Answer the questions swimming upstream to your plant

Why supplier sustainability questionnaire help is now a Kentucky question

Questions about emissions now swim against the current. A brand or automaker sets an emissions goal, much of its footprint sits with its suppliers, and so the questions travel back up the chain: to Tier 1 parts makers, then to the plant that stamps brackets, the cooperage, the glass supplier, the grain elevator and the box plant.

Kentucky has a lot of those suppliers. The state assembles vehicles in Georgetown, Louisville and Bowling Green, and its bourbon, food and packaging industries ship to national brands. When the first questionnaire arrives, it often lands on a plant manager or controller who has never been asked for an emissions figure. That’s where our supplier sustainability questionnaire help begins.

What the requests look like

They come in a few forms:

• CDP supply chain requests. CDP describes its Supply Chain program as one where member companies ask the suppliers they choose to disclose environmental data. Suppliers answer CDP’s questionnaire plus supply-chain questions specific to that customer. CDP says it asked more than 45,000 suppliers to disclose in 2025, offers a questionnaire designed for smaller companies, and charges most disclosers an administrative fee. The 2026 response window has closed, so the next cycle is the one to prepare for.
• Customer portals and spreadsheets. Many large buyers run their own supplier platforms or send their own forms.
• Industry questionnaires. Automotive suppliers often see a shared industry self-assessment that covers environmental topics alongside labor and ethics.

We aren’t affiliated with CDP or any platform. We help you build the data and the answers; you submit them.

The data file comes first

The fastest way to answer ten questionnaires is to stop answering them one at a time. We build a repeatable data file:

• sites, utility accounts and meters
• monthly electricity and fuel use, from bills
• emission factors used, with source and edition
• the organizational boundary and allocation method
• renewable purchases, with documentation
• policies and targets, with dates and owners

Every number in every answer traces back to that file. Next year you update the file, and the answers follow. The emissions math uses the same published methods as our Carbon & Scope 2 Reporting service.

Consistency beats polish

Here’s the risk most first-time responders miss: your customers can compare answers. If your CDP response and a customer portal show different electricity totals for the same year, the difference is what gets noticed. The same goes for year two. A number that rises with an explanation reads better than one that changes without one.

So we keep a narrative library: approved text for recurring questions, such as how you measure energy, what you’ve done to reduce it and what you plan next. Each customer gets small edits; the facts underneath stay the same.

Many requests also ask for emissions allocated to that customer’s share of your output. Choose a basis, such as production volume or revenue share, say which one, and use it for every customer.

When they ask about renewable electricity

Questionnaires increasingly ask whether you buy renewable electricity, or plan to. For LG&E and KU business customers, the Green Tariff offers RECs, on-site Business Solar and, for large loads, Renewable Power Agreements. Unbundled RECs and on-site solar are open to nearly everyone. We evaluate what’s realistic for your load and budget, so any answer about future plans is something you can actually do. The Sustainability Consulting page compares the options side by side.

Priya Venkataraman leads this work. Our Scott County supplier scenario shows how a first response comes together, and the questionnaire guide covers common questions. The suppliers who answer clearly, on time and the same way each year are the ones customers keep calling.