Maximising CDP disclosures for 2023

A number of changes have been made to CDP disclosure criteria for 2023 that organisations should consider before reporting.

CDP requires reporting around a series of questionnaires covering climate change, water, forests and finance and EcoAct has produced a guide to changes in 2023 disclosures.

Climate Change: One question has been removed, 25 modified, and seven new questions added. The new questions include two within the business strategy module, two relating to subsidiary emissions, one on external engagement and two additional biodiversity questions. Some minor changes have been made to sector specific questions, with one new sector specific question and one removed question. In the financial services sector, one question was removed while four were added within the portfolio impact and the forest & water security modules.

Water: Four questions have been removed, 19 modified, and 18 new questions added. The new questions include new questions within water security and nine questions within the new plastics module. There have been no changes to sector-specific questions.

Forests: Three questions have been removed, 21 modified, and five new questions added. The new questions request information on companies reporting boundaries, DCF and non-DCF volumes, risk classification system for sourcing areas and production/consumption volumes. There have been no changes to sector-specific questions.

Pre & post scoring gap analysis is vital to understand the information that you might be missing and knowing where you have work to do. Reviewing the previous year’s submitted response against the current year’s criteria will be the first step to identify information gaps and areas of improvement.

CDP fully aligns with the TCFD. The climate change questionnaire contains more than 25 questions that align with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). EcoAct recommend taking this opportunity to ensure your own disclosures and sustainability actions are aligned.

Drafting & data support: consider accessing support in training and upskilling your staff to respond to the questionnaires correctly and efficiently for gathering the data and information required.

Submission enhancement: If you have all the information, it might be that you need support in enhancing and formatting the submission to best meet the CDP scoring criteria. This support can be tailored to the stage your company is at in your sustainability journey, and your aspirations for your CDP score.

Climate scenario analysis (CSA) is best practice in climate risk reporting and increasingly the expectation due to the TCFD. It requires you to select appropriate climate warming scenarios and understand the impacts and outcomes of each individual climate trajectory to your specific business.

Risk and Opportunities Analysis: As a part of your CSA you must identify, assess and present your climate change risks and opportunities to CDP and integrate them with business strategy. When looking at climate risks you should be considering both the “physical” and “transition” risks associated.

Scope 3 emissions assessment is an important but challenging part of the sustainability process and therefore often a weakness in submissions. You must assess, quantify and manage your value chain emission sources in order to improve your CDP disclosures.

Verification of your carbon emissions calculations provides confidence in the numbers you report, which will benefit your submission.

In 2022 more than 18,700 companies with over half of global market capitalisation disclosed environmental data through CDP, an increase of 38 per cent on the previous year.