Software · buyer guide · CDP
CDP software: how to choose a tool for your response
CDP software is any tool a company uses to gather, check and draft its answers to CDP’s environmental questionnaire before the response goes in on CDP’s own platform.
This page is the buyer’s view: what kinds of product are sold for CDP, which platforms say so in their own words, how to shortlist, and when CDP’s platform plus a spreadsheet is enough. What a tool must output for each question is on CDP reporting software.
What you are buying
What is CDP software, and what does it replace?
CDP software sits upstream of the response: the answers are submitted on CDP’s own disclosure platform, so a tool earns its place by getting the data, owners and evidence ready, not by replacing that platform.
CDP says disclosing through it is not mandatory: a company responds because an investor or a customer has requested it, or because it chooses to.
That makes the buying question practical: how many requests arrive, how many people own the answers, and how much of the data already sits in another system.
| Kind of product | What it does for CDP | Fits when |
|---|---|---|
| CDP’s own disclosure platform | Where the response is drafted and submitted; who requested you decides whether an admin fee applies | Every responder uses it |
| Carbon accounting platform | Produces the emissions figures the climate module asks for | Emissions are the hard part of the response |
| ESG reporting or disclosure platform | Holds narrative answers, owners and evidence across frameworks | CDP is one of several reports from one data set |
| CDP accredited solutions provider | Listed by CDP in its own directory for a stated category | You want a provider CDP itself lists |
| Spreadsheet and CDP’s guidance | Collects answers before entry on the platform | One requester, few owners, mostly narrative |
The platforms, in their own words
Which platforms say they support CDP?
20 of the 73 vendors in this site’s registry use these words about themselves on the pages read 11 October 2026 and 30 September–1 October 2026, listed alphabetically, which ranks nothing.
Many name CDP beside CSRD, ISSB or GRI as one of several outputs; read each quote for what is claimed, then check CDP’s own accredited solutions directory for any listing.
Vendors whose own words mention CDP · 20 of 73 vendors · read 11 October 2026 and 30 September–1 October 2026
Each cell is the vendor’s own description of itself, linked to the page it is on. Alphabetical order ranks nothing.
A vendor not listed may still do the job: put the question to it in writing.
A mention of CDP on a vendor’s site describes what it offers; it is not a listing by CDP, and CDP’s own directory is the place to check one.
Several of these platforms are strong on the emissions side and others on narrative and evidence, which is why the table quotes the exact words each one uses.
Who says what about CDP
Vendor’s own words
Who says what about CDP
CDP’s directory
Who says what about CDP
Alphabetical
Who says what about CDP
Not listed here
Who says what about CDP
Read date
Order of work
How do you build a CDP software shortlist?
Start from the requests in hand, because who requested you decides the questionnaire, the fee and whether the score is public.
Then shortlist on the data you find hardest, not on the questionnaire you will answer anyway.
| Step | What to do | What it settles |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | List every CDP request received and who sent it | Full or SME questionnaire; investor or supply-chain request |
| 2 | Check SME eligibility | Up to 1,000 employees and no more than US$250m revenue opens the SME route |
| 3 | Mark the questions that took longest last cycle | Where software saves time, usually emissions and evidence |
| 4 | Ask three vendors to run those questions on your own data | A demo on your figures, not a sample company |
| 5 | Check CDP’s accredited directory for each | A listing and its category, or a plain no |
| 6 | Price three years, not one | The cost tool beside the next section |
Price
What does CDP software cost?
Most CDP-capable platforms do not publish a price, and the vendor table shows “Enterprise level · TBD” wherever that is so.
Where a vendor does publish one, the table shows it and links to the page it is on.
Responding through CDP itself carries an admin fee that depends on who requested the response; that is separate from any software bill.
The calculator beside this sets a quote you hold against the staff time the current process takes, over three years.
Your three-year cost · your numbers only
Three-year total £0
Arithmetic on the figures you type, from the vendor’s written quote.
Added entities are counted for an average of one and a half years each. This page states no vendor price and estimates none.
Nothing is stored or sent.
In the demo
What should you ask in a CDP software demo?
These are buying questions; the questionnaire-level output tests are on CDP reporting software.
Ask for each one to be shown on your own data, with last cycle’s response loaded.
CDP software demo questions · tick the ones you need
The pass tests are our reading of the cited provisions.
Nothing you tick is stored or sent.
The CDP calendar
When is CDP software worth buying?
The cheapest moment to buy is straight after a cycle closes: the 2026 questionnaire closes on 28 October 2026, and CDP’s 2027 response window opens in the week of 26 April 2027.
That leaves the winter to load data and test a tool before request lists open in the week of 22 February 2027.
CDP revised its 2027 dates in October 2026 and says it expects no major questionnaire changes, so last cycle’s answers are a fair test set.
Read the detail and references
CDP’s 2027 key dates: request lists open week of 22 February, request-list deadline week of 19 April, response window opens week of 26 April, scoring deadline week of 26 July, final response deadline week of 6 September 2027.
The 2026 questionnaire closure date is 28 October 2026; public scores and A Lists follow in the week of 30 November 2026, per CDP’s 2026 key dates.
A company asked to disclose that does not respond is now shown as “Did not disclose”, not given an F, under CDP’s 2026 scoring introduction.
Spreadsheet or software
Is a spreadsheet enough for CDP?
Often, for one requester and a short response: CDP’s own platform holds the answers, and a spreadsheet can carry the figures and owners beforehand.
The SME questionnaire, open to organisations with up to 1,000 employees and no more than US$250m revenue, is scored on climate change only in 2026, per CDP’s SME overview.
Software pays when several requesters, several sites and a Scope 3 figure arrive in the same cycle.
The worksheet beside this compares a quote with the hours the current process takes.
Platform against the way you work now
Current process £0 a year · quote £0 a year
Fill in all three to see the break-even hours.
Arithmetic on your own inputs.
The quote’s implementation, uplift and exit terms are in the three-year worksheet on the carbon reporting software page.
Nothing is stored or sent.
After signature
How does a CDP software roll-out run?
Plan back from CDP’s dates rather than from a vendor’s promised go-live: the tool must be loaded and tested before the response window opens.
No CDP rule sets an implementation time, and vendors’ estimates vary with the data already held, so ask for a dated plan against the 2027 window.
Keep last cycle’s submitted answers outside the tool as well, so a change of vendor never loses the record.
From signature to submission
Load last cycle
From signature to submission
Name owners
From signature to submission
Connect data
From signature to submission
Draft and review
For the board
CDP software prepares the answers, and CDP’s own platform still takes the response.
The decision is when to buy, which data it must handle, and whether a spreadsheet already does the job.
Takeaways
CDP software, in five facts
| What is true | What to do |
|---|---|
| CDP says disclosure through it is not mandatory | Count the requests you hold before buying anything |
| The response goes in on CDP’s own platform | Buy for data and evidence, not for submission |
| The 2026 cycle closes on 28 October 2026 | Shortlist over the winter |
| The 2027 window opens in the week of 26 April 2027 | Have a tool loaded and tested before then |
| Most CDP-capable platforms publish no price | Ask for a three-year quote in writing |
Next: the outputs each CDP question needs from a tool are on CDP reporting software, and how scoring and fees work is on CDP reporting.
Frequently asked
CDP software, answered
What is CDP software?
A tool that gathers, checks and drafts a company’s answers to CDP’s environmental questionnaire before the response is entered and submitted on CDP’s own disclosure platform.
Do I need software to respond to CDP?
No. CDP’s own platform is where every response is made.
Software helps where many people own answers, several sites feed the figures or Scope 3 is involved.
Is CDP mandatory?
CDP says disclosing through it is not mandatory.
Companies respond because an investor or customer has requested it, or because they choose to.
Which software supports CDP?
Of the vendors in this site’s registry, the table on this page lists every one whose own words mention CDP, alphabetically and quoted. This site has tested none of them.
Does CDP approve software?
CDP publishes an accredited solutions providers directory listing providers by category.
A mention of CDP on a vendor’s own site is not that listing.
What does CDP software cost?
Most CDP-capable platforms publish no price.
Where one does, the vendor table shows it.
Responding through CDP also carries an admin fee that depends on who requested you.
When should we buy CDP software?
After a cycle closes and before the next opens.
The 2026 questionnaire closes on 28 October 2026 and the 2027 response window opens in the week of 26 April 2027.
Can a small company use the CDP SME questionnaire?
If it has no more than 1,000 employees and no more than US$250 million revenue.
In 2026 the SME questionnaire is scored on climate change only.
What happens if we do not respond to a CDP request?
Since the 2025 cycle CDP shows a non-responding company as “Did not disclose”, not an F. A late response is not scored.
Does a CDP response count as an IFRS S2 or UK SRS S2 report?
No. CDP’s questionnaire has been aligned with IFRS S2 since 2024 and tags questions to UK SRS S2, but CDP says it should not be read as strictly fulfilling IFRS S2.
What is the difference between CDP software and CDP reporting software?
This page is the buyer guide.
The outputs a tool must produce for each part of the response are set out on the CDP reporting software page.
Sources
Primary sources
Every figure, date and status on this page traces to the instrument’s owner.
Secondary commentary is never the source for a number.
- CDPWhy disclose environmental data?
Disclosure is not mandatory; who requests a response.
- CDPDisclosure FAQs
How responding works.
- CDPTerms of Disclosure
The 2026 questionnaire closure date.
- CDPFull Corporate Scoring Introduction 2026
“Did not disclose” and late responses.
- CDPFull Corporate Questionnaire Overview 2026
Modules and links to other frameworks.
- CDPSME Questionnaire Overview 2026
Eligibility and scoring for the SME route.
- CDPSME Scoring Introduction 2026
SME scores are not equivalent to full-questionnaire scores.
- CDPSupplier Selection Guide 2026
Which questionnaire a supplier should use.
- CDPDisclosure 2027 key dates
The revised 2027 calendar.
- CDPDisclosure 2026 key dates
The 2026 calendar.
- CDPAccredited Solutions Providers directory
CDP’s own list of providers by category.
- CDPCDP scores
How scores are published.
- CDPSupply Chain programme
Customer requests to suppliers.
- CDPFramework alignment
How the questionnaire maps to other frameworks.
- IFRS FoundationCDP to incorporate the ISSB climate standard
Announced 8 November 2022.
- Department for Business and TradeUK SRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures (PDF)
The UK standard CDP now tags questions to.
- Financial Conduct AuthorityPS26/19 — UK SRS for listed companies
Comply or explain for periods from 1 January 2027.