Framework
CDP
The investor- and customer-driven questionnaire your procurement team keeps forwarding to finance — now aligned with IFRS S2.
What it is
The CDP in one paragraph
CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project) is a UK-based non-profit that runs the largest voluntary environmental disclosure platform in the world, covering climate change, water security, forests and — from 2024 — plastics and biodiversity. Companies respond to an annual questionnaire and receive a score (A to D-). CDP disclosures are requested by institutional investors managing ~$130 trillion in assets and by large corporate buyers through the CDP Supply Chain programme. In 2024, CDP restructured its Climate questionnaire to align with IFRS S2, making it the primary voluntary on-ramp to ISSB-aligned disclosure.
Who's in scope
In scope, thresholds, jurisdictions
CDP is voluntary but effectively compulsory for most mid-size and large companies because it is driven by (1) investor requests via signatory institutions, and (2) customer requests via the Supply Chain programme. Thousands of companies disclose annually — 24,000+ in 2024. No size threshold from CDP itself, but SMEs receive a shortened questionnaire.
Key requirements
- Annual response to the CDP Climate Change questionnaire (plus Water, Forests, Plastics modules where requested)
- Governance, risk management, business strategy, scenario analysis, targets and emissions disclosure — aligned with IFRS S2 from 2024
- Scope 1, Scope 2 (location- and market-based) and Scope 3 (all 15 categories assessed for relevance)
- Third-party verification of emissions data strongly rewarded in scoring
- Detailed breakdown by country, business unit and GHG (CO₂, CH₄, N₂O, HFCs, PFCs, SF₆, NF₃)
- Base-year data, target-setting methodology, and SBTi alignment disclosure
- Supply Chain programme responses require additional customer-specific data points
- Response submitted through the CDP online portal in English
Deadlines & timing
- Annual cycle: questionnaire opens April–May; responses due by end of Q3 (historically mid-September)
- Scores published in late Q1 / early Q2 of the following year
- 2024 saw major restructuring to IFRS S2 alignment; subsequent cycles continue to mirror ISSB evolution
- Supply Chain programme has rolling customer-specific deadlines — verify with each requesting buyer
Where finance teams get stuck
Questionnaire fatigue: the same underlying data repackaged for 20+ customer requests
Producing Scope 3 category-by-category numbers good enough for a third-party verifier
Reconciling CDP numbers with SECR, CSRD and statutory climate disclosure — differences attract auditor attention
Responding to evolving Supply Chain customer modules with bespoke scoring
Achieving and defending an A-List score that procurement teams increasingly require
How neoeco helps
- CDP JSON export template mapped to the current questionnaire structure
- Ledger-first Scope 1/2/3 figures reconcilable to SECR, CSRD and IFRS S2 — one source of truth
- Scope 3 category-by-category build with documented methodology per category, ready for verification
- Country, business-unit and GHG-gas breakdowns generated from source transactions
- Verification-ready audit trail: source document, emission factor, vintage, reviewer, timestamp
- Supply Chain response workflow: customer-specific allocations from the same underlying data
- Score-improvement recommendations based on gaps against CDP scoring methodology
Related frameworks
GHG Protocol
The global accounting rulebook behind every credible carbon number — and every framework that cites Scope 1, 2, 3.
Read about GHG ProtocolISSB / IFRS S2
The global baseline for climate disclosure — now adopted or endorsed in 20+ jurisdictions and hard-wired into audit expectations.
Read about ISSB / IFRS S2CSRD
The EU's double-materiality disclosure regime — bigger in scope and deeper in detail than anything that came before.
Read about CSRDCDP ready
Generate CDP-ready disclosures from your ledger
Book a 30-minute walkthrough focused on CDP. We'll show you the data model, the export template, and what your auditor will test.