Improve Your CDP Response

You have started responding to CDP’s disclosure questionnaire but have consistently received a Disclosure (D-/D) or Awareness (C-/C). You have aspirations to improve your reporting practices and to become more transparent in your disclosure environmental impact. You are working to take firmer action towards reducing emissions, and to achieve Management (B-/B) level or above from CDP in recognition of these improvements.

If this sounds like your company, we invite you to join us for our upcoming webinar on May 15, where we will be taking a deep dive into best practices for disclosure, with examples and ideas of how you can improve in CDP’s 2019 reporting season. For now, let’s briefly review some best practices for managing your CDP disclosure.

Avoid Leaving Blanks

Any response left blank suggests to scorers that your company is unable or unwilling to disclose the information in question. If multiple response fields are left blank, it is very difficult to comprehensively demonstrate the awareness of climate issues, effective management methods and progress towards action that is required to achieve Leadership (A-/A) level.

If you have areas where you are definitively unable to disclose information, it is best practice to enter 0 in the numeric fields, and in the comment fields provide an additional explanation about why this information cannot be disclosed.

Consistency is Key

It is important that you remain consistent throughout your CDP disclosure. Double check any metrics or statistics that you use, ensuring that reported metrics or figures, especially in the emissions breakdown section, are consistent throughout your responses.

Use the Methodology

It may seem obvious, but it bears repeating that the CDP scoring methodology is one of the best tools to use while drafting your response. The document is freely available and provides specific criteria that need to be included for each question by level.

Learn from Others

Looking at what other successful companies in your industry have noted in their responses—particularly those who regularly achieve CDP A-List status—is a good way to set a benchmark for your own targets. In addition, you may be surprised to find that your company has already implemented many of the actions that have helped these companies achieve high performance on their disclosures. Take inspiration from your peers and revisit your disclosure, ensuring that your answers accurately illustrate your organization’s sustainability programs, actions, and goals.

Want more tips? Be sure to join our upcoming webinar for an in-depth look at how to improve your performance, along with specific tips that can be incorporated into your CDP response for this upcoming season.

Register for our free webinar The Road to CDP Management (and Beyond) to hear more from our CDP specialists, or learn about how we can support your CDP process here.

With experience scoring over 23,000 CDP responses and conducting more than 1,700 Performance Review Calls since 2011, ADEC Innovations has the knowledge and expertise to help you maximize your CDP disclosure and improve overall performance. Contact us to learn more about how we can help.