2026 CDP Response Cycle Series: Decoding CDP – What It Is & Why It Matters

CDP is a global non-profit that runs the world’s most comprehensive environmental disclosure system for entities of all kinds – companies, capital markets, cities, states, and regions – to manage their environmental impacts.

Originally known as the Carbon Disclosure Project, CDP is now in its 25th disclosure cycle and has grown to be not only a questionnaire provider, but also a massive dataset built on companies’ responses, which offers insights to investors and other stakeholders in making sustainability decisions.

The benefits extend to the reporting entities themselves, as well. According to CDP, companies that choose to disclose observe a 7-10% reduction in direct emissions within two years reporting to the questionnaire. Furthermore, companies reporting to CDP represent over half of global market capitalization.

In the first blog of our “2026 CDP Response Cycle” series, this article explains how CDP works, its scoring framework, and the impact on participating organizations, showing why it has become a credible source of environmental action worldwide.

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How It Works

CDP is designed to reflect an organization’s maturity in understanding, managing, and adopting leading environmental practices. In 2024, CDP integrated a series of separate questionnaires on the reporter’s actions related to climate change, water security, and forests into a single questionnaire. It also includes plastics, and for the 2026 reporting cycle, will request data about ocean impacts.

Regarding the broader landscape of corporate disclosures, CDP follows a “write once, read many” philosophy, aiming to enable companies to meet multiple framework and regulatory expectations through a single, comprehensive disclosure. Instead of preparing separate reports for each standard, organizations can streamline their efforts by reporting once through CDP, which then aligns their responses with multiple leading global frameworks and emerging regulatory requirements, such as:

• Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol
• Accountability Framework initiative (AFi) for Forests
• CEO Water Mandate
• International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) S2 Climate-related Disclosures
• European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS)
• Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) recommendations
• Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)
• Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards
• Sustainable Finance Taxonomies

Scoring Framework

CDP’s scoring framework evaluates how thoroughly a company discloses its environmental data, how well it understands the risks and opportunities tied to nature-related issues, and the extent to which it is taking meaningful action.

The progression from Disclosure to Leadership, ranging from D‑ to A, signals the depth of integration of environmental considerations into the company’s governance, strategy, and operations. Only those demonstrating the highest level of environmental stewardship are awarded a place in CDP’s A List.

CDP defines the score levels as follows:

• Disclosure (D-/D): measures the completeness of an organization’s reporting
• Awareness (C-/C): measures the comprehensiveness of an organization’s evaluation of how environmental issues intersect with their business
• Management (B-/B): measures whether organizations are managing their environmental impact and indicate whether they are undertaking actions that mark them out as a leader in their field
• Leadership (A-/A): measures if organizations are adopting best practices in the strategies they utilize and the actions they undertake

CDP Impact

In 2025, CDP requested disclosures on behalf of more than 640 investors holding $127 trillion in assets through its Capital Markets Signatories program. These institutions rely on CDP data to integrate environmental considerations into portfolios and investment decisions.

As of 2025/2026, some of the CDP highlights included:

• 23,100+ Total Disclosers Worldwide: This includes companies, cities, states, and regions.
• Sub-national Leadership: More than 1,000 cities and regions (representing over 1 billion people) now disclose to CDP, supporting their ability to track policies and progress towards net-zero.
• Supplier Engagement: 270+ entities requested data from a total of approximately 45,000 suppliers to provide CDP responses.

Related

The ABCs of Corporate Sustainability

The 2026 Cycle

 As organizations prepare for another year in evolving disclosure expectations, they may be looking towards the 2026 opening of the CDP response window during the week of June 15. The window will close the week of October 26, with scores being released the week of November 30.

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Founded in 2006, Governance & Accountability Institute (G&A) is a New York–based sustainability consulting and research firm advising corporate leaders and investors at the intersection of strategy, governance, and regulation. For two decades, we have partnered with executive teams and boards to translate sustainability strategy into durable enterprise value — helping organizations navigate shifting market expectations, evolving policy landscapes, and increasing capital markets scrutiny. Set up a call to learn more about how we can help your company.

Natalia Menezes

Natalia Menezes is a Senior Sustainability Analyst at Governance & Accountability Institute. Her role includes supporting client needs through ESG data review, benchmarking research, and gap analyses. She is driven to help companies create positive and sustainable impacts for all their stakeholders.