This article is for disclosing Cities, States, or Regions that have recently received their CDP score or are preparing to do so. It explains how CDP scores are developed, when they are released, what information is included in your initial score, and how to interpret your results. It also summarizes CDP’s commitment to transparency and quality.
Disclosers can use this article alongside the scoring materials on our website. You can find the key supporting documents listed at the bottom of this article.
Contents
What is a CDP score?
CDP scores measure how well Disclosers understand and manage their environmental impacts. Each response is evaluated using a detailed methodology that assesses Disclosure, Awareness, Management, and Leadership across key stages of climate action maturity.
CDP undertakes scoring by assessing responders against a public scoring methodology, which details how each question in the CDP-ICLEI Track Cities or the States & Regions questionnaire will be scored, evaluating the responder’s progress towards environmental stewardship. The scoring methodology provides a roadmap to Cities, States or Regions to improve environmental performance, showing where progress is being made and where action is needed. CDP develops the scoring methodology each year to align with best practice, and by doing so CDP aims to drive changes in behaviour to improve local climate action and policy development.
Note: 3 questionnaire pathways are available to Cities, States and Regions to reflect the different contexts of local governments and to streamline reporting. These will be determined during your onboarding questionnaire setup. In 2025, CDP will only score Disclosers in Pathway 1.
Scores allow Cities, States, and Regions to track progress over time, benchmark progress against peers, identify areas for improvement, and communicate climate action to residents, funders, and partners. Scores are private to the disclosing jurisdiction unless an A score is awarded, in which case the jurisdiction will be publicly recognised on CDP’s A list.
For more detail on the above, please see our Cities Scoring Introduction and States and Regions Scoring Introduction documents.
How does CDP score Disclosers?
Scoring is carried out by CDP and accredited partners under strict quality assurance procedures. Scores are based solely on the data provided in your CDP response. External links or attachments are excluded unless they were specifically requested. Disclosers should ensure responses are complete, accurate, and current.
Each response is assessed against CDP’s public scoring methodology which reflects action on the core questions on climate change mitigation and adaptation in the areas of governance, assessment, planning and actions with some detail on sector metrics. Final overall scores are derived from question-level criteria, scoring rules and fulfilment of Essential Criteria.
Disclosers are allocated a final letter score, ranging from A to D-. A score of A results in public recognition on CDP’s Cities A List or States and Regions A List. For further guidance please also see the ‘For Cities’ and ‘For States and Regions’ tabs of our ‘Scoring materials’ page. Please note that ‘For States and Regions’ tab does not apply to Japan.
Scoring levels
Disclosers are evaluated across four scoring levels, representing stages of climate action maturity:
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Disclosure (D/D–): The jurisdiction is collecting and reporting basic climate data. The focus is on completeness of disclosure (e.g., emissions inventory, risks, governance).
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Awareness (C/C–): The jurisdiction understands its emissions sources and climate risks, and how they affect its community. Improved data quality demonstrates meaningful assessment, even if actions have not yet begun.
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Management (B/B–): The jurisdiction is implementing climate action. Evidence shows plans, policies, targets, and actions to reduce emissions and address climate impacts.
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Leadership (A/A–): Represents global best practice. The jurisdiction demonstrates ambitious, transparent climate action aligned with science and long-term resilience. Only jurisdictions that meet all Essential Criteria can achieve an A.
Essential Criteria
Essential Criteria are absolute requirements that must be met to achieve a scoring level. Failure to meet Essential Criteria may limit a Discloser’s score. Please see the ‘Essential Criteria’ section (Pages 7 and 8) in our Cities Scoring Introduction and States and Regions Scoring Introduction documents for more information.
How to read your score
Final score and overall score allocation
Your score is based on performance across the scoring levels. Scores reflect disclosure quality and maturity, rather than absolute environmental performance. The resulting overall score will appear in your Portal at the top of your score page.
To progress from one scoring level to the next, a minimum score threshold and all Essential Criteria for that level must be met. If these conditions are not fulfilled, your final score will remain at the previous level, even if there are areas of strong performance. The application of Essential Criteria ensures a consistent baseline of reporting at all levels of CDP scores.
For more detail on thresholds and the scoring structure, please see the ‘Final score allocation’ section (Pages 6 and 7) in our Cities Scoring Introduction and States and Regions Scoring Introduction documents.
Timeline of score release
The full disclosure cycle has several stages to ensure consistency and quality of submissions, as follows:
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Disclosure period: This is the timeframe when Disclosers prepare and submit their questionnaire responses via the CDP Portal before the scoring deadline, September 17, 2025.
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Scoring and quality review: After the disclosure period, CDP’s accredited scoring partners and internal scoring teams assess responses using the relevant scoring methodology and quality assurance processes.
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Initial score release: CDP makes scores available to Disclosers on December 10, 2025, through the CDP Portal, providing visibility of their results ahead of public release.
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Public release: Only Cities, States and Regions with A scores are published on CDP’s website in January 2026.
Disclosers will be notified of the schedule and key milestones via email and through the CDP Portal.
What’s included in the score release
2025 scores will be released to Disclosers on December 10. Scored Disclosers receive the following:
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Score: A score (D- to A) based on the assessment of the response against the appropriate public scoring methodology.
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Score privacy: Your score will only be in the public if you received an A score.
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Download option: In the top right of the ‘Score’ page you will have the option to download your score report as a pdf.
Why was I not scored?
In certain cases, a Discloser may not receive a score for the current scoring cycle. The reason behind this will be clearly stated underneath the ‘Score’ tile in your Portal. Common reasons include:
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Missed scoring deadline: If your response was submitted after the scoring deadline, September 17, 2025, it may not be eligible for scoring.
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Geographic restrictions (Russia/Belarus): in line with section 11 of CDP’s Terms and Conditions, Disclosers subject to geographic restrictions (e.g., located in or operating from Russia or Belarus) may not be eligible to be scored.
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Other eligibility factors: CDP may not score a response if it does not meet required conditions as per CDP’s Terms and Conditions. If this applies, CDP will notify the Discloser via email.
If you have questions about your eligibility or believe you should have been scored, please raise a case through My Support in the CDP Help Center. When raising a case via My Support, choose the category ‘I have a query related to CDP scoring’ and the subcategory ‘I have a query related to my organization’s score’ to ensure your case goes to the correct team.
Our commitment to transparency and quality
CDP is committed to ensuring scores are accurate, transparent, and fair. All scoring follows standardized methodologies, Essential Criteria, and multi-layered quality assurance.
Score Appeal Process
If a Discloser believes an error has occurred in a score, CDP does offer an appeal process for 6 weeks following the initial score release. If a Discloser wishes to take advantage of the score appeal process, they may submit an appeal form. Each appeal is independently reviewed by CDP’s scoring oversight team. Please review the full Score Appeal Policy and Process for further information.
CDP will communicate the outcome once the review is complete. CDP reserves the right to fully review a Discloser’s response, including content that was not mentioned in the appeal. The result of the appeal is final.
This process helps ensure that all Cities, States and Regions are scored fairly, and that CDP maintains the highest standards of data quality and transparency.
For appeal support, please raise a case through via My Support on the CDP Help Center. When raising a case via My Support, choose the category ‘I have a query related to CDP scoring’ and the subcategory ‘I have a query related to my organization’s score’ to ensure your case goes to the correct team.
CDP Scoring Resources
All mentioned resources in this article can be found on CDP’s website. The following direct links may be useful:
If you have not found the answer you were looking for, please contact our support team through My Support. You will need to be signed in to access this.
If you are a new user, you can register here. Once you are signed in, please return to the Help Center via the link at the top of the page.