Quick Comparison
| CDP | GRI | |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Environmental — climate, water, forests/deforestation | Full ESG — economic, environmental, social impacts |
| Applicability | Companies requested by investors or supply chain customers | Any organization, any sector, any size |
| Required/Voluntary | Voluntary but investor/customer-driven | Voluntary |
| Geography | Global | Global |
| Key Focus | Environmental performance scoring via annual questionnaires | Comprehensive sustainability impact reporting |
| Assurance | Verification encouraged; scoring rewards verified data | Encouraged, not required |
What is CDP?
CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project) operates a global environmental disclosure platform through which companies, cities, states, and regions report on their environmental performance. Founded in 2000, CDP sends annual questionnaires to companies on behalf of institutional investors and purchasing organizations, covering three themes: climate change, water security, and forests (deforestation).
The CDP system is distinctive because it is driven by external demand. Institutional investors representing over $130 trillion in assets request companies to disclose through CDP, and major purchasing organizations use CDP's supply chain program to request environmental data from their suppliers. Companies receive a letter-grade score (A through D-, or F for failure to respond) based on the completeness and quality of their disclosure, their awareness of environmental issues, their management practices, and their leadership actions.
CDP has aligned its questionnaires with the TCFD framework and, increasingly, with ISSB and ESRS requirements. In 2024, CDP announced it would incorporate ISSB-aligned questions and serve as a reporting channel for companies complying with multiple frameworks. Over 23,000 companies disclosed through CDP in 2023.
What is GRI?
The Global Reporting Initiative provides the world's most widely used sustainability reporting standards. GRI's framework covers the full range of sustainability topics — economic, environmental, and social — through modular standards that organizations apply based on a materiality assessment of their impacts. GRI's impact materiality approach focuses on an organization's effects on the world, serving a multi-stakeholder audience.
GRI Standards include Universal Standards (applicable to all), Sector Standards (industry-specific guidance), and Topic Standards (covering specific sustainability subjects). The framework provides structured disclosure requirements while allowing flexibility in reporting format and presentation.
Key Differences
1. Mechanism: Questionnaire vs Framework
CDP operates through structured annual questionnaires that companies complete in response to investor or customer requests. GRI provides standards that organizations use to prepare sustainability reports at their own initiative. CDP asks specific questions and scores the answers; GRI sets disclosure requirements and organizations produce reports demonstrating conformance.
2. Topical Scope
CDP focuses exclusively on environmental themes — climate change, water security, and forests. GRI covers the entire ESG spectrum, including labor practices, human rights, anti-corruption, community impacts, tax transparency, and governance alongside environmental topics. Organizations needing comprehensive sustainability disclosure require GRI (or equivalent); CDP serves the environmental dimension.
3. Scoring and Benchmarking
CDP provides a public scoring system that benchmarks companies against peers. The A-list recognition for top performers creates competitive incentives. GRI has no scoring mechanism — organizations self-declare whether they report "in accordance" or "with reference to" GRI, but there is no grade or ranking. CDP's scoring drives corporate behavior through reputational incentives and investor expectations.
4. Demand-Driven vs Self-Initiated
CDP disclosure is typically requested by investors or supply chain partners. Companies receive specific requests to disclose and face reputational consequences for non-response (an F score is publicly visible). GRI reporting is self-initiated — organizations decide to report based on their own stakeholder engagement and strategic priorities. The external pressure mechanism in CDP is a fundamentally different driver than GRI's voluntary approach.
5. Data Granularity
CDP questionnaires request specific data points in defined formats — exact emissions figures, water withdrawal volumes, governance structures, target details. The questionnaire format ensures data consistency across respondents. GRI provides disclosure requirements but allows organizations more latitude in how they present information, resulting in less standardized outputs across reporters.
6. Audience
CDP primarily serves investors and supply chain purchasers seeking environmental performance data for investment decisions and procurement criteria. GRI serves a multi-stakeholder audience including employees, communities, governments, and civil society. The investor-centric CDP audience drives different content emphasis than GRI's broader stakeholder orientation.
Which One Do You Need?
Use CDP if your investors have requested disclosure, your major customers require environmental data through CDP's supply chain program, or you want a scored benchmark of your environmental performance. CDP is particularly important for companies in emissions-intensive sectors or those with significant water or deforestation risks.
Use GRI if you need comprehensive sustainability reporting that addresses economic, environmental, and social impacts for diverse stakeholders. GRI is the right framework for organizations building a holistic sustainability reporting program.
Use both — most large companies do. CDP and GRI serve different purposes and audiences with meaningful overlap on environmental topics. Data collected for GRI environmental disclosures (GRI 302, 303, 305, 306) feeds directly into CDP questionnaire responses.
Can You Use Both?
They are highly complementary. CDP itself recognizes GRI as a reporting standard and has mapped its questionnaire content against GRI disclosures. Organizations that report under GRI can use their GRI environmental data to populate CDP responses, reducing duplication.
The practical workflow is to maintain a single environmental data collection system that feeds both GRI Topic Standard disclosures and CDP questionnaire responses. GRI provides the broader reporting context (governance, strategy, materiality assessment) while CDP provides the investor-facing scored assessment of environmental performance.
CDP's recent alignment with ISSB and planned alignment with ESRS further reinforces this complementarity — CDP is increasingly positioning itself as a disclosure platform that collects data once and distributes it to meet multiple framework requirements.
Council Fire's Perspective
We advise clients to think of CDP and GRI as different delivery mechanisms for overlapping environmental data. CDP is your investor scorecard; GRI is your comprehensive stakeholder report. Both matter, and the data backbone should be the same. Organizations that maintain separate CDP and GRI data collection processes invariably end up with inconsistencies that damage credibility with both audiences.
The CDP score gets disproportionate board attention because it's simple, visible, and competitive. Use that attention productively — CDP preparation is an excellent forcing function for improving environmental data quality, setting more ambitious targets, and strengthening governance structures. But don't let the score become the goal. Real environmental performance improvement is the goal; CDP and GRI are communication tools.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I prioritize CDP or GRI if I can only do one?
If investors or major customers have specifically requested CDP disclosure, prioritize CDP — a non-response (F score) is more damaging than not having a GRI report. If you need comprehensive sustainability reporting for a broad stakeholder base, start with GRI. Ideally, build toward both, since the environmental data collection overlaps significantly.
How does CDP scoring work?
CDP scores companies from A to D- across four levels: Disclosure (completeness of response), Awareness (understanding of environmental issues), Management (actions taken to address issues), and Leadership (best practices and ambitious target-setting). Companies must score well at each level to advance to the next. An A score indicates leadership; F means failure to respond or insufficient information. Scores are public.
Can CDP data replace GRI environmental disclosures?
Partially. CDP responses contain detailed environmental data that overlaps with GRI 302 (Energy), GRI 303 (Water), GRI 305 (Emissions), and GRI 306 (Waste/Effluents). However, GRI requires contextualization through a materiality assessment, management approach disclosures, and narrative reporting that CDP's questionnaire format doesn't fully capture. CDP data is an input to GRI reporting, not a replacement.
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