CDP's alignment with disclosure frameworks and standards

CDP’s 2024 corporate questionnaire is aligned with the IFRS S2 (ISSB) climate standard. In addition to the value of the disclosed dataset itself, the questionnaire provides an effective tool to support companies on their path to IFRS S2 (ISSB) compliance. Guidance will be available to support disclosers and stakeholders in understanding their progress against IFRS S2 requirements.

The IFRS S2 specifies what companies should report in terms of Governance, Strategy, Risk and Opportunity Management, including the processes used to identify, assess and prioritize risks and opportunities, metrics and targets, including Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. It fully incorporates, and builds from, the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations, to which CDP is already fully aligned.

CDP’s new, full corporate questionnaire is already substantially aligned with the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS).

From 2024, CDP’s questionnaire is aligned with the ISSB climate standard (IFRS S2) which has a high degree of alignment with ESRS E1. By reporting through CDP, companies are well prepared to disclose on climate in line with both the IFRS S2 and ESRS E1 requirements. The CDP questionnaire also covers many environmental topics (biodiversity, water, forests, waste) that companies may need to report under the ESRS.

Through an official partnership with the European standard-setter, EFRAG, CDP will expand its alignment with the ESRS from an environmental perspective and will also support companies on their path to compliance through webinars and other guidance.

The ESRS are legally binding under the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). The CSRD requires all large companies and all listed companies – with some exceptions – to disclose information on ESG risks and opportunities, as well as on the impact of their activities. Approximately 50,000 companies are in scope including an estimated 10,000 non-EU companies; the applicability of the ESRS to companies’ entire value chains means this regulation will have a vast global reach.

In October 2023, CDP announced its intention to align with the TNFD recommendations. This will ensure investors, purchasers and policymakers can access nature-related information in a consistent and comparable standardized format. CDP already has partial alignment – particularly where TNFD parallels the TCFD – as the TNFD framework is rooted in the TCFD recommendations, with which CDP is already aligned. This gives us a running start as specific parts of CDP’s questionnaires can be adapted relatively easily to reflect aspects of the TNFD framework too (including those around governance, strategy, risks and opportunities disclosure).

CDP has committed to expanding coverage across all key environmental issues. This will enable us to provide full disclosure coverage of TNFD’s framework. The TNFD framework will enable CDP to further accelerate our incorporation of more environmental topics by providing a robust set of good practice indicators on areas such as oceans and land.

CDP has announced its intention to align with the proposed SEC ruling, and is in the process of determining what alignment will look like and the timeline for doing so. The SEC’s rule is rooted in the TCFD recommendations, with which CDP’s platform is fully aligned.

GRI and CDP work together to align best practice and avoid duplication of disclosure effort to ease the reporting burden for the thousands of companies that report through CDP and the GRI Standards. See linkages on climate change and water security reporting.

In 2018, CDP aligned with the TCFD's recommendations, which forms the basis of numerous mandatory disclosure regulations.

By translating the TCFD recommendations and pillars into actual disclosure questions and a standardized annual format, CDP provides investors and disclosers with a unique platform where the TCFD Framework can be brought into real-world practice. Companies who disclose through CDP are doing so in line with the TCFD recommendations in a comparable and consistent way. As a result, CDP has the largest TCFD-aligned environmental database in the world, and CDP scores are widely used to drive investment and procurement decisions towards a zero carbon, sustainable and resilient economy.

Whilst TCFD adoption remains relevant across the global economy, the taskforce has disbanded, and its responsibilities have folded into the IFRS Foundation from 2024

For more information, read our Technical Note.

CDP is committed to integrating best practice sustainable finance taxonomy criteria into our disclosure system. Our questionnaire pilots taxonomy questions on EU Taxonomy objectives and collects data on companies' eligibility and financial accounting alignment.