CDP for first-time respondents

You received the CDP invitation email. Now what?

Step 1 — Decide whether to file

You should file if:

A significant customer formally requested CDP via their Supply Chain program.
An investor signalled disclosure expectations.
You have public climate commitments (SBTi, net-zero target).
You’re preparing for CSRD or another mandatory regime where the data overlaps.
Sector peers are already disclosing — your absence stands out.

You can postpone only if you’re genuinely too small AND face no stakeholder pressure. Even then, monitor — requests arrive sooner than expected, and starting late kills your first score.

Once you’ve accepted, log into the platform and confirm participation.

Step 2 — Stand up the team

CDP isn’t a single-person project. Typical team:

Role	What they do
Sustainability lead (project manager)	Owns the response end-to-end
Finance / controlling	Activity data (energy, fuel, water)
Operations / EHS	Operational emissions, water, waste
Procurement	Scope 3 — purchased goods, supplier data
Legal / Compliance	Governance evidence, risk language
Investor relations or executive sponsor	Board oversight, transition plan

Step 3 — Plan the timeline

Work backward from the submission deadline (typically June/July):

6 months before — Confirm decision. Allocate budget. Identify gaps.
5 months before — Build the emissions inventory baseline.
3 months before — Collect governance and risk documentation.
1–2 months before — Draft the response in the CDP portal.
April–June — Submit and finalise.

Six months is realistic. Three months is tight. Less than three and you’ll likely come in below your potential.

Step 4 — Pick the right questionnaire

Start with Climate Change. It’s what scorers and customers care about most. Water and Forests can come in cycles 2 and 3 if material.

Within Climate, focus on:

Scope 1 and 2 — full inventory, primary data, documented methodology.
Scope 3 — screen for material categories (purchased goods, business travel, employee commuting, upstream transport). You don’t need full coverage in year one.
Governance — document existing oversight, even if informal. Name responsible executives.
Risks — identify 2–3 substantive climate risks with financial impact ranges.
Targets — report any quantitative reduction goals. If you don’t have any, say so honestly.

Step 5 — Submit

CDP doesn’t penalise honest gaps in year one. It penalises misrepresentation, spend-based estimates everywhere, missing governance sections, and last-minute panic submissions.

What’s a realistic first-cycle score?

A defensible first response typically lands in the C band — sometimes B- if you have strong governance documentation and Scope 3 coverage. That’s a solid starting point.

The compounding effect kicks in by years 2 and 3, as you tighten the data architecture, verify the inventory, and get SBTi validation moving.

After submission

Read the score report carefully — it tells you exactly which questions hurt you.
Build a year-2 improvement plan around those weak points.
Start SBTi engagement now — it’s an 18-month process and a top driver of the A list.