CDP environmental reporting · 2026
CDP environmental reporting: climate, water, forests and beyond
CDP environmental reporting now covers six issues in one questionnaire: climate change, forests, water security, plastics, biodiversity and, from 2026, ocean.
Only three are scored in 2026 — climate change, forests and water security — and only climate is asked of everyone.
This page sets out what each theme asks, and the rules that decide which ones you have to answer.
The official disclosure system
Six environmental issues, three of them scored
Since 2024 CDP has asked about every issue through one integrated corporate questionnaire; each issue has its own environmental-performance module, and the shared modules ask about all of them together.
| Issue | Who is asked | Scored in 2026? | Own module |
|---|---|---|---|
| Climate change | Every company, full and SME questionnaires | Yes | Module 7 (SME: 20) |
| Forests | On request, by industry impact, by self-assessment or opt-in | Yes — seven commodities | Module 8 (SME: 21, unscored) |
| Water security | On request, by industry impact, by self-assessment or opt-in | Yes | Module 9 (SME: 22, unscored) |
| Plastics | Opt-in, full questionnaire only | No | Module 10 |
| Biodiversity | Every full-questionnaire company, as supplementary questions | No | Module 11 |
| Ocean | Opt-in, full questionnaire, real-economy sectors only | No — first year | Within modules 1–5 and 13 |
In 2024 CDP integrated its separate climate change, water security and forests questionnaires into a single reporting framework.
Governance, strategy and risk questions now cover every issue a discloser answers, so a board-oversight question asks about climate, water and forests at once.
Each scored issue still gets its own score, and CDP’s A Lists are published issue by issue.
In 2025 more than 3,500 companies disclosed on climate change, deforestation and water security together.
The questionnaire’s structure module by module is on the CDP questionnaire 2026, and the hub for everything CDP is CDP reporting.
Climate change
Climate change: the theme everyone answers
All companies are asked climate change questions, on both the full and the SME questionnaire.
If a company says at setup that it does not intend to submit climate data, CDP treats that as non-disclosure, which can affect its score.
The climate questions are built on the ISSB’s IFRS S2 and mapped to the TCFD recommendations, according to CDP’s framework alignment page.
Emissions are asked on the GHG Protocol’s Scope 1, 2 and 3 basis, and CDP asks whether the figures were independently verified.
For 2026 CDP broadened existing questions to capture adaptation and resilience, revised the energy questions to follow RE100’s updated criteria, and began preparing disclosers for the GHG Protocol’s Land Sector and Removals Standard.
It is the theme that carries furthest into UK statutory reporting: see what CDP data does for UK reporting and Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.
What the climate questions reach
| Area | Examples |
|---|---|
| Governance | Board oversight, management responsibility, incentives |
| Risks and opportunities | Physical and transition risks, with adaptation and resilience from 2026 |
| Strategy | Transition plans, scenario analysis, financial planning |
| Emissions | Scope 1, 2 and 3, methodology, verification |
| Energy | Consumption and renewable electricity, revised for RE100 in 2026 |
| Targets | Emissions targets and progress |
Source: CDP Key changes to the 2026 questionnaire; CDP FAQs. Our summary.
CDP water security
Water security: accounting, stress and discharge
CDP water security asks about water-related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities, and has its own environmental-performance module, Module 9.
It covers company-wide water accounting — withdrawals, discharges and consumption — withdrawals from water-stressed areas, facility-level data, pollutants, and water targets.
For 2026 CDP said it would ask more specifically how far wastewater is treated before discharge, which increases alignment with GRI 303: Water and Effluents.
Organisations can now report whether they have followed the Science Based Targets Network’s first step, “Assess”, and whether their freshwater targets are validated.
Water essential criteria apply only at Leadership and the A List, and financial services companies assessed for water now receive a public water score.
Water data usually sits with site operations rather than with the sustainability team, which lengthens the internal chain before a response can be signed off.
| 2026 water change | What it asks |
|---|---|
| Wastewater treatment (9.2.9) | Levels of treatment, discharge volumes, and whether you meet or exceed regulatory standards |
| Pollutant management | How success is measured; an explanation if pollutants are not identified |
| Exclusions (9.1.1) | Country, river basin and estimated volume of excluded water |
| Science-based targets | SBTN freshwater targets and whether they are validated |
Forests and other natural ecosystems
Forests: seven commodities, all scored from 2026
The forests theme asks about deforestation and conversion risk in commodity supply chains, and since 2024 it has reached other natural ecosystems as well as forests.
CDP names seven commodities as having the highest deforestation and conversion impacts: cattle, palm oil, soy, timber, cocoa, coffee and rubber products.
For 2026 cocoa, coffee and rubber became scored commodities, aligned to the same methodology as the other four.
All seven feed a single forests score, with a sub-score for each commodity disclosed; only the single score counts for the A List.
Module 8 asks for commodity-specific targets towards deforestation- and conversion-free production and sourcing, traceability, the origin of commodities and monitoring of the deforestation and conversion footprint.
CDP aligns this work with the Accountability Framework initiative and the Science Based Targets Network, and in 2026 made minor changes so that validated science-based targets for nature are recognised in scoring.
Where forests leads on to wider nature reporting is covered on biodiversity reporting.
The seven forest-risk commodities
Asked, not scored
Plastics, biodiversity and ocean: disclosure without a grade
Plastics
Opt-in for every full-questionnaire discloser, including financial services. New 2026 questions on plastic targets, reuse models, packaging formats and design for recycling, working towards alignment with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Global Commitment.
Biodiversity
Supplementary biodiversity questions go to every company on the full questionnaire, with extra datapoints for companies with mining projects. None is asked of SMEs.
Ocean
New in 2026. Opt-in for real-economy sectors on the full questionnaire; high-impact sectors such as fishing, shipping and offshore energy are strongly encouraged. Not open to financial services or SMEs in 2026.
None of the three is scored in 2026: CDP’s Help Center says they remain unscored “to allow companies to build capacity in these areas”.
Ocean content is integrated into existing modules — the introduction, risk processes and priority locations, risks and opportunities, governance, strategy and targets, and third-party verification — rather than given a module of its own; see the ocean announcement.
Declining to report on an opt-in issue does not affect your score, unless you were requested on it.
Unscored does not mean unused: CDP says its data is used by requesters whether or not it is scored.
Who must answer which
Which themes you answer is decided at setup
Every company answers climate change, and every full-questionnaire company answers the supplementary biodiversity questions.
Forests and water are asked only where at least one of four conditions is met: a request, CDP’s industry classification, your own assessment, or an opt-in.
The industry test and the self-assessment do not apply to the SME questionnaire.
At questionnaire setup you state your revenue, headcount and business activities under CDP’s Activity Classification System, and whether you have assessed forests, water, ocean and plastics issues.
In 2026 CDP raised the forests impact rating to Critical for six activities, including cocoa bean farming, coffee and rubber farming, so more companies in those sectors are now asked forests questions.
If you are eligible for scoring and decline forests or water after being requested, that may affect your score; declining a purely voluntary opt-in does not.
Requests are listed on your Portal; how a request reaches you, and what it costs, is on CDP reporting and CDP pricing.
Request: a Capital Markets Signatory, Supply Chain member or bank asked for it.
Industry impact: CDP’s Industry Impact Classification rates your activities as affecting forests or water.
Self-assessment: you identify substantive forests- or water-related issues at setup.
Opt-in: none of the above, but you choose to disclose.
UK context
CDP environmental reporting and UK rules
No UK law requires a CDP response on any theme.
The climate theme overlaps most with statutory UK reporting: SECR, the Companies Act climate-related financial disclosures and, for listed companies in scope, UK SRS on a comply-or-explain basis from 2027 under the FCA’s final rules.
The nature themes overlap with frameworks rather than law: CDP describes its questionnaire as partially aligned with the TNFD recommendations and with GRI’s climate, energy, water and biodiversity standards.
The full map of UK regimes is on ESG reporting requirements in the UK, and the mapping of CDP against other frameworks is on CDP reporting standards.
How the three scored themes are graded is on CDP scores; how the methodology is structured, on the CDP reporting framework; and when each response is due, on the CDP reporting timeline.
CDP’s own guidance hub and guidance for companies, the How to Disclose page and the Terms of Disclosure are the documents to check before you submit.
Putting it into practice
An implementation sequence across themes
| Stage | What it involves |
|---|---|
| Assess | Work out which issues are relevant: your requests, your CDP-ACS activities, and where you have substantive dependencies or impacts. |
| Collect | Set up data owners for each theme — energy and emissions, site water data, commodity sourcing — and a review process. |
| Disclose | Answer the modules that apply, keep answers inside the response (links and attachments are not scored), and submit by the scoring deadline. |
| Act on the result | Read the category scores and commodity sub-scores, and plan the next cycle from the scoring methodology. |
For a conversation about any of it, book a free 15-minute call or contact us.
Frequently asked
CDP environmental reporting — frequently asked
What environmental issues does CDP cover?
CDP's corporate questionnaire covers climate change, forests, water security, plastics, biodiversity and, from 2026, ocean. In 2026 only climate change, forests and water security are scored on the full questionnaire; plastics, biodiversity and ocean are asked but unscored.
Do I have to answer the water security and forests questions?
Only if at least one of four conditions applies: a requester has asked you to; CDP's Industry Impact Classification says your business activities affect forests or water; you identify substantive forests- or water-related issues at questionnaire setup; or you opt in. Every company is asked the climate change questions.
What is CDP water security?
CDP water security is the part of the questionnaire on water-related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities, with its own environmental-performance module (Module 9) covering water accounting, withdrawals from water-stressed areas, discharges and wastewater treatment, pollutants and water targets. It is scored separately from climate change and forests.
Which commodities does CDP forests cover?
Seven: timber products, palm oil, cattle products, soy, cocoa, coffee and rubber. In 2026 all seven are scored for the first time — cocoa, coffee and rubber were added to scoring this year — and they contribute to a single forests score, with a sub-score for each commodity.
Is ocean scored in CDP 2026?
No. Ocean questions are new in 2026 and unscored, to give organisations time to set up data collection. Every full-questionnaire discloser can opt in, and organisations in high-impact sectors are strongly encouraged to. Financial services companies and SME disclosers cannot report ocean data in 2026.
Can an SME report on forests and water through CDP?
Yes, from 2026. The SME questionnaire gained new, optional forests and water security modules (Modules 21 and 22). They are unscored in 2026; the SME questionnaire is scored for climate change only.
Is CDP environmental reporting required by UK law?
No. CDP is a voluntary disclosure system and no UK law requires a CDP response on any theme. The climate data overlaps with statutory UK regimes such as SECR and UK SRS S2, but a CDP response is not a filing under any of them.
Sources
Primary sources
Every figure, date and status on this page traces to the instrument’s owner. Secondary commentary is never the source for a number.
- CDPFAQs — "Is there anything I must report on?"
Climate for everyone; plastics and biodiversity for the full questionnaire; the four conditions for forests and water.
- CDP Help CenterKA-01160 — Understand your score
Climate change, forests and water security scored in 2026; plastics, biodiversity and ocean unscored; seven forest commodities.
- CDPPreparing for CDP's 2026 disclosure cycle: key changes to the 2026 questionnaire (January 2026)
Ocean, forests, water, plastics, adaptation and SME changes; the module each sits in.
- CDPFull Corporate Scoring Changes 2026
The 13 modules; modules 10 and 11 (plastics, biodiversity) unscored; cocoa, coffee and rubber scored.
- CDPCorporate Questionnaire Setup Preview 2026
Assessment of forests, water, ocean and plastics issues at setup; ocean limited to real-economy sectors.
- CDPFull Corporate Scoring Introduction 2026 (V1.2)
Forests scoring and commodity sub-scores; mining biodiversity datapoints unscored.
- CDPOur Question Bank
3,500+ companies disclosed on climate change, deforestation and water security together in 2025.
- CDPAlignment with disclosure frameworks and standards
IFRS S2, TCFD, TNFD, GRI, GHG Protocol, AFi and Ellen MacArthur Foundation alignment.
- CDPPress release — ocean joins the disclosure system
The first year of ocean questions.
- CDPHow to Disclose — questionnaire setup
Setup determines the questionnaire, modules and questions.
- CDPGuidance
CDP's guidance hub for disclosers.
- CDPGuidance for companies
Company-level questionnaire guidance.
- CDPTerms of Disclosure 2026
The terms every discloser accepts, including scoring eligibility.
- CDPScores and A Lists (data page)
A scores by theme are published per issue.
- GHG ProtocolCorporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard
The emissions categories behind the climate theme.
Continue reading