software: it lets companies measure Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, answer once and reuse those answers across frameworks such as the CSRD, the SBTi and the TCFD, and export the data for CDP. Greenly's sustainability experts also guide companies through the requirements of each cycle, from questionnaire setup to improving the score year after year.

Book a free demo to see how Greenly can support your next disclosure.