In CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project) question 7.17, should a single-plant manufacturer break Scope 1 down by division, facility or activity?

Tick every breakdown you can give that investors would find useful. For one plant, "by facility" is a single row, so in my reading "by activity" tells the reader more: boiler, generator, vehicles, refrigerant. CDP wants activity names a stranger can understand.

What 7.17 asks

You select all that apply: by business division, by facility, by activity. CDP says to identify breakdowns relevant to your business and of interest to investors. Choosing one opens a follow-up question: 7.17.1, 7.17.2 or 7.17.3.

What each choice means in CDP's guidance

• Division: shows the relative performance of your divisions. CDP recommends matching the divisions to those in your company filings and financial statements.
• Facility: CDP quotes the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol definition, buildings, equipment and structures on a single site or contiguous or adjacent sites owned or operated by the same entity. Facility type, such as cement plant, is preferable to include.
• Activity: defined by you, for example stationary combustion, mobile combustion, fugitive emissions, process activities, office activities.

Writing activities well

• Use language clear to someone outside your organisation and avoid company-specific terms.
• Break each activity down far enough to show a complete emissions profile, but stop where more detail adds nothing.
• A company that generates its own electricity should list it as a separate activity, preferably split by fuel.

My reading for a single plant

One plant gives one facility row, which repeats your total. A by-activity split shows where the tonnes come from, so the buyer sees what to fix. You can tick both.

Example: one plant, four activities

• Coal in the boiler: 180.0 tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e).
• Diesel in the generator: 96.0 tonnes CO2e.
• Diesel in forklifts and vehicles: 24.0 tonnes CO2e.
• Refrigerant top-ups: 20.0 tonnes CO2e.
• Total: 180.0 + 96.0 + 24.0 + 20.0 = 320.0 tonnes CO2e, matching Scope 1 in 7.6.

Example numbers. The split should add to your own reported Scope 1.

What Senseible does here

Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills into monthly records, so the litres, kilowatt hours and months are in one place to copy from. A diesel invoice does not say which machine burned the diesel. That split comes from your own logs.

• CDP 7.17.2: facility rows and coordinates
• CDP 7.22: group versus other entities
• Allocating emissions to a customer in CDP
• Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) carbon number

Sources: CDP, Full Corporate Questionnaire Module 7 reporting guidance, April 2025 edition

Last reviewed 2026-11-05. CDP revises its questionnaire and guidance every year. Check the version your customer sent you before you answer.