The world's leading environmental disclosure platform is setting an example in climate transparency
CDP is a global non-profit that runs the world’s only independent environmental disclosure system for companies, capital markets, cities, states, and regions to manage their environmental impacts. As CDP expanded its scope to specifically include small and medium enterprises, it seized the opportunity to transform its own internal sustainability reporting. CDP turned to Watershed to help it evolve from targeted private disclosure to comprehensive public reporting across its three legal entities and 10 global offices. Their efforts demonstrate how organizations of all sizes and models can elevate their environmental transparency and impact.
Challenge
Despite regularly reporting emissions privately for customer supply chains, CDP recognized that its global structure across multiple legal entities and offices created complexity in achieving the granular, consolidated view needed for the comprehensive public CDP disclosure it envisioned. This complexity was compounded by distributed systems for operational expenditure, travel, electricity, and other emissions sources across their international operations.
Solution
CDP selected Watershed, an existing API partner, for its science-based approach, reliable measurement processes, and comprehensive emissions factor coverage. Through close collaboration with internal stakeholders and efficient onboarding, the CDP team implemented the platform in little more than six weeks, enabling them to consolidate data from various global sources into a single, actionable view and to participate in their initial public CDP disclosure.
Results
Challenge
CDP is a global nonprofit that runs the world’s only independent environmental disclosure system, enabling companies, capital markets, cities, states, and regions to measure and manage their environmental impact. Companies representing two-thirds of global market capitalization—across 130 countries—disclose critical environmental data through CDP.
As part of its ongoing commitment to transparency, CDP has adopted its newly developed SME questionnaire —designed for organizations similar in size to its own— to report its own emissions. This transition from private disclosure to public reporting reflects CDP’s dedication to leading by example and aligning operational practices with its broader mission.
CDP operates across three legal entities and 10 offices worldwide. For over a decade, it had monitored and reported on certain emissions categories privately, but as part of its commitment to more complete reporting, it was able to produce a more consolidated global footprint it could disclose publicly. “As a smaller organization, parts of our standard questionnaire weren’t as relevant for us,” explains Daniel Turner, Director of Reporting & Operations. “When we launched our new SME questionnaire, we saw it as the perfect opportunity to hold ourselves to the same standard we ask of others.”
CDP needed a comprehensive view of its emissions—but measuring its footprint wasn’t simple. With operations spread across multiple legal entities and 10 global offices, CDP used multiple finance and travel systems, as well as electricity providers. This decentralized approach made it difficult to capture emissions with the level of detail necessary for public disclosure.
Beyond reporting, CDP wanted to leverage its emissions data to set science-based targets and integrate sustainability into executive and trustee decision-making. Staff engagement was also a key driver—CDP employees wanted their organization to take responsibility for its footprint and implement meaningful reductions.
“We know that our overall emissions are not large, but we want to take responsibility for our part and take actions to reduce our impact. In order to do so, we needed comprehensive data.”
Daniel Turner,
Director, Reporting & Operations
Solution
CDP needed a platform that could provide a global view of its footprint while simplifying data collection and standardizing reporting. As one of the leaders in sustainability disclosure, it prioritized:
With its footprint data spread across different formats and locations, CDP also needed a solution that could consolidate everything into one centralized system.
Overall, CDP was looking for more than just a platform that would provide high-quality data and a rapid turnaround: they wanted a partner. “We wanted a longstanding partner who was already using our API, with whom we had a good relationship, and who could provide us with accurate, reliable data,” explains Sarah Leatherbarrow, Head of Reporting.
Watershed—already an API partner of CDP—emerged as an ideal solution. Its platform offered the data integrity and scientific rigor CDP required, along with:
Watershed’s intuitive interface enabled CDP to onboard quickly, ensuring the team could meet its reporting deadline.
“Sustainability progress relies on robust data. Watershed's measurement process was a critical factor in our decision to use it for our own reporting.”
Daniel Turner,
Director, Reporting & Operations
CDP’s team scheduled an onboarding session with Watershed’s customer success team to map out the reporting process. They then engaged finance, facilities, and office managers to collect raw travel and energy data.
After setting up emissions tracking for its 10 offices in Watershed, the team quickly identified missing data and filled gaps by working with internal contributors. Within six weeks, they completed their most comprehensive emissions measurement to date—and submitted their first-ever public CDP report.
Results
Using Watershed, CDP unlocked a more detailed view of its emissions, discovering that 50% of its emissions were coming from scope 3: purchased goods and services.
This insight led CDP to begin reviewing its procurement policies to prioritize suppliers with stronger environmental credentials. The team is also updating its travel policy, incentivizing lower-carbon options such as rail over air travel when feasible.
By integrating high-quality emissions data into decision-making, CDP is translating reporting into real action.
With a newly created operations & reporting team, Turner and his colleagues now have a clearer emissions baseline and a more strategic approach to sustainability. Watershed provides a breakdown of emissions by scope, enabling targeted reduction strategies.
“There’s a legitimacy that comes with Watershed’s reports—it’s so much more than a cell in a spreadsheet, and that carries additional weight.”
Sarah Leatherbarrow,
Head of Reporting
Armed with this data, Turner and his team presented key recommendations to leadership, including:
This new visibility has raised the profile of CDP’s own disclosure internally. Historically, emissions data was disclosed privately to customers, meaning internal awareness of the organization’s own footprint was limited. Public disclosure has supported the team to apply the same focus to its own sustainability that it does to the audiences it supports through the disclosure process. “Having access to the reports gave us the concrete data we needed to engage with our leadership team and begin taking action,” Turner explains.
As part of the reporting process, CDP surveyed employees about their commuting and work-from-home footprints. The survey achieved an 80% response rate, highlighting strong employee engagement around sustainability.
Following the report’s completion, Turner and his team presented their findings in an all-hands meeting, reinforcing that every employee plays a role in CDP’s sustainability journey.
An ambitious nonprofit, CDP is now better equipped to extend its climate impact to its own operations, employees, and policies.
By disclosing publicly, CDP has unlocked a new level of transparency—one that reinforces its leadership in environmental disclosure and emissions reduction.
“We’ve spent 25 years helping organizations improve their environmental reporting. Now, we’re leading by example—leveraging our own data to drive meaningful Earth-positive action.”
Daniel Turner,
Director, Reporting & Operations
