How to complete your CDP Climate questionnaire using EmitCI

The CDP Climate questionnaire is the disclosure mechanism for California SB 253, and it is increasingly referenced in CSRD supplier data requests, ESG rating agency assessments, and enterprise procurement RFPs. If you are filing for the first time, the questionnaire is dense. This is a guide to the sections that engineering data fills and what EmitCI exports to pre-populate them.

What CDP is and who files it

CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project) is a non-profit that runs the global disclosure platform for climate, water, and forests data. For California SB 253, CARB designated CDP as the official emissions reporting organisation (ERO). Filing with CDP satisfies the SB 253 reporting requirement.

Companies file via the CDP platform once per year. You select the questionnaires relevant to your organisation — most software companies respond to the Climate questionnaire only. The response is private to CDP unless you elect to make it public (public responses are scored and published in CDP's annual dataset).

The sections EmitCI fills

The C6 module of the CDP Climate questionnaire covers GHG emissions. EmitCI produces data for five C6 sections.

SECTION   TITLE                        EMITCI OUTPUT
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
C6.1      Scope 1 emissions            Declared value from Scope 1 card
C6.1c     Scope 1 verification         Assurance provider, level, date, reference
C6.3      Scope 2 emissions            Declared value from Scope 2 card
          (location-based + market)    (both methods calculated)
C6.3e     Scope 2 verification         Assurance provider, level, date, reference
C6.5      Scope 3 by category          CDP Excel workbook (auto-filled from data)
          Covered + excluded categories Both covered and exclusion rows

C6.5 — Scope 3 breakdown

This is the section that requires the most preparation and where EmitCI provides the most automated assistance. C6.5 asks for one row per Scope 3 category — there are 15 in the GHG Protocol — with MTCO₂e (metric tonnes), an evaluation status, a data source description, and a methodology note.

EMITCI AUTO-FILLS IN C6.5 WORKBOOK:
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Category 1  (Purchased goods & services — cloud + SaaS + hardware)
  → MTCO₂e from connected cloud accounts + SaaS tool spend + hardware declarations
  → Data source: AWS Cost Explorer / GCP Billing API / DEFRA spend / PCF data
  → Evaluation: Calculated

Category 3.3 (Upstream energy — CI/CD runners)
  → MTCO₂e from all CI/CD runs in the period
  → Data source: GitHub Actions webhook + GreenAlgorithms v2.2 methodology
  → Evaluation: Calculated

Categories 2–15 not covered:
  → Exclusion rows auto-generated with reason: "Not material to software company"
    or "Insufficient data — category under evaluation"

The completeness statement sheet (included in EmitCI's CDP workbook export) summarises the percentage of your Scope 3 footprint covered by calculated data. CDP reviewers check this first. A filing with exclusion rows and stated reasons is accepted. A filing with blank rows is flagged for follow-up.

C6.1c and C6.3e — Verification columns

These sections ask whether you obtained third-party verification for Scope 1 and Scope 2 respectively. The CDP questionnaire offers four options: No third-party verification, Third-party verification (limited assurance), Third-party verification (reasonable assurance), Third-party verification (in progress).

EmitCI populates these automatically from the assurance details you declare on the Scope 1 and Scope 2 cards — provider name, assurance level (none / limited / reasonable), engagement date, and your reference number. When you download the CDP workbook, C6.1c and C6.3e already contain the correct verification status and provider details.

What EmitCI does not fill

NOT COVERED BY EMITCI:
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
C2        Risks and opportunities (qualitative narrative)
C3        Business strategy (climate integration narrative)
C4        Targets and performance (you set the targets)
C5        Emissions methodology narrative (supplement Methodology PDF
          with your org-specific commentary)
C7        Emissions breakdown by activity (more granular than C6)
C8        Energy (separate from emissions — office kWh by source)
C9–C14    Other environmental topics

The narrative sections — C2, C3, C4 — are where sustainability managers, legal counsel, and the board have input. EmitCI provides the quantitative backbone. The qualitative strategy and risk narrative is your team's job.

Filing sequence

① Open EmitCI Emissions page → Compliance Downloads
② Download CDP Excel workbook (C6.5 format)
   → C6.5 Scope 3 categories pre-filled
   → C6.1c / C6.3e Verification columns pre-filled
③ Download Methodology PDF
   → Attach to C5.1 methodology disclosure
④ Log into CDP platform (cdp.net)
⑤ Open your organisation's Climate questionnaire
⑥ Complete C2–C5 narrative sections with your team
⑦ Copy C6.1 Scope 1 value from EmitCI Scope 1 card
⑧ Copy C6.3 Scope 2 values (location + market) from Scope 2 card
⑨ Import or manually enter C6.5 data from the workbook
   (CDP platform does not accept direct Excel import — copy cell by cell)
⑩ Copy verification data from C6.1c / C6.3e columns into CDP form
⑪ Review completeness statement — confirm all 15 categories have a row
⑫ Submit

One note on step ⑨: CDP's platform does not currently support direct import of the C6.5 workbook. You copy the pre-filled values into the CDP web form. The workbook is designed to make this fast — all values are in the right cells with the right units (MTCO₂e, not grams) so the copying is straightforward rather than requiring any conversion.

Scoring

CDP scores responses from A (Leadership) to D (Disclosure), with an F for non-disclosure. A first-time filer with complete Scope 1, 2, and 3 data, third-party assurance on S1/S2, and a documented reduction target typically scores B or C. Getting to A requires demonstrating leadership actions — active supplier engagement, science-based targets, board-level oversight. The data that EmitCI provides puts you solidly in the Awareness to Management band (C to B) in year one.