Updated August 2026
What actually changed
CDP's 2026 questionnaire update makes four changes worth knowing about even for organizations that have submitted before. The Forests module expanded from four commodities to seven, adding cocoa, coffee, and rubber. New unscored questions on ocean-related impacts and dependencies have been introduced as a preview before they eventually count toward scoring. The Climate, Water, and Plastics questions now ask for more specific detail on governance, discharge management, and packaging format. And the scoring methodology itself has tightened: certain essential criteria now cap an organization's overall score if missed, regardless of how strong the rest of the response is.
Recycling last year's answers no longer works
Historically, an organization could submit a CDP response, update a few figures the following year, and expect a broadly similar score. That approach is now a liability. Organizations that resubmit largely unchanged answers are likely to see scores stagnate or decline, not because their performance regressed, but because the bar around them moved.
The data usually lives in the wrong department
A meaningful share of the newly scored information, particularly on forestry commodities and packaging, sits with procurement or supply chain teams rather than the sustainability function that typically owns the CDP relationship. Getting an accurate answer requires pulling those teams in well before the deadline, not discovering the gap during the final review, which is exactly the kind of cross-functional handoff our Ongoing Advisory & Accountability work is built to catch early.
The practical deadline
CDP's 2026 scoring deadline lands in mid-September. Organizations that treat CDP preparation as a standing, cross-functional process rather than an annual scramble are the ones whose scores will hold up under the new methodology.