Your biggest customers want sustainability data now, and the request usually comes with a deadline, a scoring rubric, and real stakes for the relationship.
Most of it funnels through two frameworks: EcoVadis and CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project), which procurement teams use to benchmark suppliers and manage risk in their own supply chain. If a customer's asking you to report, this is why.
They're not interchangeable, EcoVadis and CDP score different things in different formats, but they draw on the same underlying data: your emissions numbers, your policies, your governance evidence. Build that foundation once and each new request gets faster, not harder.
You don't need to master either framework – you need someone who already has. Good.Lab's consultants handle EcoVadis and CDP responses daily, with the software for the data work and the judgment to know what a credible answer looks like in your industry. You keep the relationship. We handle the framework.
Here's what you need to know about fielding these requests: what sets EcoVadis and CDP apart, where they overlap, and how to get ahead of them.
Understanding EcoVadis: The Leading Sustainability Rating Framework
EcoVadis is a leading sustainability reporting framework and performance rating system trusted by over 175,000 companies worldwide. Large organizations use it to request supplier sustainability data.
More than 1,400 global enterprises seek data from tens of thousands of suppliers annually to align with their corporate sustainability goals.
Companies asked to report must complete a comprehensive sustainability questionnaire and provide supporting documentation. Based on this input, they receive an annual score from 1 to 100. Companies scoring in the top 50% earn bronze, silver, gold, or platinum medals, highlighting their sustainability achievements.
EcoVadis assessments cover environmental, social, and governance (ESG) topics, making them a valuable tool for companies to assess suppliers' sustainability performance across a wide range of metrics.
Reporters to EcoVadis receive in-depth guidance based on their submissions to improve their future scores and overall sustainability performance. Working with a third party to evaluate this feedback and integrate it into your sustainability strategy can help you improve scores year over year.
How Major Companies Use EcoVadis to Assess Suppliers
EcoVadis’ simple scoring system (a rating of 1-100) makes it a preferred choice for procurement and supply chain professionals. Allowing companies to easily benchmark performance and set clear minimum thresholds for supplier eligibility. Some examples of companies using EcoVadis to assess supplier performance include:
- General Motors encourages its tier 1 suppliers to sign a Supplier Pledge that requires an EcoVadis score of 50 points or higher in Labor and Human Rights, Ethics, and Sustainable Procurement by 2025.
- Nestlé uses EcoVadis to engage its supply chain and improve visibility, traceability, and performance with its own sustainability goals.
- Johnson & Johnson requires suppliers in its Supplier Sustainability Program to complete an annual EcoVadis assessment and work on continual improvements.
Understanding CDP: The Leading Environmental Disclosure Framework
Much like EcoVadis, CDP is another leading voluntary framework for sustainability reporting, with over 23,000 companies participating in 2025. It is one of the most commonly used frameworks for companies requesting environmental data from their suppliers, with around 45,000 companies expected to receive data requests in 2026.
Companies and investors use the CDP questionnaire to assess the environmental impact of their suppliers and portfolio companies. Companies request CDP data to ensure suppliers align with their environmental goals and to evaluate climate and other environmental risks in their supply chain.
If CDP asks you to report, you’ll typically receive an invitation to complete an annual questionnaire focused on the metrics your customer wants to know, usually climate data.
You submit the questionnaire during a designated annual reporting period. The questionnaire gauges performance in areas such as climate change, water, and deforestation. Some organizations are scored on an A-F scale, reflecting their environmental performance.
CDP reporting is highly regarded for its specific focus on environmental factors and alignment with widely recognized standards like ISSB, TCFD, and SBTi, and is therefore favored by sustainability, compliance, and supply chain professionals alike
How Major Companies Use CDP to Assess Suppliers
Hundreds of major enterprises use CDP to engage their supply chain. Some examples of companies that use CDP to assess their supply chain environmental performance include:
- Hewlett Packard uses CDP Supply Chain to ask suppliers to report climate data through CDP and set ambitious, science-based target initiative (SBTi)- aligned goals. The company has committed to directing 80% of its manufacturing spend to SBTi-aligned suppliers, so any company reporting to CDP annually has a competitive advantage.
- Walmart requires companies to report to CDP annually as part of its Project Gigaton, to track their annual emissions reductions.
Why You Might Be Asked to Report to CDP and EcoVadis
Large buying organizations across healthcare, retail, and many other sectors use both EcoVadis and CDP to get comprehensive insights into the environmental sustainability practices of companies they do business with. There are two main reasons you could be asked to report to both:
- CDP primarily focuses on environmental impacts. EcoVadis provides a broader assessment across all ESG topics. So customers may want both to get CDP's depth and EcoVadis's breadth.
- Some companies prefer one over the other, so one customer uses EcoVadis to get information, another requests data through CDP.
The Benefits of Reporting to CDP and EcoVadis Simultaneously
Reporting to both frameworks enables your company to report on sustainability holistically and receive scores from both, meeting all stakeholder expectations. Additional benefits of reporting to both CDP & EcoVadis include:
- Regulatory Preparedness: Improves your ability to collect, measure, and report on key sustainability metrics, which are increasingly essential as sustainability reporting regulations accelerate globally.
- Identify Gaps and Improve Sustainability Performance: Reporting to both frameworks allows companies to identify and address gaps in their sustainability practices and drive continuous improvement in areas like emissions reductions.
- Improve Brand Reputation: By reporting to and earning scores in both CDP and EcoVadis, companies can demonstrate strong sustainability performance and potentially earn new customers.
CDP vs. EcoVadis: Key Differences Between the Leading Two Sustainability Frameworks
Understanding the differences between CDP and EcoVadis helps suppliers align their sustainability reporting with what their largest customers are asking.
The following table summarizes the main differences between these frameworks:
How to Report to CDP and EcoVadis Without Doing the Work Twice
CDP expects to request disclosure from tens of thousands of organizations in 2026, and more than 1,400 enterprise buyers request EcoVadis ratings from their suppliers. Enough suppliers sit in both pools that getting asked twice is becoming normal.
Thankfully, there is enough overlap between the two to limit enough, but not enough to share the exact same information twice. Here are some things to keep in mind if you are reporting to both:
- Both want similar data, but in different formats: Your emissions, water, and forests data feeds both frameworks. But CDP wants numbers built to the GHG Protocol, and EcoVadis wants documents: a policy, evidence you acted on it, and a result you can show.
- CDP and EcoVadis are in partnership: CDP and EcoVadis are not competitors. The EcoVadis platform is a global Gold Software Solution Provider for CDP. While that means there are similarities in the submissions, your EcoVadis submission still won't export directly into a CDP response, so the reuse still depends on how your team organized the underlying data.
- One tells you what to fix. The other makes you work it out: EcoVadis returns a scorecard showing where you lost points, by theme, with a corrective action plan. CDP publishes its full scoring methodology, but the rules are generic, and the diagnosis of your own answers is yours to do.
Environment is roughly a quarter of your EcoVadis scorecard, and everything CDP asks for sits inside that quarter. CDP never prepares you for labor and human rights, ethics, and sustainable procurement.
How Good.Lab Helps Companies Report into CDP & EcoVadis
With the number of suppliers being requested by buyers to report using these frameworks increasing by thousands every year, if you do not receive a request to report to both, you will eventually.
Starting today, reporting to one and understanding the differences and overlaps between the two will set you up to efficiently report to both when requested.
Whether you're asked to report to one or both, working with a partner who understands the differences and similarities between EcoVadis and CDP is critical.
For EcoVadis, for example, Good.Lab is an EcoVadis Approved Training Partner, and we have EcoVadis certified consultants on our team.
Here our process for EcoVadis:
- Project Kickoff (1–2 Weeks): Good.Lab meets with your team to review goals, motivations, and any existing EcoVadis-related work, such as past scorecards.
- Action Plan (6–8 Weeks): We will help collect and manage sustainability metrics, calculate accurate emissions data, and prepare all necessary policies and supporting documentation.
- Submission (1 Week): We will ensure priority improvements are addressed and verify you have everything ready for submission.
- Results (6–8 Weeks): We will review your EcoVadis results and provide analysis, targeted actions, and recommendations to enhance your score for the next cycle.
From a CDP perspective, we have helped companies collect, calculate, and compile all of the emissions and any other environmental data you may need to report, even if you are on a tight deadline.
Here is our process for CDP submissions:
- CDP Kickoff (1–2 weeks mid-April): Good.Lab's CDP Reporting Consultants meet with your team to discuss motivations, review any existing CDP work, and plan the reporting process ahead.
- Action Plan (6–8 Weeks May): We will support your team by collecting and managing environmental data (e.g., climate, water, and plastics), calculating accurate metrics, and preparing all necessary documentation.
- Submission (1 Week June): We will identify key improvements, polish your report, and guide you through the CDP submission process.
- Results (October–December): CDP experts analyze your report and provide results. Our team will help you develop a plan to improve scores next year with targeted actions.
Good.Lab is here to help you optimize your submissions across EcoVadis and CDP and ensure you get the most out of your reporting efforts. Our expertise and powerful sustainability platform make reporting to CDP and EcoVadis seem simple.
👉 See how we helped Brock Group increase their EcoVadis score by 23 points
👉 See how we helped CISCRP get their CDP report done against a very tight deadline
