Up to 550 suppliers to some of the world's largest companies can expect to receive requests for information about their climate change strategy in the coming months after the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) announced it was stepping up its Supply Chain Leadership Collaboration programme.

The initiative - which was launched late last year with the goal of developing global standards to help firms measure and limit the carbon emissions from their supply chain – announced that Dell, HP, L'Oreal, PepsiCo and Reckitt Benckiser have this week joined founder members Cadbury Schweppes, Imperial Tobacco, Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, Tesco and Unilever.

The CDP said that eleven companies have each selected up to 50 suppliers who will now receive pilot information requests through the scheme demanding data on their carbon footprints and other climate change information, such as greenhouse gas emissions data, emissions reduction targets and climate change strategy.

The results of the pilot are expected to be used to refine the information request process ahead of the full roll out of the new standard this May.

Paul Dickinson, CEO of CDP said the aim of the initiative was to help both multinationals and their suppliers reduce their carbon emissions: "By bringing together the purchasing authority of some of the largest companies in the world, CDP will encourage suppliers to measure and manage their greenhouse gas emissions," he said. "This will enable large companies to work towards measuring their total carbon footprint, as this is the first step to managing and reducing it."

The CDP also hopes that establishing a standardised approach for supply chain emissions reporting will help cut the administrative burden on smaller suppliers as they will be able to use the same responses to numerous supplier requests for information. For example, an IT components supplier for both Dell and HP will be able to gather and report the requested information once.

Pierre Simoncelli, corporate sustainable development managing director at L'Oreal, said the reporting initiative represented a win-win for suppliers and their customers: "Our suppliers will now have a single central source for reporting their greenhouse gas strategies and results that is accessible to all their customers," he said. "We also believe this will help drive our performance as well as theirs in this important environmental area."

The CDP is inviting more companies to join the scheme ahead of the full roll out this summer; an invitation Tesco CEO Sir Terry Leahy urged firms to accept. "[The scheme] has a simple aim: to bring together major retailers and key brands so that we can understand, report and reduce carbon emissions within the supply chain," he said. "I very much hope that firms who supply us and our competitors will consider being part of this venture"