# CDP asks how I engage my own suppliers on climate. What can a small supplier honestly say?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/cdp-value-chain-engagement-small-supplier

Describe only what you actually do: asking key suppliers for energy or emissions data, adding climate questions to supplier onboarding, or buying lower-carbon inputs. Give the share of suppliers or spend it covers. If you do nothing yet, say so and state the first step you will take.

## What CDP is asking

CDP asks whether you engage your value chain on environmental issues, with whom (suppliers, customers, others), how, and how much of your supply base it covers, usually as a share of suppliers or of procurement spend. Engagement ranges from collecting information to setting requirements and working jointly on reductions.

## Engagement a small supplier can honestly report

- Collecting data: you asked your top raw material and freight suppliers for energy use, emissions or product footprints.
- Requirements: purchase orders or supplier onboarding forms now include climate or energy questions.
- Purchasing choices: you shifted part of a material to recycled content or a supplier with lower-carbon production, with invoices to show it.
- Joint work: a project with a supplier, such as returnable packaging or full-truck loads.

## How to work out coverage

1. List suppliers by annual spend from your purchase register.
2. Mark those you engaged during the reporting year.
3. Coverage by spend = spend with engaged suppliers / total procurement spend.
4. If you engaged 6 suppliers who account for Rs 2.4 crore of Rs 4 crore spend, coverage is 60% of spend.

## What not to claim

Do not count a supplier as engaged because you sent one email with no reply, and do not describe a plan as something already done. A customer may ask for the evidence.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reads purchase invoices and keeps supplier, spend, quantity and HSN code in a separate supplier evidence trail, which gives you the spend list for coverage and the record of what you bought.

- [Which suppliers to engage first](https://senseible.earth/answers/which-suppliers-to-engage-first-on-scope-3)
- [Getting data from tier 2 suppliers](https://senseible.earth/answers/how-to-get-emissions-data-from-tier-2-suppliers)
- [Supplier emissions data playbook](https://senseible.earth/climate-intelligence/supplier-emissions-data-collection-playbook-msme)

Sources: [CDP corporate questionnaire, value chain engagement questions (current cycle)](https://www.cdp.net), [GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard, Chapter 7 (collecting data)](https://ghgprotocol.org/corporate-value-chain-scope-3-standard)

Last reviewed 2026-10-18. CDP value chain engagement questions change between cycles; check the current questionnaire.