CDP Scores and A Lists
By scoring companies and cities, CDP aims to incentivize and guide them on a journey through disclosure towards becoming a leader on environmental transparency and action.
Companies A List (2023)
Disclosure is an essential first step, not the destination. Whether a company is at the beginning of its journey, working hard to improve its score year-on-year, or leading the way in environmental transparency, comprehensive disclosure serves as a baseline for transition plans and – crucially – enables companies to follow through on their ambitions.
Global environmental crises are unfolding before our eyes: biodiversity and ecosystems continue to decline at an alarming rate and 2023 was officially the hottest year on record. The need for high-quality environmental data – the foundation of a net-zero, nature-positive future – has never been more important.
In 2023, following another record year of disclosure, CDP scored over 21,000 companies on their environmental disclosures.
More than 400 companies scored an A for their leadership in environmental transparency and performance on climate change (362 companies), deforestation (31 companies), and water security (103 companies).
Search for a company and view the full A List for companies, below.
Mainstreaming Transparency
CDP disclosure and scores play a key role in keeping companies on a journey of continuous environmental improvement. In 2023, a record-breaking 23,000+ companies representing at least two thirds of global market capitalization disclosed through CDP – 24% more than last year, and over 140% more than disclosures in 2020.
CDP’s questionnaires are fully aligned with the recommendations of the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD), and ideally positioned to mainstream the widespread adoption of other emerging frameworks and standards.
What is leadership?
By scoring companies from D- to A, CDP takes them on a journey starting from disclosure, to understanding what to measure and finally how to take tangible, measurable actions.
Even companies that achieve an A – although among the most transparent when it comes to disclosure and performance on climate change, deforestation or water security – are by no means at the end of their environmental journey.
CDP disclosure and the A List play a key role in keeping companies on a journey of continuous environmental improvement. We regularly raise the bar for what qualifies as environmental leadership in line with emerging science, feedback from stakeholders, and market needs for greater environmental transparency. A List companies are those keeping up with these evolving requirements.
Cities A List (2023)
To score an A, among other actions, a city must:
disclose publicly through CDP-ICLEI Track;
have a city-wide emissions inventory; and
have published a climate action plan.
The scoring criteria for emissions reduction targets have been strengthened in a move towards aligning with science-based climate targets. An A List city must also complete a climate risk and vulnerability assessment (CRVA) and have a climate adaptation goal to demonstrate how it will adapt to climate hazards.
In 2023, 120 cities, stretching from Canada to the Philippines, were named as global leaders in environmental action, ambition and transparency on CDP’s annual cities A List.
The A List, which was started by CDP in 2018, recognizes cities that have received the highest score for their transparency and bold climate action, and celebrates their achievements, vision and commitment in the fight against climate change.
Many cities are building on the momentum in their environmental action, making it mainstream to their operations. This is reflected in the growing number of cities that are consistently receiving an ‘A’, despite the tightening criteria to achieve this. This was particularly noticeable in the Global South, where cities in Ecuador, Peru and Jordan received their second ever A. Meanwhile, cities in Chile and Malaysia received their third A, and cities in Argentina and South Africa received their sixth A.
Search for a city and view the full A List for cities, below.
City climate leadership in action
In 2023, 939 cities reporting through CDP-ICLEI Track were scored by CDP, with 13% receiving an A. These cities are demonstrating their climate leadership through concerted and effective action, as they report taking four times as many mitigation and adaptation measures as non-A List cities.
For example, CDP analysis shows that renewable energy use is rising among A List cities, with some cities such as San Francisco (84%), Quito (86%) and Trondheim (91%) reporting that renewable energy makes up the vast majority of their energy consumption.
CDP public scores
We will be updating this page with the 2024 public scores later this year.
Public response data:
As part of CDP’s website refresh, all users will need to have a license to access or use public disclosure data.
This will allow CDP to better support organizations to access the most meaningful dataset based on their goals and strategies. Additionally, through such engagement, CDP will gain in-depth understanding of what data and how data is used in the market. Such insight will further help CDP to develop our questionnaire focus o n the most useful data for the ecosystem.
Important: If you are a current CDP Capital Markets Signatory, CDP Supply Chain member, Reporter Services member, or have previously disclosed through CDP please first contact your account manager.
Score FAQs
Read our full FAQs which cover scoring, disclosing, our admin fees, and more.