XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) is, in short, a standardized way of sharing business information. It is free and helps to create up-to-date financial and sustainability reporting. It is already being used by over 20 million companies, 135 regulators and 70 governments worldwide.

In CDP, we believe that as non-financial reporting becomes part of the mainstream there is a need to increase efficiency, save costs and standardized output. Thankfully, technology is on hand to help solve these challenges.

The role of XBRL at CDP

We know that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to climate reporting, with all companies having their own environmental challenges, contexts and data collection issues. After exploring a number of digital standards we have continued to develop our work in XBRL because we believe it:

1. Overcomes the challenges of climate related reporting proposed by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).
2. Aligns CDP reporting with regulations: such as the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) requirements being introduced in 2020, which will affect all IFRS fillers in Europe.
3. Improves data quality and data accessibility: standardising climate change data and business rules in a digital open format;
4. Connects environmental and financial information models by using the same reporting technology required around the world; and
5. Improves the consistency of environmental data across other sustainability disclosure framework and reduces reporting burdens.