CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project)
- Countries: Global (used by companies in over 90 countries)
- Function: Collects self-reported data on climate, water, and forests for use by investors and customers
The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) is a global non-profit organization that operates the world’s leading environmental disclosure platform. Founded in 2000, CDP pioneered the concept of standardized, investor-driven sustainability reporting by providing a structured mechanism for companies, cities, states, and regions to disclose environmental data on a voluntary basis. Its mission is to catalyze systemic change by equipping capital markets and policymakers with robust information on climate, water, and forest-related risks and opportunities.
Operating across more than ninety countries, CDP requests information on behalf of over 740 institutional investors representing more than $130 trillion in assets. This positioning situates CDP at the intersection of environmental accountability and capital allocation. Companies that receive disclosure requests through CDP are assessed not only on the transparency of their reporting but also on the quality and credibility of their environmental management practices.
CDP’s disclosure framework is organized into three primary programs:
- Climate change: Focuses on greenhouse gas emissions, climate governance, risk management strategies, and adaptation initiatives.
- Water security: Assesses exposure to water-related risks, including scarcity, pollution, and ecosystem degradation.
- Forests: Examines risks related to commodity-driven deforestation across supply chains, covering commodities such as timber, palm oil, soy, and cattle products.
CDP’s methodology is aligned with major sustainability frameworks, including the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi), and emerging ISSB standards. Through its scoring system (A to D-), CDP evaluates companies on disclosure, awareness, management practices, and leadership initiatives. Achieving a high CDP score is increasingly viewed as a proxy for environmental governance quality and is used by investors, insurers, and credit rating agencies in ESG assessments.
CDP engages heavily with municipalities and regional governments, providing platforms for public sector disclosure on emissions, energy efficiency, resilience strategies, and climate adaptation planning. This cross-sectoral reach expands CDP’s influence beyond financial markets into public policy domains and city-level climate initiatives.
A critical feature of CDP’s model is its focus on self-reported data. Although this approach can introduce variability in disclosure quality, CDP mitigates this through detailed questionnaires, verification requirements, and partnerships with assurance providers. Its sector-specific questionnaires and scoring methodologies continue to evolve in response to rising expectations around environmental transparency and the need for forward-looking data.
In recent years, CDP has moved from focusing solely on climate disclosure to a broader integration of natural capital considerations, including the role of biodiversity, water basin resilience, and land use practices. This evolution reflects the growing recognition that environmental risks are interconnected and must be managed within integrated frameworks.
CDP’s role in the global sustainability disclosure architecture is both complementary and catalytic. While GRI and ISSB focus on formal reporting standards, CDP provides a dynamic platform for investor engagement, public benchmarking, and performance-based accountability. As regulatory pressure on environmental disclosure intensifies (particularly in the European Union and North America) CDP’s databases, methodologies, and scoring systems are increasingly integrated into financial analyses, supply chain management, and regulatory compliance strategies.
The Carbon Disclosure Project’s impact on corporate behavior is measurable. Academic studies have found that firms disclosing through CDP demonstrate statistically significant improvements in carbon management practices, emissions reductions, and climate risk governance compared to non-disclosing peers. In this way, CDP does not merely collect information. It reshapes corporate norms, strengthens investor stewardship, and accelerates the financial system’s alignment with planetary boundaries.