Your CDP questionnaire, answered and evidenced
A large customer has asked you to disclose through CDP, the request sits in your procurement contact's follow-up list, and the cycle runs on fixed dates: the 2026 questionnaire closes in the week of 26 October, and the next cycle opens around mid-2027. Not responding is visible too, as a failure-to-respond status shown to the customer who asked. We take your invoices, meter readings and existing documents, build the emissions numbers and answer the questionnaire for your scope, with every value traced to a source or clearly labelled as an estimate. What we cannot evidence goes on a gap list that tells you exactly what to fix before next year's cycle.
CDP in five lines
- The scheme
- CDP environmental disclosure: since 2024 one integrated corporate questionnaire, scored per issue from A to D- on climate change and, where requested, forests and water security
- Who asks
- Your customers, through CDP's supply chain programme, and banks and investors. In 2025, over 270 major buyers requested data from around 45,000 suppliers
- The deadline
- One cycle per year. The 2026 scoring deadline was 16 September; the questionnaire closes for good in the week of 26 October, and the next cycle opens around mid-2027
- The fee catch
- Responding only to a customer request carries no CDP admin fee. The fee applies when investors also request your disclosure or you volunteer without a request
- What you buy
- The questionnaire answered for your scope, SME or full version, with per-value provenance, plus a gap list of what to fix before the next cycle
What CDP scores
- Climate change
Governance, risks, targets and emissions. The module almost every request includes.
- Water security
Requested by some customers, particularly in water-intensive supply chains.
- Forests
Requested where your products or supply chain involve commodities linked to deforestation.
New to CDP? Read our free guide: CDP explained: what to do when a customer asks you to disclose.
The ask
CDP is the disclosure system large companies use to collect environmental data from their suppliers. A customer adds you to their CDP supply chain request, you receive an invitation to disclose, and the annual cycle takes over: in 2026 the response portal opened on 17 June, responses submitted by 16 September were scored, and in the week of 26 October the questionnaire closes and nothing can be changed. Your customer sees your response and your score. If you do not respond, they see that too: CDP assigns a failure-to-respond status to companies that were asked and stayed silent.
Since 2024 CDP runs one integrated corporate questionnaire instead of separate climate, forests and water questionnaires. Every discloser answers climate change datapoints; forests and water security appear when a requester asks for them; plastics and biodiversity datapoints are collected but not scored. Scores run from A to D- per issue, and the request is rarely a one-off: over 270 major buyers requested data from around 45,000 suppliers in the 2025 cycle, and the same request returns every year.
Who this applies to
Suppliers of large companies that run CDP supply chain programmes, which in Europe reaches deep into the mid-market: if one big customer uses CDP, their request lands on you regardless of your own size. Banks and investors drive the same request through their own CDP programmes.
Size decides which questionnaire you face. Companies under 500 employees and under US$50 million revenue qualify for the shorter SME version, which nearly 11,000 companies used in 2025; above those thresholds the full corporate questionnaire applies. We deliver both. The work behind either is the same: real emissions numbers built from real data, because the questionnaire asks for figures, methods and evidence, not intentions.
What you need to have ready
This list doubles as our intake. You will not have everything, and that is fine: what is missing becomes either a labelled estimate or a line on the gap list.
- The CDP request or invitation email, so we work on your actual scope and the issues your customer activated
- Electricity and gas invoices or meter readings for the reporting year
- Fuel and fleet data: fuel cards, lease overviews, mileage records
- Refrigerant top-ups from maintenance invoices, if you have cooling installations
- An organisational overview: entities, sites, and who controls what
- Prior footprints, energy audits or sustainability reports, if any
- Environmental or energy policies and any reduction targets you have set
- Certificates you hold, such as ISO 14001 or ISO 50001
What Humboldt delivers
The answered CDP questionnaire for your scope: every datapoint filled from your own records, your scope 1 and 2 emissions calculated from invoices and meter data, and every value carrying its provenance, the source document behind it or the estimation method used where primary data is missing. Estimates are labelled as estimates. If the same footprint work already exists in your evidence ledger, for instance from a CO2-Prestatieladder entry pack, we reuse it instead of rebuilding it.
Alongside the answered questionnaire you get the gap list: the datapoints where your data is thin, ranked by likely score impact and phrased so you can act on it before the next cycle, because CDP comes back every year and the second response should be better and cheaper than the first.
A senior ESG expert checks and signs the whole response before it reaches you. Then you, as the account owner, review, approve and submit in the CDP portal.
The finished deliverable, ready to submit.
Included
- The CDP questionnaire for your scope answered end to end: the SME version if you qualify, the full corporate version if your size requires it
- Your scope 1 and 2 emissions calculated from your own invoices, meter readings and fleet data, with spend-based estimates clearly labelled where primary data is missing
- Every answer traced to a source document or a stated estimation method, so you can defend the response to the customer who asked for it
- A gap list of missing data and weak spots, ranked by score impact, so you know what to improve before the next annual cycle
- Checked and signed by a senior ESG expert before anything is handed to you
Turnaround: 15 working days from receiving your documents. The CDP cycle has hard dates, so if you are close to the September scoring deadline, say so on the call and we will tell you honestly whether we can make it.
Good to know
- CDP sets the score. It scores each issue from A to D-, from Disclosure through Awareness and Management to Leadership, and the score depends on what your company actually does, not on how the form is filled.
- You stay the account owner. You review the response, approve it and submit it in the CDP portal; we prepare and sign off the work; you review and submit.
- CDP's own fees, where they apply, are separate and paid to CDP. If your disclosure is requested only by customers there is no CDP admin fee; if capital-markets signatories request it or you disclose voluntarily, CDP charges an admin fee set by CDP.
Your CDP evidence works for other requests too
Everything we collect and check for this deliverable goes into your evidence file. The next request starts from there, whichever scheme or customer it comes from.
CDP: common questions
Something else? Ask it on the call.
Can you guarantee a CDP score?
No. CDP scores each issue independently, from A to D-. We make sure your response is complete, consistent and backed by your own data.
Do we have to pay CDP?
Responding only to a customer request carries no CDP admin fee. The fee applies when investors also request your disclosure or you respond without a request.
We missed the scoring deadline. Is it too late?
After the scoring deadline you can often still respond until the questionnaire closes, but you will not be scored. Tell us your dates on the call and we will say honestly what is possible.
Where these facts come from
Checked against the official sources on 11 August 2026. Spotted something outdated? Tell us and we will fix it.
Is a request sitting in your inbox?
Tell us what your customer is asking for and when it is due. In 20 minutes a senior ESG expert tells you honestly whether we can deliver it in time.
No commitment. We'll tell you on the call whether we can hit your deadline.