CDP and GRI launch new climate reporting tool

CDP and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) have launched a new tool, GRI-CDP mapping, designed to help companies align data requirements for climate and energy-related disclosures across both organisations’ frameworks. The tool aims to reduce duplication and enhance reporting consistency.

CDP operates a global environmental disclosure system, allowing stakeholders to evaluate organisations’ performance in sustainability areas such as climate, forests, and water security. In 2024, over 22,700 companies disclosed through CDP, marking an 8% increase from the previous year.

The GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards are widely recognised as global benchmarks for sustainability reporting. They enable consistent reporting across industries, facilitating clearer communication on sustainability issues to diverse stakeholders, including investors. Earlier this year, GRI finalised its Climate Change (GRI 102) and Energy (GRI 103) standards, which guide companies in disclosing climate-related and energy management impacts.

The new mapping exercise outlines how disclosures under GRI’s climate and energy standards can align with CDP’s environmental data points. This provides clarity on where the frameworks complement each other, allowing organisations to use the same data across both systems.

CDP’s Director of Climate, Amir Sokolowski, stated: “We’re pleased to launch this mapping with GRI – an important step towards more consistent and effective environmental disclosure. Through CDP, and with the support of this new tool, companies can report GRI-aligned data directly to stakeholders and the global market, easing the reporting burden while strengthening access to high-quality, comparable information.”

This tool follows a cooperation agreement between CDP and GRI, aimed at enhancing collaboration and aligning their standards to ease sustainability reporting and improve data access on corporate environmental impacts.

The announcement is part of ongoing efforts by both organisations to align their frameworks with other sustainability standards, including recent mappings between CDP and the EU’s ESRS climate standard, and alignments with the IFRS climate disclosure standard. GRI has also collaborated with IFRS and EFRAG to improve interoperability.

GRI’s Director of Standards, Harold Pauwels, commented: “This mapping tool is a new milestone in the cooperation of GRI and CDP, and will help entities to use the same data for different information purposes like the CDP questionnaire and GRI sustainability reporting. It directly addresses the needs expressed by reporting organisations implementing the GRI Standards for Climate Change, Energy, and Biodiversity, who were seeking clearer guidance and alignment to smoothen their reporting journey.”

For more information, access the [GRI-CDP mapping tool](https://www.cdp.net/en/about/framework-alignment).