Understanding the CDP rating (Carbon Disclosure Project)

Each year, a questionnaire is sent out for each of the three themes (climate, forest, water).

The method is used to assess the level of detail of the responses, as well as the company's awareness of environmental issues, its methods, strategies and progress.

Companies that respond are assessed and graded with the grades ranging from A to D. Companies that do not respond are given an F by default.


To obtain an A grade, the company must demonstrate leadership (good practice in terms of strategy and action) in environmental matters.
It must also undertake other actions: creating a climate transition plan, auditing its value chain, validating SBTi commitments (in the shortterm and net zero in the longer term, developing water risk assessment strategies or reporting on the impact of deforestation for all operations, supply chains and commodities concerned, etc.).

The B grade corresponds to environmental management. In other words, companies take into account their impact on the environment and show signs of managing this impact. They are therefore taking action, without being leaders.

A C grade indicates a commitment to raising awareness.

A D grade is the starting point for organizations wishing to demonstrate that they have begun their environmental journey.

There are many reasons!
Firstly, to be as transparent as possible and to respond to growing environmental concerns.
But it also has other virtues: responding each year allows progress to be monitored. It's a bit like an annual report card. The score also allows us to compare ourselves with other companies.

The form also represents a great opportunity to stay as up to date as possible on these subjects. The new features for 2023, for example, include taxonomy. This is not yet a compulsory area of work, but it will become one in the future... The company can therefore also pick up a signal, a trend in a field that is not being worked on, or has not yet been worked on.

Last but not least, the CDP rating can also have an influence on the perception of stakeholders (investors, customers, business partners)... This is because the rating is given by an independent body, which complements (confirms or mitigates) the company's own statements.

- enables our internal and external stakeholders to better position the company on its environmental strategies and actions.  Externally, it means placing our trust in an objective third-party organisation,
- is an opportunity to be evaluated, challenged, re-questioned... and, sometimes, to be ahead of the regulations: the CDP has had a significant influence on the standard currently being drawn up by EFRAG, which will become the European standard for CSRD. It enables us to prepare for this requirement.

In other words?
EFRAG (European Financial Reporting Advisory Group) is an international not-for-profit association created in 2001 with the encouragement of the European Commission to serve the public interest.
And EFRAG has worked with the European Commission on the subject of CSRD.

The CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) will replace and extend the DPEF in 2024 (for listed companies and in 2025 for unlisted companies, including Decathlon). Companies will be required to provide detailed information on sustainability and climate change issues, and to assess the impact of their activities on the environment and society in general.

The NFRD (Non-Financial Reporting Declaration) is a company's sustainable development report. It is the document that quantifies and reports on everything that is not financial.