What is CDP Water Security?
CDP Water Security is the water section of CDP's annual environmental disclosure system. Companies report how water affects their business, their withdrawals, discharges and consumption, water risks and opportunities, governance and targets, and CDP scores the responses for investors and customers.
What it is
CDP is a not-for-profit that runs a global environmental disclosure system on behalf of investors and purchasing organizations. Its water questionnaire asks companies about water accounting, facility-level data in water-stressed areas, risk assessment, business impacts, governance, strategy and targets.
Responses are scored on a scale from A to D minus. CDP has moved toward an integrated questionnaire covering climate, water and other themes, so check the current guidance for structure and deadlines.
Investors and large buyers use CDP water data to judge how exposed a company is to water stress, regulation and supply disruption. A disclosure built from estimates is hard to defend year to year, while metered data lets a company show real change.
Who it applies to / where it is used
Companies disclose through CDP when asked by investor signatories or by customers through supply chain programs, or voluntarily. Food and beverage, manufacturing, technology, apparel, mining and real estate companies are frequent responders.
How it is measured / what evidence it needs
The strongest responses use measured site data, especially for facilities in water-stressed regions.
- Total withdrawals, discharges and consumption
- Facility-level data for sites in water-stressed areas
- Withdrawals by source and discharges by destination
- Water targets and progress
- Water risk assessment methods
How Aqueduct helps
Aqueduct supplies metered withdrawals, discharges and reuse by site, exportable for the CDP response.
- Metered withdrawals by source and site through aQ WaterGuard
- Reuse and recycling volumes from treatment plants
- Loss reduction verified at the meter to evidence targets
- Exports through aQ Assurance for the sustainability team