The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) now uses one integrated corporate questionnaire across climate and nature-related topics. Here is how the 2026 cycle works, what changed and how companies can prepare.
2026 timing: The response window opened in the week of June 15. The scoring deadline is September 16, 2026. CDP lists the final response deadline in the week of October 26, with private and public scores expected in the week of November 30.
CDP has changed in the last few years. The organization still runs a global environmental disclosure system, but companies no longer move through separate climate, forests and water questionnaires. Since 2024, CDP has used one integrated corporate questionnaire, and it added ocean datapoints, broadened nature coverage and updated scoring this year.
The scale has grown, too, in 2026. More than 23,100 companies, cities, states and regions responded through CDP in 2025. For the 2026 cycle, more than 540 financial institutions representing over US$110 trillion in assets are requesting disclosure from more than 43,000 organizations.
Such scaling means CDP is becoming a common data layer between companies and the stakeholders assessing them. While it’s not a regulation, a disclosure request can affect investor engagement, customer requirements, financing conversations and eligibility for supply-chain opportunities. It can also expose weaknesses in both the data and the controls a company may need for mandatory reporting.
What is CDP?
CDP is a global nonprofit organization founded in 2000. Formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project, it operates an independent environmental disclosure system used by companies, cities, states and regions.
Companies respond through an online portal after receiving a request; they may also disclose voluntarily. The questionnaire asks how an organization identifies environmental dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities; how those issues are governed and built into strategy; and what the organization is doing, measuring and achieving. (Cities and regions have a separate questionnaire in this process, but company-based CDP is our focus here.)
CDP then provides standardized data to the market and, where eligible, applies an independent scoring methodology. The result is not a certification of sustainability. It is a structured view of disclosure completeness, awareness, management and leadership for the environmental themes being scored.
CDP data is used by several groups. Investors and banks use it in risk assessment, due diligence, portfolio analysis, engagement and financing decisions. Customers and procurement teams use it to understand supplier exposure, emissions, targets and environmental management. Corporate teams use the questionnaire to test governance, identify data gaps and organize environmental information across the business. Framework users can reuse well-controlled data across CDP, IFRS S1 and S2, ESRS, TNFD, GRI and related requests, although each framework still requires its own mapping and compliance assessment.
Scored data is important, but it is not the only data that matters. CDP and its users can also draw value from unscored biodiversity, plastics and ocean disclosures when assessing exposure and management maturity.
2026 CDP questionnaire details
CDP offers a full corporate questionnaire and a shorter SME questionnaire. The SME route is designed for smaller organizations with fewer reporting resources. Eligibility is based on both headcount and annual revenue. Those with more than 1,000 employees or more than US$250 million in annual revenue use the full corporate questionnaire only. Those with fewer than 500 employees and less than US$50 million in annual revenue are eligible for the SME questionnaire (and it is recommended for their use). Those between ranges, while remaining below 1,000 employees and US$250 million in revenue are also eligible for the SME questionnaire, but CDP generally recommends the full questionnaire. Requester and initiative rules can also affect the route. For example, organizations requested through RE100 are not eligible for the SME questionnaire.
What changed in the 2026 CDP questionnaire?
The 2026 cycle is an evolution rather than a complete redesign. Several changes are still material for planning and evidence collection.
- Ocean disclosure enters the questionnaire
CDP introduces ocean datapoints for the first time in 2026. Eligible full corporate respondents can opt in, especially where they identify material ocean-related dependencies, impacts, risks or opportunities. The questions are integrated into existing modules and cover governance, strategy, financial planning, supply-chain engagement and targets. Ocean content is unscored in 2026, giving companies time to build data and internal processes.
- All seven forest-risk commodities are scored
Cocoa, coffee and rubber join cattle, palm oil, soy and timber as scored commodities. CDP applies one forests score across the relevant commodities and provides commodity sub-scores. For companies that produce or source these materials, the change raises the importance of origin data, traceability, deforestation and conversion-free status, supplier engagement and targets.
- Climate questions place more weight on adaptation and resilience
The questionnaire expands data on how organizations assess and respond to physical climate risks, implement adaptation measures and strengthen the resilience of operations and value chains. This shifts attention from identifying risk alone to showing how the business is preparing and acting.
- Water and plastics content becomes more decision-useful
Water content asks for more detail on wastewater treatment levels, discharge volumes, regulatory performance and pollutant management. Plastics content adds or refines questions on targets, reuse models, packaging formats and design for recycling or composting. Plastics remains unscored in 2026.
- The SME route expands
Eligible SMEs can answer shorter forests and water security content when requested or when they opt in. Those themes are unscored in 2026. Climate scoring now includes the SME Leadership level, which makes an SME A score available for the first time. The SME methodology remains distinct from the full corporate methodology.
- Alignment and usability continue to improve
CDP is strengthening connections with TNFD, GRI, SBTN, the GHG Protocol and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation Global Commitment, while maintaining strong alignment with IFRS and ESRS. It is also improving guidance, questionnaire navigation, framework tags and data reuse. These changes should reduce friction, but they do not remove the need for sound data ownership and review.
CDP 2026: How your score is calculated
The full corporate questionnaire produces separate scores for climate change, forests and water security. A company can therefore receive different results across the three themes. CDP does not calculate one blended score across all environmental issues.
For each scored theme, the methodology follows four consecutive levels:
- Disclosure: the organization provides the requested information with sufficient completeness.
- Awareness: the response shows an understanding of how the issue intersects with the business.
- Management: the organization provides evidence of processes and actions to manage the issue.
- Leadership: the response demonstrates practices and performance aligned with CDP’s leadership expectations.
The final full corporate score ranges from A to D-. Thresholds govern progression between levels, and essential criteria can cap the result. This means a polished narrative cannot compensate for incomplete boundaries, missing governance, weak targets or unsupported performance data.
A practical detail easy to miss: CDP generally scores the content submitted in the response. External web links and attachments are not normally considered unless a question specifically asks for them. Critical evidence should therefore be summarized clearly in the relevant response field rather than left behind a link.
Biodiversity, plastics and ocean are unscored in 2026. Companies should still approach them with discipline. Today’s unscored datapoint can become tomorrow’s scored or regulated information, and stakeholders may use the data before formal scoring begins.
How to prepare a strong 2026 CDP response
The response window may run for several months, but the work should not begin with prose. Start with scope, ownership and evidence.
- Confirm the request and questionnaire route. Identify who requested the disclosure, whether the organization is on the full or SME route, which environmental themes are assigned, and which opt-in themes are material enough to include.
- Set governance and a workplan. Name an accountable executive, a disclosure lead, data owners, subject-matter reviewers and final approvers. Work backward from the September 16 scoring deadline rather than the final October deadline.
- Map the questionnaire to data and evidence. For each material question, identify the source system, reporting boundary, methodology, owner, document and approval needed. Flag new 2026 datapoints early.
- Validate environmental data. Reconcile GHG totals, activity data, emission factors, water metrics, facilities, commodities, targets and prior-year figures. Record assumptions, exclusions, recalculations and controls.
- Review governance, risk and strategy content. Make sure board oversight, management responsibility, risk processes, transition planning and financial implications are current and consistent with public reporting.
- Draft inside the questionnaire logic. Answer the question asked, use the requested units and time horizons, and put decision-useful evidence in the response rather than relying on external links.
- Run a scoring-readiness review. Test the response against the 2026 methodology, category weightings and essential criteria. Focus on completeness and accuracy before polishing language.
- Approve and submit before the scoring deadline. Leave time for Portal checks, internal sign-off and any final data changes. The later response window preserves disclosure, not score eligibility.
NOTE: Sphera is a recognized CDP Silver Accredited Solutions Provider.
