CDP reporting for 2025 brings some meaningful shifts — especially for food companies managing supply chain emissions and climate commitments.
This year, CDP has consolidated its climate, forests, and water security questionnaires into one integrated format, and introduced a stronger emphasis on supply chain engagement and transition planning.
Below, we break down what’s new in the 2025 CDP questionnaire, key deadlines to mark on your calendar, and practical steps to help food companies make the most of this year’s reporting window.
What’s New in CDP for 2025?
CDP’s 2025 questionnaire merges climate, forests, and water into a single disclosure framework. For food companies, this means fewer repetitive questions and a more holistic way to represent environmental impact — especially across agricultural sourcing and land use.
The most notable changes include:
- A single integrated questionnaire across climate, forests, and water security
- Increased focus on Scope 3 emissions, including methodologies for calculating value chain impacts
- Expanded questions on transition planning, including how climate targets are embedded in business strategy
- Stronger emphasis on supplier engagement, especially with high-impact ingredients and sourcing practices
- Optional modules on plastics and biodiversity, available to respond to but not required or scored in 2025.
These updates aim to make CDP disclosures more comprehensive and useful, not just for scoring, but for informing internal strategy and driving measurable progress.
Tip: Companies that can demonstrate alignment across environmental themes — like linking land use data to deforestation risk or water use — are better positioned to score well and respond to future disclosure frameworks.
2025 CDP Timeline
- June 18, 2025: Official CDP portal is open for submissions.
- Week of September 15, 2025: Deadline to submit for scoring and inclusion in the annual scores.
- Week of November 17, 2025: Final cut-off for submissions that won’t be scored but still demonstrate transparency to stakeholders.
Meeting the September deadline ensures your score is published, a key signal to investors and partners that your company is proactively managing climate risk.
Steps to Smoother Reporting
Whether you’re disclosing for the first time or improving your score, here are a few practical tips for food companies navigating CDP this year:
1. Start with strong data:
Collect your Scope 1 and 2 data early and focus on building credible estimates for Scope 3 categories like purchased goods, upstream agriculture, and land use.
Many food companies still rely on broad assumptions or spend cycles chasing supplier responses manually. Platforms like HowGood’s Latis can help simplify this by providing activity-based emissions data tied to specific ingredients and sourcing regions, making your Scope 3 estimates both defensible and detailed.
2. Engage your suppliers:
Your Scope 3 accuracy depends on your suppliers. Make it easy for them to share credible product and sourcing information by providing clear requests, explaining the benefits, and offering support. Highlight how better data can improve their own sustainability performance too.
3. Update your transition plan:
CDP scoring increasingly rewards clear, science-based decarbonization roadmaps. Use your reporting as a chance to revisit emissions reduction targets and check alignment with the latest SBTi and net zero guidelines.
If you’re making bold claims about reductions from ingredient changes, make sure you have the product-level emissions data to back them up.
4. Aim for third-party verification:
If you haven’t already, consider third-party assurance for your reported emissions. Verified data builds trust and boosts your score.
5. Keep improving:
View CDP as an annual check-in, not a one-time task. Use your results to identify gaps and track progress year over year.
HowGood & CDP
For food companies, 2025 is a pivotal year to show leadership through transparent, credible CDP disclosures.
The new integrated questionnaire makes it easier to share a full view of your environmental impact, but success still depends on high-quality data and genuine supply chain collaboration.
With clear preparation and the right support, your team can turn CDP from a reporting burden into a strategic advantage — strengthening relationships with investors, customers, and partners who expect nothing less.
HowGood’s Latis platform helps food companies unlock verified product-level insights, streamline Scope 3 data collection, and power credible climate disclosures — all in a format that integrates with the CDP process.
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