Can a small supplier get an A on CDP's SME questionnaire?

Yes, from 2026: CDP added an A score for climate change to the SME questionnaire, though CDP says an SME A is not equivalent to a full questionnaire A. Only climate is scored in 2026. The scoring deadline was 16 September, and scores reach disclosers the week of 30 November.

First, check you can use the SME form

• More than 1,000 employees or more than US$250 million annual revenue: full corporate questionnaire only.
• Below both limits: you may answer the SME questionnaire, or choose the full one.
• Asked to disclose by the RE100 initiative: not eligible for the SME questionnaire.

An SME A is not a full A

CDP's own FAQ says the SME A is not equivalent to an A on the full corporate questionnaire, and it strongly encourages the full questionnaire if you are responding to customers or want leadership recognition. Before you aim for an SME A, ask the customer who requested you which one it reads.

How the letter is built

CDP scores four levels in order: Disclosure (D), Awareness (C), Management (B) and Leadership (A). Your response is scored at Disclosure first, and you move up only when you clear a minimum score at each level. Category weightings count at Management and Leadership only. CDP's Essential Criteria, the absolute requirements that can cap a score, apply to the full questionnaire. So for an SME the A comes down to points at every level, not a single pass or fail test. The thresholds are in CDP's SME Scoring Introduction in the CDP Portal.

What the climate module asks for

• Your emissions method and anything you left out, with the reason.
• Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions.
• Emissions broken down by business activity.
• Energy use.
• Emission reduction targets.
• Reduction initiatives you have carried out.

Where small suppliers lose points

• Blank answers. CDP reads a blank as not disclosed. Enter zero only when you measured zero; if you did not measure, leave it blank and explain why in the text box.
• Answers in Hindi or another unsupported language. CDP scores only English, Latin American Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese and Chinese.
• No target. Targets sit in the climate module, and a measured baseline with a dated intensity target, like the one below, is within reach of a small unit.
• Scope 3 left as "not calculated". Estimates are allowed if you say how uncertain they are.

The 2026 dates, and what to do now

• Week of 15 June 2026: response window opened.
• 16 September 2026: scoring deadline.
• Week of 26 October 2026: last date for unscored responses and amendments.
• Week of 30 November 2026: scores released to disclosers, with public scores later that week.
• If you missed it, build next year's file now: twelve months of bills, a Scope 3 screen, and a target signed by the owner.

One rule for companies based in India

CDP's 2026 terms of disclosure say a discloser based in India must not use its score for ESG investment, compliance or research decisions, or share it with any Indian resident or entity that would use it that way. Before you put the score in a loan file or show it to an Indian investor, check with CDP.

Worked example: a target an MSME can actually report

• Grid electricity 3,00,000 kWh x 0.675 kg/kWh = 202.5 t CO2 (Scope 2)
• LPG for the furnace 24,000 kg x 2.98 kg/kg = 71.5 t CO2 (Scope 1)
• Total Scope 1 and 2 = 274.0 t CO2; output 1,500 t
• Intensity = 274.0 / 1,500 = 0.183 t CO2 per tonne of product
• Target: 30% lower intensity by FY 2030-31 = 0.183 x 0.70 = 0.128 t per tonne
• Action behind it: a 100 kW rooftop plant and a dated furnace insulation job, each with invoices

Example figures. Grid factor from the CEA CO2 Baseline Database version 22.0 for FY 2025-26; LPG factor from IPCC 2006 defaults.

What Senseible does here

Senseible turns your bills into Scope 1 and 2 figures with the source behind each line, the baseline a CDP response and its target rest on. Its team can draft your answers from those records and your policies, you review and submit, and no score is promised.

• Get your carbon number
• SME or full questionnaire
• How CDP scores are calculated
• Answering CDP with no target yet
• Questionnaire support

Sources: CDP, disclosure FAQs: the SME A score and how it compares with the full questionnaire (2026), CDP Help Center, Understand your score as a disclosing company (KA-01160, 2026), CDP, SME Questionnaire Overview 2026 (April 2026), CEA CO2 Baseline Database for the Indian power sector, version 22.0, CDP, terms of disclosure 2026, section 13.4 on companies based in India

Last reviewed 2026-10-29. Re-check eligibility limits, scored themes and dates when CDP publishes the 2027 SME guidance.