Stakeholders are increasingly requesting environmental information through CDP, including investors, large purchasing organizations (“customers”), banks (“lenders”), and membership initiatives. This data is used by these stakeholders to inform decisions and drive environmental action.

In 2022, CDP launched a new program for public authorities. The program started with a pilot in North America, and extended to include Europe in 2023.

Public authorities are receiving a request from CDP’s investor signatories.

In 2023, 746 financial institutions worth over US$136 trillion in assets are requesting information from over 15,000 companies. A group of these signatories have signed on to encourage participation specifically from public authorities and local governments in North America as part of CDP’s Municipal Disclosure Campaign.

CDP also partners with states and regions to support disclosure from public authorities in their jurisdictions.

During the 2023 cycle, you can view which stakeholders are requesting your organization’s disclosure via your dashboard.

To read more about the stakeholders who request disclosure, how they use data, or for more information on how to become a requesting stakeholder, please view our CDP investor signatories and CDP supply chain member pages.

The public authorities questionnaire offers a framework for public authorities to provide environmental information to their stakeholders and investors covering governance and policy, risks and opportunity management, environmental targets and strategy, and scenario analysis.

The full questionnaire can be viewed here.

You may also find the following articles helpful:

• Access for public authorities
• Benefits of disclosure for public authorities
• Timeline for responding

CDP provides the platform for public authorities to disclose environmental information in a way that is standardized and comparable. In addition to responding to disclosure requests from stakeholders, public authorities disclosing through CDP gain tangible business benefits:

• Protect and improve your organization’s reputation
• Get ahead of regulation
• Uncover risks and opportunities
• Track and benchmark progress
• Improve access to finance and engage with investors

Disclosing also allows organizations to identify opportunities for action. You can find out more via our Organizational Guide for Environmental Action.

Demand for climate-related disclosure has increased significantly since the release of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations and recent regulatory changes in the European Union. Public sector leaders have noted the importance of transparency on climate-related issues with several national governments and public sector organizations formally supporting the TCFD.

Disclosure demonstrates responsiveness to the expectations of capital markets and signals sustainability leadership to potential investors. In some cases, disclosure and transparency can help lead to a lower cost of capital when borrowing.

Reporting your pipeline of projects through CDP’s questionnaire can help your organization attract climate finance for your infrastructure projects. Public authorities are already making use of CDP’s Matchmaker program showcasing climate and resiliency projects to the capital markets. Explore CDP’s resources to support sustainable infrastructure projects.

Yes, all organizations categorized as public authorities are welcome to provide information via CDP’s public authorities questionnaire. CDP defines a public authority as a government-created enterprise with a specific public mandate that has significant administrative and financial independence. Publicly-traded state-owned enterprises should use the Corporate Climate Change Questionnaire. Local or state/regional governments should use the Cities Questionnaire or the States and Regions Questionnaire.

If you do not receive a request from a CDP requesting authority* or have not received an invitation email from CDP and would like to disclose, please contact [email protected] or our Help Center.

* “Requesting authority” means the organisation(s) requesting you to complete the Questionnaire as listed on your CDP response dashboard from time to time (accessed by signing in to our website), which may include (1) Investor Signatories; (2) Supply Chain Members; (3) the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative; (4) Bank Program Members; and (5) the RE100 initiative.

Organizations are asked to respond using CDP’s disclosure platform. This is the only way to provide the requested data to CDP and, if relevent, the requesting stakeholders.

CDP’s disclosure platform consists of the dashboard and the Online Response System (ORS). Sign in to access the systems below:

1. The dashboard is a portal containing information regarding which questionnaires your organization is being requested to respond to and a link to activate these, and your user account page.
2. The Online Response System (ORS) is where you input information into your questionnaire(s) and submit your response.

If your organization is being requested to respond by investors and/or customers, CDP will notify you by email and will send you your access link to your company’s dashboard and the ORS. You will need to register for a CDP account to access the system. If you already have an account for our website, you can sign in using your existing password.

Public authorities and Crown corporations that do not receive a request from investors or stakeholders can also choose to respond to the Public Authorities Questionnaire. Contact [email protected] to request access to the reporting platform and see I have not been requested to respond. Can I disclose through CDP?

If you require further support, please visit our Help Center and contact us via My Support. You will need to be signed in to access this. Once you are signed in, please return to the Help Center via the link at the top of the page. If you are a new user, you can register here.

Resources to support you with what is requested in the Public Authorities Questionnaire are available from the CDP website. This includes:

• Reporting guidance for the Public Authorities Questionnaire – useful for understanding what information each question is requesting and why.
• Technical materials – provides additional support on topics relevant to the current reporting year. For example:

1. Science-based targets
2. Scenario analysis
3. Carbon pricing
4. Special conditions for reporting Scope 1 emissions
5. Accounting of Scope 2 emissions
6. Guidance methodology for estimation of Scope 3 category 11 emissions for coal mining companies
7. Guidance methodology for estimation of Scope 3 category 11 emissions for oil and gas companies
8. Relevance of Scope 3 categories by sector
9. Guidance for companies with coal reserves
10. Measuring emissions intensity of transport movements
11. Countries and regions
12. Fuel definitions
13. Biofuels
14. Conversion of fuel data to MWh
15. Units of measure conversions
16. “Retirement” and “Cancellation” of instruments
17. Restatements
18. Reporting on climate transition plans
19. TCFD for City, State, and Regional Governments

For more in-depth disclosure support on a one-to-one basis, please contact the CDP Public Authorities team at [email protected].

If you require expert guidance on any of your environmental initiatives, you can contact one of our Accredited Solutions Providers (ASPs) for help. ASPs offer external support on reporting, emissions inventory, software, renewable energy procurement, and much more. Please visit the webpage or contact the CDP Partnerships team.

CDP works on an annual disclosure cycle. The deadline for submitting 2023 responses to the Public Authorities Questionnaire is October 18, 2023. Disclosers are encouraged to submit well in advance of the deadline.

For more information, please view our 2023 timeline.

CDP is a not-for-profit organization. To deliver our services at the necessary global scale, we require a small contribution towards our costs from companies, public authorities, and investors participating in our system.

CDP requests an administrative fee from public authorities responding to the Public Authorities Questionnaire. Please visit our dedicated Admin fee FAQ page for more details on the fee.

If the fee applies to your organization, you will see this when you sign in to the CDP dashboard to disclose. You will automatically be prompted to pay the fee by credit card or to request an invoice when submitting your response through our Online Response System (ORS). Public authorities not in a position to pay the standard fee should contact [email protected] for assistance.

Fees are payable once annually, regardless of how many questionnaire themes (public authorities, climate change, forests, water security) the responding organization chooses to disclose to.

A public authority responding to a supply chain request only may submit the Corporate Questionnaire without paying a fee if it is eligible to do so (see Admin fee FAQ for details). However, data must be submitted through the Public Authorities Questionnaire to be included in the Public Authorities pilot in 2023. CDP encourages such organizations to contact the Public Authorities Team to discuss options for completing both questionnaires.

To add additional users to your account and update permissions, you will need to become the Main User. There are three user types, the different permissions of which are outlined below.

There is no limit to the number of users that can be added to your account.

For more information on the different user roles and how to become the Main User for your organization, please view our guide to activating your CDP Questionnaire.

For more information on how to access your organization’s account please see above How do I disclose through CDP?

	Main User	Contributor	View Only
	Responsible for organization’s response(s). Only one contact can be the Main User.	Can directly access the Online Response System. Multiple colleagues can be Contributors.	For sharing the response(s) with colleagues for review or sign off purposes.
Can access response
Can enter, save, edit data
Submits questionnaire on behalf of organization: Handles payment of the administrative fee via the online dashboard (check if fees apply to you) Accepts terms of responding
Controls access rights on behalf of the organization to organization’s response(s) via the system, or authorizes CDP to make these changes: Adds new users to the system Removes users from the system - Changes access rights for existing users e.g. from contributor to view only Changes designation of the Main User rights to another contact within the organization Authorizes addition of users from external parties e.g. consultants, contacts from subsidiary organizations
Key contact point for CDP relating to the disclosure period(s) and organization’s response(s): Receives reminder emails Receives confirmation of submission Receives notifications relating to response(s) May be contacted by CDP about events, or other relevant information or activities

Note that there is also a Subsidiary contact role - which is only relevant where a parent company is responding on behalf of a subsidiary company who has also been requested to respond to CDP. Contacts from the subsidiary organization will have this user role and will not have access to the ORS and cannot contribute to the company’s response(s). If a subsidiary contact requires access to the ORS, they can send a request to the Main User to become a contributor.

As the Main User, your contact details (name and email) will be stored in CDP’s systems for record management. Your contact details may also be shared with requesting authorities/stakeholders to ensure open exchange on disclosure related topics between all relevant parties.

If you are no longer the Main User and wish to remove your details from CDP’s systems, please contact [email protected].

Yes. To give a consultant access to your current questionnaire(s), the Main User can set them up as a Contributor on behalf of their organization via their dashboard. This will give them the ability to edit but not to submit the questionnaire. The Main User will need to make the actual submission themselves.

Please note that the Main User for a questionnaire must be from the requested company and not from another organization, such as a consultancy.

For more information on the different user roles and how to become the Main User for your organization, please see above How do I add another user to my account? What type of user permissions exist?

If a public authority has a parent organization that has already responded to a CDP questionnaire, please get in touch with the CDP Public Authorities team.

If you require further support, please visit our Help Center and contact us via My Support. You will need to be signed in to access this. Once you are signed in, please return to the Help Center via the link at the top of the page. If you are a new user, you can register here.

When submitting your response to the questionnaire(s) in the Online Response System (ORS), you may choose to make your response public or non-public. This choice determines how CDP will handle the data in your response.

CDP scores responses for companies and cities (for more information on scoring see below Will I receive a score for my questionnaire(s)?. CDP will not score responses to the Public Authorities Questionnaire pilot in 2023.

Please note that the below is a summary only and you should refer to the relevant Terms for Responding. The Terms can be found at the bottom of the questionnaire page and the reporting guidance page. The Terms are also available through the ‘Submit your response’ page of the questionnaire in the ORS.

Public responses:

• Used by CDP and made available for all purposes that CDP decides (whether for a fee or otherwise)
• Made available via the CDP website (see below When will public responses be available to view? )
• Response/information published by CDP or third parties in reports

Non-public responses:

• Shared with investors requesting your response*
• Not made available on the CDP website
• Data will only be published in reports by CDP or by research partners if anonymized or aggregated in such manner that it has the effect of being anonymized

*Note, submission status will be visible on the CDP website (see below How will my organization be listed on the CDP website? for more information).

To find out more about how investors and customers use your data, please visit our investor and supply chain pages.

Public Authorities Questionnaire:	Public response	Non-public response
Shared with stakeholders requesting your response
Made available via CDP website		Not shared
Response/information in response published by CDP or third parties in reports		Only published if data has been anonymized

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Scoring is closely aligned with CDP’s mission – CDP works with market forces to motivate organizations to disclose their impacts on the environment and natural resources and take action to reduce negative impacts.

The Public Authorities Questionnaire is a pilot program and will not be scored in 2023. A scoring process may be added in future disclosure cycles.

Organizations are encouraged to provide as much information as possible. Providing partial information is better than not responding at all, and any response will be useful for the stakeholders requesting and using your response.

Using the questionnaire(s) as a framework to guide internal data collection and strategies will assist you in setting goals and allow you to build your response year-on-year.

Also see above Will I receive a score for my questionnaire?

Public authorities requested to submit

• Public authorities requested to disclose will be searchable on the CDP website here.
• Please note that if you have been requested to participate and do not submit a response, your status will be noted as “No response”.
• If your data is being included in another organization’s response (such as a parent organization), your status will be noted as “See Another”, indicating that stakeholders should refer to another organization’s response.

2023 responses that have been submitted publicly will be published on the CDP website on the search and view responses page after the reporting deadline.

You will need to create a user account in order to view public responses via the search and view responses function on our website.

If a response has been submitted publicly, the response will be clickable e.g. “Public Authorities 2023”.

Please note that if you are signed into your CDP account, your organization’s response will be visible to you in the search and responses function even if you have submitted a non-public response.

Please note that users will only be able to access 20 responses per year. To increase the amount of response you can see please contact [email protected].

You may amend a response you have submitted at any time before 7 December 2023, but please note that any changes you make to your response after the deadline (18 October 2023) may not be reflected in CDP publications.

To update your submitted response before the submission deadline (18 October 2023), click “reopen for amendments” from within your questionnaire.

To update your submitted response after the submission deadline (18 October 2023), contact us via the Help Center to request an amendment and we will provide you with the next steps to update your response.

CDP operates in a number of locations globally. If you are a public authority, you can reach out to us at [email protected] with any questions, no matter where you are located.

If you require further support, please visit our Help Center and contact us via My Support. You will need to be signed in to access this. Once you are signed in, please return to the Help Center via the link at the top of the page. If you are a new user, you can register here.

CDP welcomes feedback from organizations disclosing via our platform. To provide feedback on the content of our questionnaires and supporting materials, please use our general feedback form.

You will not receive a reply to your feedback, but please be assured that all form submissions are reviewed to allow for continuous improvement. However, if you represent a responding organization and would like a response, please get in touch with your local CDP contact.

Note that from time to time CDP holds public consultations on our questionnaires, details of which are made available to stakeholders via our consultation page.