CDP brings forward response window for 2027: what’s changing and how your company should prepare

September 29, 2026 / Maria Luiza Gonçalves

With the 2026 reporting cycle closing on September 16, the CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project) has already turned its attention to the corporate market for next year — and with a significant strategic change. While the 2026 questionnaire opened in early June, the deadlines for the 2027 cycle will be moved up. Responses must be submitted between April 14 and June 23.

What’s behind this decision?

According to an official statement from the organization on LinkedIn, the change is in response to feedback from stakeholders themselves. Stakeholders pointed out that making environmental data available earlier increases the strategic value of the information, providing more time to meet internal goals, guiding corporate planning, and informing global events throughout the year.

“On the other hand, this also means that companies will have less time to prepare for the process, which includes coordinating with internal business units and collecting complex information. Our recommendation is to start this preparation now,” says Raíssa Urzedo, ESG Strategy Manager at WayCarbon.

5 Tips for efficient reporting

To support companies that wish to improve the process or that will be responding to the questionnaire for the first time, WayCarbon’s experts offer the following guidelines:

Use CDP materials as a guide

The official CDP manuals detail the evaluation criteria and the scoring for each option. Consulting these documents helps identify initiatives already underway at the company that may go unnoticed because they do not fall explicitly under the umbrella of the sustainability strategy — such as operational actions that improve energy efficiency or reduce fuel consumption.

Engage senior leadership in the process

The CDP questionnaire goes far beyond operational actions, such as the accounting of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, for example. The sections that carry the most weight in the scoring address Governance, Strategy, and Risk Management. Executive involvement is essential to integrate climate and sustainability into the business agenda and ensure that data collection is prioritized across the entire company.

Actively involve operational departments

The teams responsible for primary data need to understand the relevance of sustainability issues within the corporate context. When reporting is integrated into the departments’ daily routines, identifying gaps becomes more efficient, and data collection flows continuously rather than being a race against the clock.

Make transparency your guiding principle

Transparency is the foundation of the evaluation criteria for the Disclosure dimension. It is better to clearly state that the company does not yet have a particular practice or piece of information than to omit the data. Responding transparently scores higher than omitting information.

Turn the report into an action plan

The true value of the CDP lies in continuous improvement. Identifying gaps in each cycle allows you to develop concrete action plans, prioritizing the initiatives with the greatest impact for the following year.

Beyond deadlines: interoperability with IFRS S1 and S2 standards

Another frequently discussed issue regarding sustainability reporting is the existence of various reporting frameworks and programs, which can lead to redundant work when completing reports. With this in mind, the CDP aligned its questionnaire with IFRS S1 and S2 in 2024, serving as a practical platform for applying these global standards in the corporate market.

The CDP reporting process is aligned with the climate transparency requirements of S2 and the general financial sustainability requirements of S1. “This allows reporting processes to be more streamlined and makes the reports easier for investors and other stakeholders to understand,” explains João Souza, ESG Strategy Coordinator at WayCarbon.

By the numbers

Among the more than 22,000 companies that reported in 2025, there was a jump of more than 70% in the number of organizations on the “A List” (the highest rating) compared to the previous cycle in the Climate, Water, and Forests categories. Data from the platform also reveals that, in more than half of the sectors analyzed, climate leaders show market growth that is higher than or equivalent to that of companies with lower ESG performance.

From a financial market perspective, more than 640 investors (managing $127 trillion in assets) and more than 270 large corporations (through the CDP Supply Chain program) formally requested environmental data from their value chains via the CDP in the 2025 cycle.

WayCarbon is proud that 40% of the clients who submitted their reports made it onto the A List. More than 90% of our clients saw their scores improve. Contact our experts to learn how to advance your agenda.