CDP
CDP climate, water and forests questionnaire support
CDP climate, water and forests disclosures require environmental data and management practices to be matched to the current year's questionnaire. Vosurein helps confirm the questionnaire pathway, topics and deadlines, then checks emissions, site water use, commodity sources and governance records against the responses and evidence. For companies with previous scorecards, the feedback identifies data to update and management practices that need work.
Discuss your CDP climate, water and forests disclosure needs
For Your Business
Who this service is for and when to start
Upon receiving a client supply chain invitation, first disclosure, or preparing annual updates, first confirm the disclosing company, account, and applicable questionnaire. If there are multiple client invitations, also verify the entities and sharing settings of each invitation to avoid treating different scope requirements as the same matter.
If a carbon inventory or sustainability report already exists, first assess which data can be shared, then add the details required by the questionnaire. Especially for water use and forest product information, which often involve sites or procurement, it is advisable to designate responsible contacts before completing the annual responses.
As the deadline approaches, first confirm what disclosures and approval procedures can be completed. Measures not yet implemented or estimates without supporting data should not be marked as completed just because the submission is imminent.
The Challenge
Common challenges faced by businesses
If governance, risk, and environmental data use different time periods or organizational scopes, responses can easily contradict each other. After entering total emissions, it is still necessary to confirm whether the baseline year, targets, and progress use comparable scopes.
Water security and forests each have their own data issues. Knowing only the total company water use makes it difficult to assess the environment of each site; knowing only the supplier name may not support answers regarding product origin and traceability. Consultation will first differentiate between information the company already has and the data still needed from the supply chain.
For example, emission reductions resulting from production changes but fully attributed to energy-saving measures, or selecting an already set target but without a target year and tracking records, are situations where sources need to be checked when answering. These examples are used to illustrate the verification method and do not indicate that CDP has the same questions for all companies.
Our Approach
Methods and applicable requirements
From 2024, CDP handles climate change, water security, and forest information through an integrated corporate questionnaire. Integration refers to a shared disclosure structure and does not mean that all companies answer the same questions; the actual path still depends on the current settings, company conditions, and applicable topics.
First confirm the questionnaire, then organize the answers.The full corporate and SME questionnaires have different designs. A company cannot choose the SME questionnaire solely because it normally describes itself as an SME. Vosurein checks account settings, industry classification and current guidance before assigning questions to the departments that can confirm the data.
Consider disclosure scope and scoring scope separately.The 2026 questionnaire adds ocean topics and updates forests and plastics questions. Plastics, biodiversity and ocean topics are not scored in 2026. The SME questionnaire introduces an A score for climate change under its own scoring methodology. Read the question guidance, scoring methodology and essential criteria together before preparing responses.
2026 submission arrangements.The official scoring submission deadline is September 16, 2026, 23:59, time zone International Date Line West (IDW), not Taiwan time. The final non-scoring response window extends to the week of October 26; the last submission window does not equal the scoring eligibility deadline.
The company account status, applicable questionnaire, and the latest official notifications still need to be verified before submission. Guidance will reserve time for departmental confirmation and company approval to ensure a clear sequence for drafts, approvals, and formal submission.
Process
Consulting scope and process
Confirm the questionnaire and scope
Verify the reporting year, company account, questionnaire path, and client invitations, and organize the previous responses and scoring feedback. List applicable questions, data owners, and review deadlines in a work checklist, first confirming the parts that require cross-department or supply chain support.
Review data and management gaps
Check the period and scope of emissions, energy, water intake and discharge, and applicable product data, then compare with governance, risks, targets, and actions. Distinguish between gaps that can be filled from original records and management gaps that require additional assessment or implementation of measures.
Check responses and supporting evidence
Organize answers according to the question requirements of the year, verify values, units, boundaries, calculation bases, and document contents. Check the consistency of information used across different questions, and return any items still pending confirmation to the responsible department; finalize after confirmation.
Approval for submission and improvement arrangement
Assist in completing the company review and pre-submission check, confirming disclosure and sharing settings; formal operation is handled according to the company's authorization. Retain approved versions and unfinished items, and plan the next round of continuous tasks upon receiving the scorecard.
Preparation
What documents do companies need to prepare?
- Disclosure and organization:The questionnaire of the current year, account and invitation information, company and site scope, previous responses, scorecard, and submission deadlines.
- Environmental data:Applicable emission inventory, energy, and water withdrawal/discharge records, product procurement quantities, sources, and traceability data, noting period, scope, units, and calculation sources.
- Governance and risk:Management responsibilities, relevant meetings and approval records, risk and opportunity assessment procedures, and existing site assessments or climate scenario analysis.
- Targets and actions:Environmental goals, base year and target year, progress and measure records, supplier engagement, and applicable verification documents.
This initial checklist will be adjusted according to the questions activated on the platform and does not mean that every company must prepare all data. Analyses or records not yet established should be listed as pending tasks and feasible arrangements confirmed.
Project Planning
Estimating time and cost
Workload depends on the questionnaire path, environmental topics, site, and data quality. If complete and consistent environmental records already exist, check the correspondence to questions; if water risk assessment, climate scenario analysis, or source traceability is still needed, data acquisition and analysis work must be separately listed.
Scheduling will separately consider data completion, draft answers, company approval, and platform submission. Formal scoring is carried out according to CDP’s schedule and rules; completing guidance or successful submission does not equal obtaining a score.
Provide the current questionnaire and previous scorecard, and identify the data analysis and response work needed. Questionnaire consulting, greenhouse gas inventories, third-party verification and platform fees are agreed separately, rather than bundled as one form-filling fee.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Do climate, water and forests require three separate CDP questionnaires?
Do not assume there are three separate questionnaires. Companies disclose through the integrated structure and the pathway that applies to them. Check which questions are enabled in the platform before planning the data work.
Is a sustainability report enough to complete a CDP response?
Some data can be shared, but the required period, boundary, and details of the questions still need to be checked item by item. Summaries in the report may not support all the information required by the questionnaire.
Can it guarantee an A rating or higher score?
No score can be guaranteed. Consulting helps identify gaps in management and evidence, but CDP scores responses using its applicable methodology. Actual company actions and the quality of disclosures provide the basis for improvement.
What if the first disclosure does not have complete emissions data?
Clarify the scope of the completed inventory, gaps and available supplementary data before deciding how to respond and what work remains. Do not invent figures to fill gaps in supporting records.
Will consultants submit or publish the data on behalf of the company?
The company approves submission, publication options and external sharing, with actions restricted by account permissions. Assistance with content does not automatically authorise external submission.
How does the data preparation differ for climate, water security, and forests?
Climate focuses on emission boundaries, energy, targets, and risks; water security additionally requires site, watershed, and water withdrawal and discharge information; forests require checking procurement sources, traceability, and management measures according to applicable products. Common governance data can be integrated, but carbon inventory data cannot replace the necessary information for water and forests.
Can last year’s answers be copied directly?
They can be used as draft material, but each year the questions, options, reporting period, guidelines, and scoring updates must be checked. Discontinued measures, changed organizational boundaries, and newly added sites should all be rechecked; data carried over by the platform does not mean the content is still correct.
If we cannot meet the 2026 scoring deadline, can we still submit?
According to official information as of September 9, 2026, after the scoring deadline, non-scoring responses can still be submitted within the final response window. Whether it still meets the client's current requirements needs to be confirmed separately with the inviter; successful submission does not necessarily mean obtaining the score for that year.
Related
Related services and enquiries
Please provide the disclosure year, client invitation, questionnaire path, previous scorecard, and submission deadline to facilitate confirmation of responses and data work.Consult with Vosurein
Content checked: . Applicable versions and requirements depend on the company’s circumstances.
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