CDP asks if we recalculated our base year after a change. What are the answer options?
Five: yes; no because you have not evaluated whether the change should trigger it; no because the impact is below your significance threshold; no because acquired or divested operations did not exist in the base year; no because you lack the data yet and plan to recalculate next year.
When the question appears
Only if you answered yes to a change in 7.1.1, or yes or "no, but we found significant errors" in 7.1.2.
The table you fill
- Base year recalculation: one of the five options.
- Scopes recalculated: Scope 1, Scope 2 location-based, Scope 2 market-based, Scope 3.
- Your recalculation policy, including the significance threshold.
- Past years recalculated: yes or no.
When the GHG Protocol says to recalculate
- Structural change through acquisition or divestment.
- A change in the method or boundary.
- Significant errors found in earlier figures.
- Changes to excluded sources.
Rules CDP stresses
- A company may skip recalculation if the impact is not significant, but must set the threshold in a policy and disclose it.
- Apply the policy both ways: recalculate for increases and decreases.
- Recalculating past years between the base year and now is optional under the GHG Protocol.
- If you say yes to past years, 1.4 must also show how many years you restate.
Example with a made-up policy
- Policy: recalculate the base year when a change moves base year emissions by 5% or more.
- Base year: 2,000 t. A small unit bought this year would have added 60 t.
- 60 / 2,000 x 100 = 3%, below 5%.
- Answer: no, because the impact does not meet our significance threshold. State the 5% in the policy box.
Your threshold is your own choice; CDP asks you to state it.
What Senseible does here
Senseible stores dated records per site, so a change in boundary or method can be re-run on the original bills for the base year.
- Fixing a CDP response after submitting
- When targets must be recalculated (SBTi)
- Scope 3 supplier evidence
Sources: CDP, Full Corporate Questionnaire, Module 7 reporting guidance (April 2025), question 7.1.3
Last reviewed 2026-11-03. CDP updates its questionnaire and guidance every year; check the current version before answering.