CDP · Environmental disclosure on climate change, forests and water security

CDP disclosure consulting for a complete, evidenced response and a clear route up the scoring levels.

Answer your investors' and customers' CDP requests with a response that is complete, consistent and built on data you can defend. Sterling's expert and experienced consultants review the questionnaire against your governance, risks, emissions, targets and water and forest data, build the greenhouse gas inventory where it is missing, support the submission before the scoring deadline and turn your score into next year's plan, in 60+ countries. CDP is a disclosure and scoring system, not a certification: CDP alone scores climate change, forests and water security, from D- to A. We ensure a successful CDP disclosure for our clients.

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Fixed scope, one proposal: consulting, Effivity software, Sterling Academy access and internal auditor training, as applicable to your standard, in one proposal
A team of expert and experienced climate disclosure consultants, advising on management systems across sectors and countries since 2003
The Sterling Promise: 100% on-time completion, 100% success, 8,100+ client engagements. Sterling prepares the response and the evidence; CDP scores

CDP at a glance

Purpose: An annual environmental disclosure that investors and customers request through CDP, scored from D- to A for climate change, forests and water security, so they can compare how companies manage environmental issues
Relevant to: Companies requested by CDP's capital markets signatories or by customers through CDP Supply Chain, companies that choose to disclose, and eligible smaller companies through the SME questionnaire
Edition: The 2026 disclosure cycle on the full corporate questionnaire, one multi-issue questionnaire since 2024; scoring deadline 16 September 2026, final response deadline the week commencing 26 October 2026
Certification: None. CDP scores the response against its published methodology and names the best performers on its annual A List; a score is a snapshot of one reporting year, not a certificate
Sterling's role: Gap analysis against the questionnaire and scoring methodology, the GHG inventory and evidence, governance, risk and target work, submission support and the next-cycle plan, then Sustain™
Cost and timing: Total investment for a CDP disclosure programme depends on the current maturity of your processes, the scope, locations and number of employees. The process typically takes 3 to 6 months

8,100+ client engagements in 60+ countries.

CDP client experience

What it is

What is CDP and what is it used for?

CDP is a global non-profit that runs an independent environmental disclosure system used by companies, cities, states and regions. Each year a company answers CDP's questionnaire on how it identifies, governs and manages climate change, forests and water security, with further questions on plastics, biodiversity and, new in 2026, the ocean. CDP scores the response and shares it with the investors, customers and initiatives that requested it, publicly or non-publicly as the company chooses at submission. The full corporate questionnaire, CDP's multi-issue questionnaire for large companies, replaced the three separate climate change, forests and water security questionnaires in 2024; companies that meet CDP's SME eligibility can choose a shorter SME questionnaire instead.

The demand comes from capital markets and procurement. In 2026 more than 540 capital markets signatories, holding over US$110 trillion in assets, asked more than 43,000 companies to disclose, and large purchasing organisations use CDP Supply Chain to request data from their suppliers. For them a CDP response is a comparable account of your environmental governance, risks, emissions and targets; for your management it is an annual test of whether those are improving. A company requested by capital markets signatories that does not respond is given a "Did not disclose" status.

Current cycle. CDP published the 2026 questionnaire and guidance in the week of 20 April 2026, and the cycle opened in June for four months: responses had to be submitted by 16 September 2026 to be scored, and the final response deadline, when the questionnaire closes, is the week commencing 26 October 2026; a response submitted after 16 September is received but not scored. New in 2026 are ocean questions, optional forest and water questions and a climate change score in the SME questionnaire, and updates that strengthen alignment with TNFD, GRI, SBTN, the GHG Protocol and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's plastics commitment. CDP explained: the questionnaire, the cycle and the scoring

Who it is for

Who needs CDP disclosure?

Any company can disclose through CDP, whether or not it has been asked, and the questionnaire setup adapts the questions to its sector and activities. Organisations come to Sterling for CDP support from four starting points:

Your investors have asked. Capital markets signatories send their request through CDP, and a company that does not respond is recorded as "Did not disclose". The board wants the first response to be credible, not merely on time.
A customer has asked through CDP Supply Chain. Large purchasing organisations request their suppliers' climate, forest or water data through CDP. A supplier requested only by supply chain members pays no CDP admin fee, but it still has to produce figures it can stand behind.
The last score disappointed. A theme stalled at Disclosure or Awareness, a competitor moved up while you stood still, or the result fell after CDP revised the questionnaire. The next cycle needs a plan aimed at the evidence behind the next level, not longer answers.
You are preparing for mandatory climate reporting. CDP's questionnaire has been aligned with IFRS S2 since 2024 and is substantially aligned with the pre-Omnibus ESRS climate standard, so a disciplined CDP response builds the governance, risk, emissions and target data that climate reporting rules ask for.

The intended benefit is requests answered on time, a score you can explain and one dataset that serves several disclosures. Since CDP scores what was submitted, the effort belongs in the data, not the prose.

Business benefits

How CDP disclosure serves investors, customers and management

A CDP response pays for itself when it keeps an investor's confidence, satisfies a key customer and replaces the separate climate surveys that otherwise arrive one at a time. We begin with who is asking and what they will do with the answers, then build the data so the response describes what the company actually does.

Investor requests answered on the recordA complete response to the capital markets signatories who asked for it, instead of a "Did not disclose" status against your company.
Customer requests answered onceOne annual response for the customers who requested it through CDP Supply Chain, in place of a different climate questionnaire from each of them.
A head start on climate reporting rulesGovernance, risk, strategy, emissions and target data organised to serve IFRS S2 and ESRS E1 reporting as well as CDP.
An emissions inventory you can defendScope 1, 2 and 3 emissions compiled to the GHG Protocol standards CDP aligns with, and ready for independent verification when stakeholders ask for it.
Environmental risk on the board's agendaClimate, water and forest risks and opportunities assessed with owners and an estimate of financial effect, so the governance answers describe decisions that were really taken.
Recognition when performance earns itA score that shows progress through Awareness and Management towards Leadership, and for the best performers a place on CDP's annual A List.

Judge the programme by business results: requests answered by the deadline, the level reached in each scored theme and the actions that moved it. An A is welcome; a missed request from a major investor or customer is the outcome to prevent.

Questionnaire, modules and scoring

What does the CDP questionnaire cover, and how is it scored?

CDP has no clauses to conform to. The full corporate questionnaire is built from modules such as Governance, Business Strategy and Environmental Performance; some modules are sector-specific, some issue-specific and some multi-issue, and the questionnaire setup during onboarding selects the questions that apply to you. CDP then scores each scored theme on four consecutive levels, from Disclosure to Leadership. The table is a plain-language map; CDP's questionnaire, guidance and scoring methodology for the cycle are the reference we work to.

Element	What CDP asks of you	What the evidence looks like in practice
Setup Onboarding and questionnaire setup	Register on the CDP Portal, confirm the Submission Lead, pay the admin fee where it applies and answer the setup questions that tailor the questionnaire	An agreed reporting entity and period, an accurate sector description and a deliberate choice of themes and topics
Module Governance	How the board oversees environmental issues, how executives manage them and how responsibility is assigned	Board or committee minutes showing environmental items discussed and decided, defined management roles, and any incentives linked to environmental goals
Topic Risks and opportunities	How environmental risks and opportunities are identified, assessed and managed, and which of them could affect the business financially or strategically	A documented assessment process, a register with likelihood, magnitude and estimated financial effect, and the response planned for each significant item
Module Business Strategy	How environmental issues shape strategy and financial planning, including any transition plan and scenario analysis	A board-approved strategy or decision paper, scenario analysis where performed, and plans the finance function recognises as its own
Module Environmental Performance · Climate Change	Emissions, energy use, targets and progress, reported in line with the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, Scope 2 Guidance and Scope 3 Standard	A GHG inventory with boundary, methods and emission factors, Scope 1, 2 and relevant Scope 3 figures, targets with a base year, and any verification statement you hold
Module Environmental Performance · Forests	How commodities linked to deforestation are produced, sourced or used, and the commitments that address that risk	Commodity volumes and origins, supplier declarations and traceability data, and a sourcing commitment with progress figures
Module Environmental Performance · Water Security	How water is withdrawn, used and discharged, where water-related risks sit and which targets apply	Water accounts by facility, discharge quality results, a facility-level risk assessment and targets with owners
Module Environmental Performance · Plastics, Biodiversity, Ocean	Questions on plastics and biodiversity and, new in 2026, on the ocean; the biodiversity and plastics questions are not scored	Plastic volumes by type and use, operations close to areas important for biodiversity, and the commitments you already hold
Level Disclosure · D- or D	The completeness of your reporting; nearly every question is scored at this level	Every applicable question answered, with figures
Level Awareness · C- or C	How comprehensively you have evaluated the ways environmental issues intersect with your business	Risk and impact assessments covering operations and the value chain, with results rather than intentions
Level Management · B- or B	Evidence of actions associated with good environmental management	Policies in force, targets set, reduction projects under way and suppliers engaged, each with dates and figures
Level Leadership · A- or A	Best practice in the strategies used and the actions taken	Targets and a transition plan backed by measured performance that stands comparison with your sector's leaders

What does useful CDP evidence look like?

Figures that reconcile from one answer to the next and with your annual report; a GHG inventory whose boundary, methods and emission factors are written down; board and committee records that show environmental issues decided, not merely noted; a risk register with financial effect; targets with a base year and progress; water and commodity data by site; and, where you have one, an independent verification statement. We map existing records to each question, fill the gaps with records your managers will keep using, and hold them in Effivity so the next cycle starts from a live dataset.

CDP scoring levels: what moves a response up

The disclosure route

How do you disclose through CDP?

There is no certification body and no audit visit: you complete onboarding on the CDP Portal, answer the questionnaire and submit it. CDP scores the responses submitted by the scoring deadline, supplemented by CDP-trained accredited scoring partners, and its internal team collates the scores and checks them for consistency. Sterling prepares the data, the evidence and your people with you; the answers are yours and the score is CDP's.

01
Confirm who is asking, for what and by when.The requesting investors or customers, the themes they asked for, the full or SME questionnaire, public or non-public disclosure, and the scoring deadline for the cycle.
02
Gap analysis: review your data and last response against the questionnaire and scoring methodology.The gap analysis walks each module you will answer, estimates the level each scored theme could reach on the evidence available, and agrees actions, owners and dates.
03
Build the data and close the gaps that move a level.The GHG inventory compiled to the GHG Protocol, the risk and opportunity assessment run, board oversight and targets formalised, and water and commodity data collected by site.
04
Complete onboarding on the CDP Portal.Register or sign in, confirm the Submission Lead, settle the admin fee where it applies and answer the setup questions, so the questionnaire you draft is the one CDP will score.
05
Draft, review and submit before the scoring deadline.Each answer checked against its source and against the other answers, signed off internally and submitted in time to be scored: in 2026, by 16 September.
06
Read the score and plan the next cycle.The level reached in each scored theme compared with the level targeted, the missing evidence turned into actions with owners, and the next response planned before the window opens.

Check what is being sold, not only the price. No consultant decides a CDP score: CDP and its accredited scoring partners score the response against the published methodology, and CDP states there is no guarantee that a company stays on the A List from one year to the next. A provider promising an A, or offering to submit claims your records cannot support, is putting your credibility with investors and customers at risk. How to choose a credible CDP consultant · The certification buyer's checklist

Cost

How much does CDP disclosure cost?

Two separate charges are involved and they should stay separate: CDP's admin fee, paid to CDP unless an exemption applies, and Sterling's fixed consulting fee for the preparation. The consulting scope depends far more on the state of your data than on the questionnaire: a company with a verified inventory and a board that already reviews climate risk needs a different scope from one compiling its first Scope 1 and 2 figures. What we promise is a proposal in which every component is visible and nothing is added later.

Cost component	What affects it
Consulting and implementation	Current maturity, the themes requested, whether a GHG inventory and a Scope 3 screening exist, the number of sites and countries, and how much of the work your team takes on (Design™ or Drive™)
CDP admin fee	Paid to CDP, set by headquarters region and tier (Enhanced, Foundation and, in some regions, Essential), exclusive of local taxes and not refundable; in 2026, for example, US$7,650 or US$3,250 for a company headquartered in North America. The fee is the same for the SME and full corporate questionnaires, and a company requested only through CDP's supply chain, banks or private markets programmes, or by RE100, is exempt
Independent verification, where chosen	A verification body's fee for your emissions data, set by the scopes, sites and level of assurance, when investors, customers or your own targets call for verified figures
Internal resources	Time from the sustainability, finance, facilities, procurement and risk owners who supply data and approve answers, and board time for oversight, strategy and targets
Software and learning	Included in a Sterling engagement: Effivity for the inventory, risks, targets, evidence and actions, and Sterling Academy access for your people, with users, courses and access period confirmed in the proposal
Continued support	The annual cycle under Sustain™: data collected through the year, actions tracked, and the next response prepared against the questionnaire and methodology CDP publishes for that cycle

What moves the price

The themes requested: climate change alone, or forests and water security as well
Whether Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions are already measured, and how reliably
The number of sites, entities and countries inside the reporting boundary
The level you are aiming for and the deadline you are working to
How much governance, risk assessment and target setting must be created rather than written up

What a Sterling proposal always shows

Deliverables, responsibilities, assumptions and exclusions, in writing
The CDP admin fee identified separately, paid to CDP, never marked up
Effivity, training and Academy access itemised at no additional cost
Payment milestones tied to deliverables, not to the calendar
One all-inclusive proposal. No surprises, ever

Timeline

How long does CDP disclosure take?

A first well-evidenced response usually takes three to six months from gap analysis to submission: a company with a verified inventory and an established risk process sits at the short end, one building its first inventory at the long end. CDP's calendar sets the frame: in 2026 the window opened in June and the scoring deadline was 16 September, so work that begins once the window is open is racing that deadline.

Phase	What determines the pace
Scope and gap analysis	Access to last year's response and score, the request letters and the people who own the data
Data and inventory	Whether a full year of energy, fuel, water and purchasing data can be retrieved, and how many sites and suppliers must supply it
Governance, risks and targets	Board and committee calendars, the time needed to run a risk assessment, and approval of targets and any transition plan
Drafting, review and submission	The modules to be answered, internal sign-off routes, translations and the scoring deadline for the cycle

If a request letter has already arrived, share it at the start and we will tell you what can be evidenced by the scoring deadline and what belongs in next year's plan. A response submitted after the scoring deadline is still received but not scored: better than silence, and worse than planning.

Challenges

Common CDP disclosure challenges

Most disappointing CDP results trace back to the same five problems. Each has a practical answer.

The emissions figures exist, but not as an inventory.

Utility bills and fuel logs are not yet a GHG inventory. We set the organisational boundary and consolidation approach, document the methods and emission factors under the GHG Protocol and reconcile the totals, so every figure in the response can be traced to its source.

Scope 3 looks impossible to measure.

Screen the Scope 3 categories to find the ones that matter for your business, estimate them with a documented method, then improve the data for the largest categories through supplier engagement. A transparent estimate answers the question; a blank does not.

The board has never formally discussed climate or water.

Governance answers describe what happens, and CDP scores what the response reports. We help put oversight into the board or committee calendar, define management responsibilities and minute the decisions, so the next response reports governance that exists.

One person writes the whole response in September.

The answers depend on finance, operations, procurement and risk. We give each module an owner, collect the data through the year in Effivity and review the draft well before the deadline, so the response is consistent and nobody writes from memory.

The score fell although nothing got worse.

CDP publishes a questionnaire and scoring methodology for each cycle, and in 2026 it added ocean questions and changed the SME questionnaire. We read the new methodology against last year's answers before drafting, so the response meets this cycle's criteria rather than last year's.

Your engagement

What your CDP engagement includes

Your agreed scope covers everything a well-founded response and a prepared management team need. Many providers draft the answers and step away at submission; a Sterling engagement runs the whole cycle, from request letter to next plan, under one all-inclusive proposal.

Scope, gap analysis and implementation plan
Every module you will answer reviewed against your data and last response, with the likely level per theme and a plan with owners and dates.
GHG inventory, risks and targets
The emissions inventory, risk and opportunity assessment, governance records and targets your response depends on, built with your people on Sterling's own templates.
Effivity ISO & GRC software
Emissions data, risks, targets, evidence and actions held in Effivity from day one, included with the engagement at no additional cost.
Training for everyone
Internal auditor training for the people who will check your environmental data and management system, as applicable to your standard, and preferential Sterling Academy access, including complimentary awareness training for your people as part of the engagement.
Response drafting and submission support
Answers drafted with the data owners, cross-checked for consistency, reviewed against the scoring methodology and submitted before the scoring deadline.
Score reading and next-cycle plan
Your scores read with management theme by theme, the evidence gaps turned into actions, and the next response planned well before the window opens.

Scores and A List places are decided by CDP on the response submitted; none is promised.

How we deliver

How Sterling supports your CDP disclosure

Every CDP engagement runs on Sterling OS™, our delivery operating system: five phases, each with defined deliverables, decision owners and evidence. You choose how much of the work Sterling carries; the method, the software and the accountability stay the same.

01
Design™Guided preparation: your team builds the data and drafts the response with Sterling's structure, templates, workshops and coaching.
02
Drive™Fully managed preparation: Sterling consultants carry the agreed inventory, documentation and drafting work alongside your data owners.
03
Sustain™Between cycles: data collected monthly or quarterly, actions tracked, the next response prepared against the new methodology, refreshers and new-hire training.
04
Automate™The dataset running in Effivity: emissions, water, risks, targets, supplier engagement, evidence and actions in one workspace.
05
Revise™Each CDP questionnaire and methodology update adopted, and each change in requesters, reporting rules, boundary or ownership reflected.

At the outset we agree the engagement team, the weekly working session, the deliverables and who decides what. Progress is reviewed against those commitments so that gaps surface in spring, not in the week of the scoring deadline.

How Sterling OS™ works

Often combined with

Standards organisations pair with CDP

Effivity · CDP data and evidence software, included in every engagement

How Effivity helps you fulfil, automate and simplify the requirements of the CDP 2026 corporate questionnaire.

Each Sterling CDP engagement includes Effivity, the ISO and GRC automation platform built by the Sterling group and used in 50+ countries. Your consultant sets up the workspace around the modules you answer, so emissions, energy, water, commodity sourcing, risks, targets, board decisions and supplier engagement sit in one place with owners, dates and sources, and the answers draw on a dataset maintained all year rather than spreadsheets assembled in August. Sterling consulting clients receive the Effivity subscription included with the engagement, at no additional cost.

Included in every engagement See Effivity

Effivity: Context of the Organisation dashboard with issues, interested parties and scope — Effivity · Context of the Organisation dashboard

Governance

Board oversight and management roles on record

Committee agendas, minutes, decisions and executive responsibilities, linked to the environmental topics they cover, so governance answers cite dated records.

Business Strategy

Strategy, transition planning and targets

Targets with base years, the transition plan and the decisions that fund it, tracked so the strategy answers match what the business is doing.

Risks & opportunities

A register with financial effect

Climate, water and forest risks and opportunities with likelihood, magnitude, estimated financial effect, owners and responses, reviewed on a schedule and reported to the board.

Climate Change

Scope 1, 2 and 3 by site and period

Fuel, electricity, refrigerant and purchasing data collected by site and month, with emission factors, methods and the boundary recorded, so the inventory can be recalculated and verified.

Water Security

Withdrawals, discharges and consumption

Water accounts by facility and source, discharge quality results and facility risk ratings, held with the units and periods the response asks for.

Forests

Commodity sourcing and supplier declarations

Volumes and origins of commodities linked to deforestation, supplier declarations and certificates, and progress against the sourcing commitments you have made.

Plastics & Biodiversity

Plastics use and sensitive locations

Plastic packaging and product volumes by type, and operations near areas important for biodiversity, kept current although these questions are not scored.

Across the response

Owners, sign-offs and actions

Each answer linked to its data owner and supporting record, internal sign-offs captured, and the actions that follow your score tracked to closure before the next cycle.

What this means when you submit

CDP scores what the response says, and its requesters analyse the same figures. In Effivity every figure in the response has a source record, an owner and a date, so answers reconcile across modules, a verifier's or requester's query is answered from the system, and the plan that follows your score runs in the same workspace from the day scores are released.

Effivity for CDP: the guide Effivity environmental management module on effivity.com

In your engagement

Subscription included with the engagement, at no additional cost
Configured by your Sterling consultant around the modules you answer
Your spreadsheets, meter data and supplier records migrated, not retyped
Admin and user training for your team
Modules for EMS, OHSMS and QMS where your certified systems supply the data

CDP client experience

Client letters on file, available on request.

Client feedback wall: letters on file

Signed client letters for CDP are available on request. The client feedback wall lists every letter by standard.

Programmes with CDP in scope

How a climate disclosure programme runs.

All case studies

01
Manufacturer and supplier: ISO 14001, ISO 50001 and an ISO 14064-1 inventory as the evidence base for a CDP response
A CDP response is often the outward face of an integrated environmental programme. In such a programme the ISO 14001 system supplies the environmental policy, aspects, compliance obligations, objectives and management review behind the governance and risk answers; ISO 50001 supplies the energy baseline, performance indicators and improvement projects; an ISO 14064-1 inventory, verified where investors or customers expect it, supplies the Scope 1, 2 and 3 figures; and the actions that follow each score run through the existing corrective action process, so the response and the surveillance audits draw on one set of data.
How integrated programmes run

Sterling Academy · CDP e-learning

Train every employee for CDP disclosure, not just the sustainability team.

Sterling Academy delivers e-learning for the whole workforce and for the people who own the data: video lessons with practice checkpoints, a final exam and a numbered Certificate of Completion for each learner, verifiable online. Sterling consulting clients benefit from preferential course access and special pricing through their Sterling consultant, including complimentary awareness training for their people as part of the engagement.

CDP awareness for every employee, so practices on site match what the response reports
Practitioner courses for the finance, facilities, procurement and risk owners who supply the figures
Internal auditor training for the people who will check the environmental data and management system, as applicable to your standard, as part of the engagement
Learner progress by department and a training status report to support your governance and engagement answers
New data owners trained as they join, so the next cycle never depends on one person
A Sterling consultant reachable when a learner needs one

Keep exploring

Explore more about CDP

Watch a video on how to disclose through CDP here.
Watch a video on the CDP questionnaire and scoring here.

CDP resources

Services for CDP

Why Sterling

Want a successful CDP disclosure? Come to Sterling.

Whether a single company is answering its first investor request or a group is aligning responses across subsidiaries and countries, Sterling helps you build one dataset with clear local ownership. We work through differences in energy, water, sourcing and reporting rules between sites, so group figures add up and each site's data can be traced.

Environmental management in 60+ countries since 2003

Environmental and integrated management systems implemented for manufacturers, logistics companies, BPOs and service businesses, with one engagement team accountable in every country you operate in.

All-inclusive proposal

Consulting, Effivity, training and Academy access in one proposal, with the CDP admin fee identified separately and paid to CDP. No surprises, ever.

Data your people can maintain

Less documentation and maximum effect: records collected where the data already lives, owners who understand what they report, and a response the next team can repeat.

Expert and experienced consultants

Consultants who have advised on management systems across sectors and countries since 2003 and know which record answers which question, so your first response is scored on what the company really does.

Sterling vs the rest: the full comparison Explore CDP client experience

The Sterling Promise

What our CDP success guarantee means

100%on-time completion · success · 8,100+ client engagements

We stay with you until your agreed CDP outcome is achieved: the data built, the gaps closed, the response submitted before the scoring deadline and your score read into a plan for the next cycle. Clear explanations, practical delivery, included software and employee learning turn the investment into a capability the company keeps, rather than a response rebuilt from scratch every year.

The engagement identifies the themes, scope, outcome and responsibilities. Your organisation supplies accurate data, takes the governance and target decisions and approves the response. Scores and places on the A List are decided by CDP against its methodology and are not promised; our commitment concerns the agreed preparation and submission support, not a particular score.

After the disclosure

What happens after your CDP disclosure?

CDP scores the responses received by the scoring deadline and names its best performers on the annual A List. Your response reaches the requesters on the public or non-public basis you chose at submission. A score is a snapshot of one reporting year, and CDP states that a place on the A List is not guaranteed for a company that stops improving.

Under Sterling OS™ Sustain™ we turn the score into actions for each theme, keep data flowing into Effivity through the year and read each new questionnaire and methodology as soon as CDP publishes it, so the next response starts in spring with most of its evidence in place.

FAQs

Frequently asked questions about CDP

Is a CDP score a certification?

No. CDP runs a disclosure system: it scores the response a company submits against its published methodology and shares the response with the requesters. CDP describes a score as a snapshot of a company's environmental disclosure and performance, and states that scores alone do not measure how sustainable a company is; they indicate the level of action reported for the year. A certificate from an accredited body and independent verification of emissions are different instruments; each can support a CDP response, and neither replaces it.

Who can ask us to disclose through CDP?

Investors that are CDP capital markets signatories, large purchasing organisations that are CDP Supply Chain members, members of CDP's banks programme and initiatives such as RE100. A company can also disclose without being asked, as what CDP calls a self-selected company.

What happens if we ignore a CDP request?

A company requested by capital markets signatories that does not respond receives a "Did not disclose" status, which CDP describes as a failure to provide sufficient information to be evaluated. A response submitted after the scoring deadline but before the final deadline is received, but not scored.

How is a CDP score calculated?

CDP scores climate change, forests and water security on four consecutive levels: Disclosure (D- or D) for the completeness of reporting, Awareness (C- or C) for how comprehensively the company has evaluated the ways environmental issues intersect with its business, Management (B- or B) for evidence of actions associated with good environmental management, and Leadership (A- or A) for best practice in strategy and action. Nearly every question is scored for Disclosure, except the biodiversity and plastics questions.

What is the CDP A List?

CDP's annual list of the best-performing companies on climate change, deforestation and water security. The 2025 Corporate A List named 899 companies, about 5 per cent of the nearly 20,000 companies scored, and 27 companies achieved a Triple A, an A for climate change, forests and water security together. CDP states that a place is not guaranteed from year to year for a company that does not keep improving.

How much does CDP charge?

Disclosing companies, SMEs included, pay CDP an admin fee unless an exemption applies. For 2026 CDP publishes fees by headquarters region and tier, for example US$7,650 (Enhanced) or US$3,250 (Foundation) in North America, £5,985 or £2,450 in the UK and €7,200 or €2,975 in Europe, exclusive of local taxes, with a lower Essential tier in some regions such as India and China. The fee is not refundable and is the same whichever questionnaire you submit. Companies requested only by members of CDP's supply chain, banks or private markets programmes, or by RE100, are exempt.

Should we use the SME questionnaire or the full corporate questionnaire?

A company that meets CDP's SME eligibility, based on the revenue and headcount entered at questionnaire setup, can choose either. From 2026 an SME that shows leading actions can earn an SME A score for climate change, but CDP states that it is not equivalent to an A on the full corporate questionnaire and recommends the full questionnaire for companies engaging with capital markets, responding to customers or working towards leadership recognition. The admin fee is the same for both, so the choice rests on who will read your response.

Does CDP align with IFRS S2, TCFD and ESRS?

CDP states that its questionnaire has been aligned with IFRS S2 since 2024, that its climate change data points have been aligned with the TCFD recommendations since 2018, and that it is substantially aligned with the pre-Omnibus ESRS climate standard, ESRS E1. Its climate reporting requirements align with the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, Scope 2 Guidance and Scope 3 Standard, and it describes partial alignment with TNFD and several GRI Standards. Alignment means much of the same data serves several disclosures; each framework's own requirements still apply.

When are the CDP deadlines?

For 2026, CDP published the questionnaire and guidance in the week of 20 April and the scoring methodology in the week of 27 April, and the response window opened in June for four months. Responses had to be submitted by 16 September 2026 to be scored, and the final response deadline is the week commencing 26 October 2026. Confirm each year's dates on CDP's disclosure pages, and plan backwards from the scoring deadline, not the final one.

Before the first call

Prepare a useful CDP readiness brief

You do not need to open the CDP Portal before the first discussion. A short account of who is asking and what data exists is enough to start. Seven questions cover it:

Who has asked you to disclose: investors, customers, a bank, an initiative, or nobody yet? Which themes, and by which deadline?
Have you disclosed before? If so, which questionnaire did you use, and what score did each theme receive?
Which entities, sites and countries sit inside your reporting boundary, and what are the headcount and revenue?
Which Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions do you measure today, for which year, and has any figure been verified?
How are climate, water and forest risks identified and reported to the board, and are there approved targets?
What water and commodity data do you hold by site, and which suppliers could provide more?
Who will own each part of the response, and who signs it off?

These answers let us scope the work and price it fairly. They prepare a conversation; they are not a scored assessment or a prediction of your CDP score.

Don’t be fooled by certification scams

If it comes with a guaranteed A, it is not CDP disclosure.

CDP scores the response against the methodology it publishes for the cycle, and it does not certify anyone. That has not stopped offers of "A List guaranteed" packages, responses filled with figures nobody can trace, and websites describing a CDP score as a certificate. They look cheaper, until an investor, a customer or a verifier asks where a number came from.

How to choose a credible CDP consultant

Walk away from any guarantee of a score or an A List place. Only CDP scores responses, with its accredited scoring partners, and CDP states that even an A List place is not guaranteed from one year to the next.
Ask where every figure will come from. Emissions, water and commodity numbers need a documented source, method and boundary; estimates are acceptable when they are labelled and explained, invented precision is not.
Ask who takes the decisions the response reports. Board oversight, risk assessment and targets must exist in your organisation; a consultant can structure them, never stand in for them.
Identify who carries each task, who signs off the response, who pays the CDP admin fee and what support exists after the scores are released.
Ask what your people will learn and where the data will live. No training and no system means next year's response starts from zero again.
Be wary of "CDP certified" wording and one invoice for the admin fee and the consulting. The admin fee is paid to CDP, and a score is a disclosure result, not a certificate; describing it as one misleads the investors and customers who asked for it.

All ten warning signs of shortcut certification

What a credible CDP preparation always involves

A gap analysis of your data and last response against the current questionnaire and scoring methodology
A GHG inventory with a stated boundary, methods and emission factors
Governance, risk and target decisions taken by your management, not written for them
Answers cross-checked for consistency and signed off before the scoring deadline
The public or non-public choice made deliberately, with the requesters in mind
A next-cycle plan agreed when your scores are released
No promise of a score, because CDP decides

Sterling's position. Sterling does not score, rate or certify, and cannot influence a CDP score. We prepare the data, the evidence and your people, support the submission and read the result with you; the score and any A List place are CDP's decision on what you submitted. Independent verification of your emissions data, by a verification body, is a different instrument: it adds assurance to the figures you report but does not replace the response.

Offered a guaranteed CDP score, or unsure what your last one really says? Send it to us and we will tell you, at no charge, what it means.

Keep exploring

More on CDP and related standards

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