Climate Disclosure Platform CDP Sells Majority Stake to Private Equity as Fewer Companies Disclose and Mandatory Disclosure Requirements Lead to Less Company Interest in the Platform

    Nonprofit disclosure platform CDP will move to the private sector, and private equity firm Permira will assume majority ownership. In addition to the sale, a new nonprofit will be created, CDP Foundation, that will continue to develop new disclosure methods. Fewer companies are disclosing now, and the company has had to lay off employees. Private equity companies are known for maximizing short-term profit, while sustainability-based groups do not usually prioritize profit.

     Jim Giles at Trellis explains:

“It has not been an easy few years for CDP. Technical glitches impacted the disclosure cycles for data from 2023 and, to a lesser extent, 2024. Renewal rates suffered and an expected increase in commercial revenue was delayed, CDP said in its 2025 report. The proliferation of mandatory disclosure requirements has also prompted some companies to reconsider the need to report to CDP, contributing to a fall in disclosures in 2025 — the first in the organization’s history.”

     CDP CEO Sherry Madera explains how CDP is trying to improve the disclosure process and make it more efficient. There have been complaints in the past about access fees, but she did not address those.

“CDP already follows a “write once, use many” approach designed to ensure that a single submission to the platform can be used by multiple stakeholders, including supply chain partners and investors. One immediate focus, said Madera, is improving the “write” part of the process so companies can upload documents they have already produced, such as annual sustainability reports and regulatory filings, then let the system automatically extract the relevant data.”

 

Climate Disclosure Platforms and What They Do

     I searched ‘climate disclosure platform’ on Microsoft CoPilot and got the following results:

“Climate disclosure platforms help organizations, governments, and cities measure, report, and manage climate-related data to drive sustainability, regulatory compliance, and actionable environmental insights.”

     CDP, which stands for Carbon Disclosure Platform, is now a global company, formerly a global nonprofit.

“Climate disclosure platforms are essential tools for organizations and governments to measure, report, and act on climate-related data. Whether through nonprofit systems like CDP and TCR, open data utilities, or AI-driven commercial platforms, these solutions enable transparency, regulatory compliance, and actionable insights to support sustainability and climate resilience efforts globally.”

  

 

 

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CDP sells majority stake to private equity firm. Jim Giles. Trellis. June 17, 2026. CDP sells majority stake to private equity firm | Trellis