CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project)

CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project)
Name	CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project)
Formation	2000
Type	Nonprofit organisation
Headquarters	London
Region served	Global
Leader title	CEO

CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project) is an international non-profit that operates a global disclosure system for companies, cities, states and regions to report environmental data. It engages with investors, corporations, municipalities and institutions to collect information on greenhouse gas emissions, water security and deforestation risk. The organisation's questionnaires and scoring are widely used by financial markets, sustainability practitioners and policy makers to assess climate-related risks and responses.

History

The initiative was launched in 2000 following collaboration among stakeholders including Mark Kenber, Paul Dickinson, Institution of Environmental Sciences, Environment Agency (England and Wales), European Commission and major institutional investors such as CalPERS, Aviva Investors and HSBC. Early engagement drew on precedents from United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative, World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Global Reporting Initiative and Carbon Trust. Over the 2000s the organisation expanded under influence from actors like Al Gore, Prince of Wales's Accounting for Sustainability Project, Rockefeller Foundation and World Resources Institute, aligning with developments such as the Kyoto Protocol implementation and the emergence of Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures. By the 2010s it had scaled disclosure requests to thousands of firms and hundreds of cities with participation influenced by BlackRock, State Street Global Advisors and sovereign wealth funds such as Government Pension Fund of Norway.

Governance and Structure

The organisation is structured as a non-profit with a board of trustees and an executive team reporting to stakeholders including major asset owners and foundations. Governance interactions have included representatives from UNEP Finance Initiative, Principles for Responsible Investment, European Investment Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, G20 civil society dialogues and national bodies like Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (UK). Advisory panels have featured experts from Oxford University, Harvard University, London School of Economics, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, McKinsey & Company and auditing firms such as PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, Deloitte and Ernst & Young. Funding sources combine philanthropic grants from organisations like Bloomberg Philanthropies and Rockefeller Brothers Fund with fees from participating entities and support from investors including Vanguard and Morgan Stanley.

Programs and Methodology

Programs centre on sector-specific questionnaires and scoring frameworks for disclosure of greenhouse gas inventories, climate governance, targets and scenario planning. Methodological development has drawn on standards and protocols from Greenhouse Gas Protocol, Science Based Targets initiative, International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation, International Organization for Standardization and the Carbon Disclosure Standards Board. The organisation issues annual guidance informed by research partners such as Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, Columbia University, MIT, Yale University and consultancy collaborations with Boston Consulting Group and Accenture. Complementary initiatives include supply-chain engagement tools, corporate water stewardship aligned with Alliance for Water Stewardship and forestry metrics linked to Forest Stewardship Council and Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil standards.

Participation and Reporting

Participants include thousands of corporations listed on exchanges such as London Stock Exchange, New York Stock Exchange, Shanghai Stock Exchange, Bombay Stock Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange, as well as cities and regions like New York City, Tokyo, São Paulo, London, Paris and California. Institutional investors participating range from CalSTRS and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan to Japan Post Bank and Allianz. Reporting cycles follow annual windows with public databases that allow comparison across sectors including energy, banking, mining, technology and agriculture, paralleling disclosure regimes like Directive on Non-Financial Reporting and national reporting under instruments such as UK Companies Act 2006 and frameworks associated with European Green Deal. Data is used by ratings agencies, asset managers and climate policy analysts in assessments tied to COP negotiations and national climate commitments.

Impact and Criticism

Supporters cite enhanced corporate transparency, integration into investor stewardship by International Corporate Governance Network and influence on corporate targets visible in entities like BP, Shell, PepsiCo, Unilever and Apple. Empirical studies from University of Cambridge, Stanford University and Grantham Research Institute report correlations between disclosure and improvements in emissions management. Criticism focuses on voluntary nature, data quality, comparability and potential for greenwashing raised by commentators from Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Corporate Accountability International and investigative journalism outlets including The Guardian, Financial Times and Bloomberg News. Academic critiques from scholars at London School of Economics and University of Oxford question scoring transparency and incentives, while regulatory bodies in the European Union, United States Securities and Exchange Commission and China Securities Regulatory Commission have debated integration of disclosed data into mandatory reporting.

Regional and Sector Initiatives

Regional initiatives link with entities such as European Commission, Asian Development Bank, African Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and national programmes in India, Brazil, Australia and South Africa. Sector initiatives engage with trade associations including International Air Transport Association, World Coal Association, International Council on Mining and Metals, Global Cement and Concrete Association and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change-aligned coalitions. City-level collaborations connect to networks like C40 Cities, ICLEI, Urban Climate Change Research Network and Compact of Mayors. Cross-sector partnerships involve Science Based Targets initiative, Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures, Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance and multilateral projects supported by World Bank and United Nations Development Programme.

Category:Environmental organizations