We are a first-time CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project) responder. How many past years of emissions do we enter and in what order?

CDP asks a first-time responder for the current reporting year and up to five years before it, entered current year first and working backwards. Each year must be one full past year. You may restate earlier figures, which CDP says is optional, but must flag them as restated.

What CDP says for Scope 1 and 2

• If you are a first-time responder, give gross global Scope 1 emissions for the current reporting year and up to five years before it. The same applies to Scope 2 in 7.7.
• The number of past-year rows that appear depends on how many past years you chose in question 1.4.
• Fill the current reporting year in the first row and work backwards.
• Each period must be one full year that has already passed. Periods should not be in the future.
• Use the methodological details column for relevant information on the past years' emissions.

What CDP says for Scope 3

In 7.8.1 CDP asks a first-time responder for up to five years before the current reporting year. Here the year before the current reporting year goes in the first row, and you work backwards. The comment column is for the calculation methods and an indication of the share calculated from supplier or value chain data.

Restating a figure you gave CDP before

• Reporting recalculated figures is optional.
• Enter all years in reverse order, current year first.
• For Scope 1 and 2 (7.6 and 7.7), use the methodological details column to say the data are restated and why. For Scope 3 (7.8.1), use the comment column. CDP also points to its technical note on restatements.

How many years should you give

My reading: give the years for which you hold complete bills and no more. CDP says up to five, not five. A supplier with bills for two past years would choose two in question 1.4. Years you did not measure are better left out than filled with a guess, and the methodological details column can explain the choice.

Example: reporting year 2025-26, bills for two earlier years

• Row 1, reporting year 2025-26: 560,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) x 0.675 kilograms (kg) per kWh = 378,000 kg = 378.0 tonnes Scope 2. The online reporting-year row has no end date cell.
• Row 2, year 2024-25: 600,000 kWh x 0.710 kg per kWh = 426,000 kg = 426.0 tonnes. Past-year rows take an end date; in CDP's April 2025 edition they run only up to 19/11/2024, so check the window in the form you are sent, as it changes each cycle.
• Row 3, year 2023-24 (end date 31/03/2024, inside that window): a further year only if its 12 months of bills are complete; the factor for that year comes from the Central Electricity Authority edition for it.
• Methodological details for each row: "Bills for all 12 months; factor for that financial year; no estimates."

Quantities are example numbers. 0.675 and 0.710 are the Central Electricity Authority factors for financial years 2025-26 and 2024-25. Use the factor for each year's own bills.

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. It does not enter your answers in the CDP portal, and refrigerant top-ups need your own service records.

• CDP 7.6 and 7.7: entry rules
• CDP 7.5: which base year to enter
• CDP first-time score and private response
• CDP 7.8.1: restating Scope 3

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

Last reviewed 2026-11-06. Wording is from CDP guidance for its 2025 corporate questionnaire. Check the version your customer sent. The advice to give only complete years is my reading.