Three new commodities in the scored module
CDP Forests 2026 expands the scored commodities from four to seven. Cattle products, palm oil, soy and timber stay; cocoa, coffee and rubber now join them. This is the largest single expansion of forests scoring since the module was introduced, and it materially changes the work for food and beverage, automotive, consumer goods and any company sourcing chocolate, coffee or rubber based products.
The scoring methodology is the same as for the existing four commodities. What changes is the scope of what counts. Companies that already disclose for palm oil and soy have the architecture; the work is extending it to the new three.
Why these three were added now
The selection is not arbitrary. Cocoa, coffee and rubber are among the highest deforestation risk commodities in global supply chains, particularly in West Africa (cocoa), Latin America and East Africa (coffee), and Southeast Asia (rubber). The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) covers all three. The CDP Forests scope expansion mirrors the regulatory direction.
For companies in the EU market, EUDR compliance already requires geolocation of production plots, deforestation free verification since the December 2020 cutoff, and legality verification. The data feeds CDP Forests directly.
For broader context on EUDR and CDP Forests overlap see CDP Forests and EUDR: how to align both with one data layer.
What is required for each commodity
The scoring criteria apply identically across the seven commodities:
- Volumes by sourcing geography.
- Traceability level: country, region, sub region, mill or production unit.
- Certification coverage with chain of custody (RSPO for palm, FSC for timber, Rainforest Alliance for cocoa and coffee, FSC or PEFC for rubber).
- Deforestation free verification since a documented cutoff date (CDP rewards 2020 or earlier).
- Supplier engagement with risk mitigation protocols.
- Quantitative deforestation free volume verified by satellite or independent monitoring.
For cocoa, coffee and rubber specifically, the certification ecosystem is well developed but coverage rates are typically lower than palm oil. Many cocoa and coffee supply chains still source significant volume from non certified smallholder farms. Building traceability and engagement programmes for these chains is more complex than for palm oil but the techniques are similar.
Cocoa: the West Africa problem
Cocoa supply chains for chocolate companies typically run through Ivory Coast and Ghana, which together produce about 60 percent of global cocoa. Traceability to cooperative is achievable; traceability to plot is harder because supply chains include many smallholder farmers feeding through aggregators.
CDP Forests scoring rewards plot level traceability for material volumes. For cocoa companies, the practical pathway is:
- Direct sourcing from certified cooperatives with plot mapping (Rainforest Alliance, Fairtrade, plus internal certification schemes).
- Polygon based deforestation monitoring using satellite (Global Forest Watch, Planet, sector specific tools).
- Aggregator engagement to push traceability one or two tiers further upstream.
- EUDR compliance data feeding directly into the CDP response.
Coffee: smallholder complexity
Coffee shares the smallholder complexity of cocoa. Production is concentrated in Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Honduras and others. The certification ecosystem is mature (Rainforest Alliance, 4C, Fairtrade, organic), but coverage varies by origin.
For CDP Forests 2026, coffee disclosure should cover:
- Volumes by origin country and ideally region.
- Certification coverage by certification scheme.
- Deforestation free volume verified for at least the highest risk origins.
- Supplier engagement particularly with cooperatives and exporters.
Coffee companies that already report under voluntary commitments (Coffee 2030, World Cocoa Foundation initiatives) have the underlying data; the work is mapping it to CDP scoring criteria.
Rubber: the automotive blind spot
Rubber is concentrated in Southeast Asia (Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia) and feeds the global tyre industry. Unlike cocoa and coffee, rubber traceability has historically been weak because smallholder farms aggregate through multiple traders before reaching processors.
The Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR) has been pushing standardisation. For CDP Forests 2026, rubber companies (typically tyre manufacturers and downstream automotive) should focus on:
- Volume by sourcing country with at least country level traceability for all volumes.
- Engagement with first tier processors to push transparency upstream.
- GPSNR member alignment where applicable.
- Risk based prioritisation of high deforestation risk regions.
For automotive companies, the rubber question is also a Scope 3 question (category 1, purchased goods) and a CSRD ESRS E4 question on biodiversity. One supply chain mapping exercise feeds three reporting frameworks.
Practical sequence to extend forests scope
If your existing CDP Forests response covers palm oil and soy, the work to add cocoa, coffee and rubber follows the same architecture:
1. Volume baseline. Map total volumes sourced by commodity, including embedded volumes in derived products (chocolate for cocoa, coffee in beverages, rubber in tyres and other components).
2. Sourcing geography. Map countries of origin. For high risk countries add region or subregion granularity.
3. Certification baseline. Map certified versus uncertified volume. Identify the certification schemes used and their chain of custody method.
4. Deforestation free verification. Commission satellite based or independent monitoring for at least the highest risk volumes.
5. Supplier engagement. Extend existing supplier engagement programmes to include first tier suppliers for cocoa, coffee and rubber.
6. Disclosure preparation. Map the data into the CDP Forests questionnaire structure. Where data is partial in 2026, document the plan to close gaps.
For broader context on the forests module see the CDP Forests guide.
Where Dcycle fits
Dcycle’s commodity module supports the seven CDP Forests commodities from the same canonical data layer. The same supplier master data that anchors palm oil disclosure anchors cocoa, coffee and rubber. The same satellite monitoring feed feeds all commodity modules. The same engagement workflow applies across the supplier portfolio. Building this once, then extending it as commodities are added, is the architecture that wins in CDP Forests scoring.
To see how it would apply to your specific commodity portfolio, request a demo.
Final thought
The 2026 expansion is significant but predictable. CDP signaled cocoa, coffee and rubber were coming for years. Companies that prepared in 2024 and 2025 are now extending an existing architecture. Companies that did not prepare are starting traceability programmes from scratch in the middle of the disclosure window. The 2026 scores will reflect that gap.