CDP is a questionnaire, not a standard

This distinction matters more in practice than it sounds. A **standard** sets how to calculate. A **questionnaire** sets what has to be answered. And a box left unanswered shows up in the score. ## The problem CDP stated itself CDP published a technical note mapping which Scope 3 categories are relevant by sector. Its introduction is honest about why the map is needed. The criteria GHG Protocol offers for judging Scope 3 relevance are qualitative, so interpretations diverge. The result is written like this: > companies may end up measuring and reporting on **categories that are easy to calculate (e.g. business travel)** rather than the categories where most of their emissions occur but that are harder to calculate. ## How easy is what is being measured The same document puts a number on it. Category 6, "business travel", and category 7, "employee commuting", are described as negligible across all high-impact sectors, at **an average of 0.10% and 0.20%** of total Scope 3 emissions respectively. If business travel emissions are being compiled with care, that care is going into 0.1% of the total. Where the rest of it is, is in the next article. ※ This article cites CDP's technical note "Relevance of Scope 3 Categories by Sector", version 3.0 (revised 28 June 2024), as checked on 8 August 2026. --- This article expands one section of LCS international standards analysis 2, *Where CDP Puts Transport*. The full report works from the CDP technical note itself (v3.0, 2024-06-28) as its primary source with page numbers given, and does not fill in figures the document does not contain.