About CDP Verification

The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) has made data quality a top priority for the coming years to ensure businesses have the reliable climate information they need to make critical business decisions. As of the 2011 reporting cycle, more than half of the companies responding within the Global 500 report sample verify their Scope 1 emissions.

To increase the number of verified data submissions and incentivize high quality responses, CDP has allocated a significant percentage of scores to verification:

• 9% -13% of total points under the disclosure score and
• 15% - 17% of total possible points under the performance score.

Additionally, Scope 1 and 2 emissions data must be verified in order for companies to qualify for entry to the Carbon Performance Leadership Index (CPLI).

Prior to embarking on the verification process, companies must have completed a greenhouse gas inventory in accordance with a standard such as the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. The inventory must include information on boundaries, raw data, and calculation methodologies. Once an inventory has been completed, verifiers should be interviewed to ensure a good fit, competency, and determine costs. Generally the cost of verification depends on a variety of factors such as organization size, complexity, and the level of assurance sought.

Seeking verification can give you and your customers greater assurance that your inventory was thoroughly completed and that you can use your results to benchmark your environmental performance.

For more information, we invite you to download our brief:
CDP Scoring & Verification.

Matt Wood is Director of Sustainability Services for Renewable Choice.