Understanding how the CDP works before drafting your responses
The CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project) assesses companies on how they manage environmental impacts—climate, water and forests—through a standardized questionnaire adapted to company size and sector. Responses are scored from D to A, following a progressive maturity model.
This scoring system is pyramidal: a company can only move up to the next level once all requirements of the previous level are fully met. The CDP’s primary expectation is therefore not excellence, but transparency.
The levels can be read as follows:
- Disclosure (D): Has the company answered all required questions?
- Awareness (C): Does it understand its environmental impacts, risks and opportunities?
- Management (B): Does it manage these issues through concrete policies and actions?
- Leadership (A): Are environmental issues fully embedded in the company’s overall strategy?
Responding to the CDP therefore means demonstrating not only awareness of impacts, but also a structured analysis and the implementation of measurable, time-bound actions.
Maximise your CDP 2026 score
We designed this guide to help you understand the scoring, avoid common pitfalls, and structure your response to make meaningful progress.
Best practices for structuring your CDP responses
1. Clearly identify the data to be collected
Before drafting any response, the key challenge is identifying all required data. The CDP places strong emphasis on completeness: a blind spot on an activity, site or emissions scope can be enough to block score progression.
This typically means having a greenhouse gas inventory covering Scopes 1, 2 and 3, a clear organizational boundary, and a structured assessment of impacts, risks and opportunities. Without this foundation, companies remain mechanically capped at the lower scoring levels.
2. Ensure robust reporting through cross-functional collaboration
The CDP is not a stand-alone exercise handled solely by sustainability teams. Data comes from finance, operations, procurement, supply chain and top management. The quality of responses therefore depends directly on the company’s ability to organize effective cross-functional collaboration.
Credible reporting relies on clear ownership, validated assumptions and internal reviews to detect inconsistencies across different sections of the questionnaire.
3. Centralize data in a clear and consistent reporting structure
Once collected, information must be structured and traceable. The CDP expects companies to demonstrate consistent indicator tracking and alignment between policies, actions and results.
Centralizing data in clear reporting files or a single platform not only improves data reliability, but also makes annual updates easier and enables reuse across other ESG frameworks.
4. Draft clear responses aligned strictly with CDP scoring criteria
Each CDP question is linked to specific scoring requirements. Responses must be factual, quantified and immediately usable by analysts. Vague or purely declarative statements, without indicators or timelines, are poorly valued.
Typical response examples for key sections of the CDP questionnaire
Climate governance and strategy
A strong response starts by clarifying how climate governance is embedded in decision-making bodies.
Typical example:
- The board reviews climate-related issues at least once a year.
- A sustainability committee oversees emissions reduction targets.
- Emissions performance (Scopes 1 and 2) is integrated into executive KPIs.
Greenhouse gas emissions management
Companies must demonstrate control over their emissions and the robustness of the underlying data.
Typical example:
- Use of the GHG Protocol for emissions accounting.
- Annual tracking of Scopes 1, 2 and 3, verified by an external provider.
- Emissions reduction targets aligned with the SBTi (Science Based Targets initiative).
These elements are essential to validate the Management (B) level and progress toward Leadership (A).
Climate-related risks and opportunities
The CDP expects a comprehensive analysis of Impacts, Risks and Opportunities (IROs).
Typical example:
- Identification of physical risks (e.g. flooding) and transition risks (e.g. rising carbon prices).
- Resilience plans embedded in the 2025–2030 strategic roadmap.
- Opportunities such as low-carbon product development and sustainable partnerships.
How to improve your CDP score based on your results
The CDP publishes company scores from D to A, which serve both as a sector benchmark and as a practical tool for managing environmental performance. This scoring makes it possible to clearly identify maturity levels and associated improvement levers.
The progression logic is straightforward:
- D → C: Transparency is the priority. Companies must answer all questions and better map environmental impacts, risks and opportunities.
- C → B: Companies must demonstrate concrete action through structured action plans, quantified targets and operational emissions tracking.
- B → A: Performance depends on strategic integration, strong governance and clear alignment between strategy, actions and results.
One often underestimated factor explains why many companies remain stuck at D: the CDP operates with a glass ceiling logic.
As long as all questions at a given level are not answered—even partially—it is impossible to move up. What the CDP values first is therefore not ambition, but the completeness and consistency of responses.
Once this threshold is passed, detailed score analysis becomes a powerful continuous improvement lever. Identifying where points were lost—through the public scoring methodology or a tool such as the Ditto platform—helps pinpoint concrete actions, such as strengthening Scope 3 data collection, refining climate transition plans or further engaging the supply chain.
Once you have a strong CDP score, it becomes a powerful communication asset. You can highlight it with investors, clients and partners — provided you meet the eligibility criteria and follow CDP's official logo usage guidelines.
A practical tip to simplify CDP data collection
CDP reporting is rarely built from scratch. Companies that have already worked with other frameworks—such as EcoVadis, ISO 14001 or CSRD—often already have reusable policies, action plans and datasets.
Centralizing and structuring these elements within a consistent approach significantly reduces reporting effort. This is exactly where a platform like Ditto adds value, combining data centralization, methodological expertise and human support to sustainably simplify ESG compliance.
CDP examples – Key takeaways
| Key element | What to remember |
|---|---|
| CDP logic | Transparency is the prerequisite for score progression. |
| Data collection | All scopes and activities must be fully covered. |
| Internal organization | CDP is a cross-functional exercise, not just a sustainability task. |
| Reporting | Data must be centralized, consistent and tracked over time. |
| Writing responses | Quantified, criteria-aligned answers are the most valued. |
| Long-term view | The CDP score is a management and continuous improvement tool. |
