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Guidance for companies

Companies can disclose in response to a request from an investor, a customer, or both. This page covers the basics of the information request and shows some of the guidance that is available. CDP's full suite of guidance materials and recorded webinars can be accessed from the guidance tool after you sign in. View instructions on how to use CDP’s disclosure platform, including the guidance tool.


The Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic presents a global challenge of unprecedented scale. CDP is aware that companies, investors city and state governments around the world are facing serious impacts affecting their residents, staff, and ongoing operations. We recognise that for many this could also impact their 2020 disclosure.

On behalf of all CDP staff we would like to emphasize our solidarity and support for all our stakeholders at this difficult time. The reporting platform is now open for the companies, cities and state governments who are planning to disclose. Submission end deadlines have been pushed back in recognition of the challenges facing our stakeholders, with details on the relevant dashboard.

We are continuing to monitor the rapidly evolving situation and will keep in touch with all our stakeholders in the coming weeks and months.


For more information about CDP’s evolution in disclosure, click below.

Disclosure in 2020


Investors and customers can request information from companies through CDP's climate change, forests, and water security questionnaires. Take a look at the latest questionnaires to see what questions you will be asked to respond to.

Supported by

CDP questionnaires 2020
Climate change
Climate change questionnaire for companies disclosing to the 2020 request.
Forests
Forests questionnaire for companies disclosing to the 2020 request.
Water security
Water security questionnaire for companies disclosing to the 2020 request.

CDP provides guidance that explains each question in detail and describes what information to provide, the required format, and where to find tools or further information to construct your answer.

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CDP reporting guidance 2020
Climate change
Reporting guidance for companies disclosing to the 2020 climate change request.
Forests
Reporting guidance for companies disclosing to the 2020 forests request.
Water security
Reporting guidance for companies disclosing to the 2020 water security request.
CDP questionnaire changes 2019-2020
Climate change
A map of the relationship between questions in the 2019 climate change questionnaire and the 2020 climate change questionnaire.
Forests
A map of the relationship between questions in the 2019 forests questionnaire and the 2020 forests questionnaire.
Water security
A map of the relationship between questions in the 2019 water security questionnaire and the 2020 water security questionnaire.
Key CDP technical materials for 2019
CDP technical note – TCFD
An introduction to the TCFD, why CDP has committed to aligning its platform, and how to disclose the TCFD’s recommendations.
Linking GRI and CDP – water security 2018
Provides detailed alignment of the GRI 303: Water and Effluents 2018 and CDP water security 2018. Remains relevant for CDP water security 2020.

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CDP scoring methodologies

CDP uses the scoring methodologies to incentivize companies to measure and manage environmental impacts through participation in CDP's climate change, forests, and water security questionnaires. Each of CDP’s questionnaires has an individual scoring methodology.

Maintaining CDP’s reputation as an independent and unbiased provider of high quality information is of paramount importance. Read our policy on conflicts of interest for more information.

The scoring of CDPs questionnaires is conducted by accredited scoring partners trained by CDP. CDP’s internal scoring team coordinate and collate all scores and run data quality checks and quality assurance processes to ensure that scoring standards are aligned between samples and scoring partners.

Climate change

Full version scoring methodology for companies disclosing to the 2020 climate change request (updated July 26, 2020)

Forests

Full version scoring methodology for companies disclosing to the 2020 forests request (updated July 9, 2020)

Water security

Full version scoring methodology for companies disclosing to the 2020 water security request (updated July 24, 2020)

Scoring Introduction
An introduction to how scoring is applied to all of CDP questionnaires. (updated June 12, 2020)
CDP minimum version scoring methodologies 2020
Climate change
Minimum version methodologies are ONLY applicable to companies responding to a customer request who have less than EUR/USD 250 million annual revenue. (updated April 1, 2020)
Forests
Minimum version methodologies are ONLY applicable to companies responding to a customer request who have less than EUR/USD 250 million annual revenue. (updated April 23, 2020)
Water security
Minimum version methodologies are ONLY applicable to companies responding to a customer request who have less than EUR/USD 250 million annual revenue. (updated April 1, 2020)
CDP scoring methodology changes documents: 2019 to 2020
Climate change
This document indicates where the 2020 climate change scoring methodology differs from the 2019 methodology
Water security
This document indicates where the 2020 water security methodology differs from the 2019 methodology
CDP scoring categories and weighting documents 2020
Climate change
A guide to the climate change scoring categories and the weightings that will be applied to these categories per sector.
Forests
A guide to the forests scoring categories and the weightings that will be applied to these categories per sector.
Water security
A guide to the water security scoring categories and the weightings that will be applied to these categories per sector.
Information in Japanese

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CDP supplier engagement rating methodology 2020
Supplier engagement rating introduction
An introduction to CDP’s evaluation of supplier engagement practices disclosed in CDP’s climate change questionnaire
Supplier engagement rating methodology
A system to evaluate supplier engagement practices disclosed in CDP’s climate change questionnaire
Support
Organizational guide for environmental action
A snapshot of actions companies are taking at each stage of this journey towards environmental excellence.
Verification
Information on third party verification, including accepted verification standards.
Benchmarking report
Want to compare your performance with peers? Find the insights you need quickly and easily with CDP's custom benchmarking report.

Can't find what you're looking for? Sign in to access additional guidance materials from the guidance tool. View instructions on how to access the guidance tool.

Provide feedback to CDP on the content of our questionnaires, guidance, and scoring methodology via the online Technical Feedback Form.


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