The standards
Does it apply to you
Doing it
The basics
In UK reporting
TCFD
Climate topics
Scope and dates
Qualifying
Complying
IFRS and ISSB
ESRS and CSRD
Comparing them
Consultancy
Software
About this guide
Carbon management · carbon accounting · carbon reporting software · UK
This carbon management software directory describes vendors’ published claims and does not rank products or test their accuracy.
A carbon tool is a ledger: every line carries a factor, a scope and a statutory limb, and the same line can surface in four different statements.
One class of tool
This carbon management software directory describes vendors’ published claims and does not rank products or test their accuracy.
Module 01 / 03
Read the vendor’s stated features and supported frameworks.
Module 02 / 03
A missing claim is not proof that a feature is absent.
Module 03 / 03
Use your own data and requirements for a demonstration.
Carbon management software and carbon accounting software are the same class of tool: activity data in, the DESNZ conversion factors and the GHG Protocol applied, a Scope 1, 2 and 3 inventory out.
For a UK company the tool is only as good as its output against SECR’s Schedule 7, the ESOS Regulations and UK SRS S2, so this page sets out those tests provision by provision.
It ranks nothing: we have tested none of the 17 vendors listed here, and each is described in alphabetical order from its own website.
There are three types of carbon management software, and the difference is scope, not quality.
Which type fits depends on whether you need a standalone emissions engine, carbon folded into a broader reporting programme, or a fix for one gap.
Target-setting has its own rules: the Science Based Targets initiative’s own standards and guidance say companies setting targets in 2026 use the current Corporate Net-Zero Standard, Version 1.3.1.
For a UK company preparing SECR or UK SRS disclosures, the label rarely matters; the six tests below do.
Before the list
The useful comparison starts with your boundary, data and reporting destination, because different tools solve different problems.
Module 01 / 03
Which scopes, entities and data methods must be covered?
Module 02 / 03
Which statutory outputs and framework disclosures are needed?
Module 03 / 03
Who reviews, approves and retains the evidence?
Searches for the best carbon management software land on lists, and most lists order products without saying how.
An honest ranking needs testing: the same data put through each tool, the outputs compared against the rules.
We have not done that for any of the 17 vendors on this page, so we do not rank them, score them or pick one.
What we can do is state exactly what the law and the standards require of the output, cite each requirement to its provision, and turn each into a request you can put to any vendor.
That is more useful than an order, because the right tool depends on which regimes you report under, and only you know that.
The wider category — tools that go beyond emissions into full sustainability disclosure — is on sustainability software, which reads the same vendors against UK SRS S1, the ESRS and GRI.
No ranking, no scores, no “editorial pick”, no prices the vendors do not publish, and none of the vendors’ own awards repeated as if they were ours.
Where an analyst’s report is mentioned, it is linked to the analyst’s own page and attributed.
Follow one figure
A defensible emissions figure needs a chain from the reported result to the original activity record.
Retain quantity, unit, date and source evidence.
Record the factor set, year and conversion method.
Keep the calculation, boundary and review history.
SECR needs an aggregate annual kWh figure from electricity and gas invoices, fuel cards and fleet records.
Location-based emissions from purchased electricity are the UK SRS S2 requirement, and a market-based figure is permitted alongside.
Business travel, commuting and purchased goods and services are Scope 3 categories; UK SRS S2 requires all fifteen to be considered.
Our diagram of how a ledger feeds statements; each stage names the instrument and no product is implied.
The fork
SECR, ESOS and UK SRS ask different questions even when they draw on some of the same energy records.
Annual energy and carbon disclosure under its statutory population rules.
Energy assessment with its own qualification and data windows.
Climate-related financial disclosure includes risks, strategy and broader metrics.
Three UK regimes ask overlapping questions of the same energy and activity data, and they are the reason most UK companies buy a carbon tool.
SECR applies to quoted companies of any size, and to unquoted companies and LLPs that are large on its own test: Schedule 7 ¶20B exempts a company that satisfies two or more of turnover not more than £36 million, balance sheet total not more than £18 million and not more than 250 employees.
So an unquoted company comes into scope when it exceeds at least two of those figures — in its first financial year, or after that only when the position holds for two consecutive years (¶20B(1)).
The check beside this text runs the test the way the paragraph writes it, including the two-year rule.
The 2025 size uplift in the Companies Act did not move these figures; the thresholds and populations are set out on SECR thresholds.
The SECR content sits in the directors’ report, under the amendments made by SI 2018/1155; the separate climate-related financial disclosure duty in section 414CB of the Companies Act 2006 is a different requirement with its own scope.
ESOS applies to undertakings with at least 250 employees, or with turnover over £44 million and a balance sheet over £38 million, on the qualification date of 31 December 2026 (ESOS Regulations, regulation 15 and Schedule 1).
Phase 4 notification is due by 5 December 2027; the rest is on the ESOS hub and the GOV.UK ESOS guidance.
UK SRS S2 was published by DBT on 25 February 2026; listed companies in scope of the FCA’s final rules report against it on a comply-or-explain basis for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027, and any other company may use it voluntarily.
The regulator’s side of that is on FCA sustainability disclosure requirements, the standard itself on UK SRS S2, and the dates on this companion S1 and S2 implementation calendar.
UK SRS adopts the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards with amendments listed in the government response, so a tool built for IFRS S2 output has most of the emissions work in place.
The UK SRS compliance calculator checks which of these regimes reach your company.
SECR qualification check · SI 2008/410 Sch 7 ¶20B
Within only 1 of the three limits this year, so the qualifying conditions are not met. ¶20B(1)(b)(iii): the conditions were met last year and the company was exempt last year — one year over the limits does not bring it in.
Companies Act size, for contrast only: on these figures the company would pass the medium-sized test of two of £54m, £27m and 250 that applies to accounts from April 2025 — a test SECR does not use.
SI 2008/410 Sch 7 ¶20B(1)–(3)A reading of the regulations, not advice on your accounts.
Not modelled: the subsidiary shelter in ¶20A(2), the Companies Act exclusions in s.467, and the 40,000 kWh disclosure relief.
Nothing you enter leaves your browser.
The calendar
A software brief should support the relevant reporting periods without treating qualification dates as filing deadlines.
Use the company's annual reporting period.
Use qualifying energy and audit-data windows.
Use the accounting period reached by the applicable rules.
The dates in muted tone are not law: the SECR consultation is planned but had not opened, and the GHG Protocol and ISO dates are the plan’s own estimates.
Sources: SI 2018/1155; DBT; DESNZ SECR review; DESNZ factors 2026; FCA PS26/19; ESOS Phase 4 guidance; GHG Protocol plan v2.0 §9.
Six tests at a glance
The short comparison is based on published vendor material rather than a tested shortlist or ranking.
Module 01 / 03
Read the vendor's description of its product.
Module 02 / 03
Check which frameworks the source page names.
Module 03 / 03
Ask for a demonstration against your own reporting brief.
Can each calculation line be mapped to the SECR limb it reports under, not only to a scope?
SECR names limbs, not scopes: gas, transport fuel and purchased electricity for unquoted companies; fuel combustion, facility operation and purchased energy for quoted ones.
Sch 7 ¶15(2)–(3), ¶20D
Which DESNZ set did each line use, and why?
Each set is for activity data falling entirely or mostly within its year, not the year you file.
DESNZ 2026 methodology paper ¶1.10
Is location-based the default, with market-based beside it?
UK SRS S2 requires location-based Scope 2 and permits market-based information alongside it.
UK SRS S2 ¶29(a)(v), ¶¶B30–B31
Does the tool record all fifteen categories as considered?
All fifteen are considered and the included ones disclosed; exclusions are disclosed and justified.
UK SRS S2 ¶¶B32–B33
Can a reported figure be traced to its source document?
Assurance is not required, but a listed company states whether it obtained any, and an assurer will want the trail.
UKLR 6.6.6R(8)(d)
Can it total twelve months that are not the financial year?
ESOS measures total energy over a twelve-month reference period and requires 95% of it to be examined.
ESOS Regulations 2014 reg 22(5), reg 25
The tests
The directory records published descriptions and preserves the difference between a missing claim and a missing feature.
Use the vendor's own feature and pricing pages.
Publish no score or performance verdict.
Verify current capabilities during procurement.
These are the six things that decide whether a carbon tool produces a defensible UK disclosure.
Each is a requirement of an instrument, not a preference of ours.
1 · The statutory format. SECR does not use the words Scope 1 or Scope 2; it names limbs — gas, transport fuel and purchased electricity for unquoted companies, all fuel combustion, facility operation and purchased energy for quoted ones (Sch 7 ¶15(2)–(3), ¶20D).
A tool should map each calculation line to the limb it reports under, not only to a scope.
2 · The factor year. DESNZ says each set is for activity data falling entirely or mostly within that year (2026 methodology paper ¶1.10), not the year you file.
The check beside this text applies that rule to your reporting period.
3 · The Scope 2 method. UK SRS S2 requires location-based Scope 2 and permits market-based information alongside it (¶29(a)(v); ¶¶B30–B31).
A tool that defaults to market-based is set up for a different rulebook.
4 · Scope 3 categories. UK SRS S2 requires all fifteen categories to be considered and the included ones disclosed (¶¶B32–B33), and the GHG Protocol Scope 3 Standard requires exclusions to be disclosed and justified.
5 · The audit trail. Assurance is not required in the UK, but a listed company must state whether it obtained any (UKLR 6.6.6R(8)(d)), and any assurer will want a figure traced to its source.
The FRC’s ISSA (UK) 5000 is available from 15 December 2026, and ISO 14064-1 is the international standard for the inventory itself.
6 · The ESOS reference period. ESOS measures total energy over a twelve-month reference period that may differ from the financial year, and requires 95% of it to be examined (regulation 25).
The government’s own account of how SECR has worked in practice — the 2026 post-implementation review — is worth reading before you choose, because it records where reports have fallen short.
Which factor set applies · by the activity-data year
A check of the factor-year rule only.
Nothing you enter leaves your browser.
Accuracy
A marketing claim about accurate Scope 1–3 tracking must be tested through the data and calculation method.
Inspect direct-source records and factors.
Inspect electricity records and applicable methods.
Inspect categories, estimation methods and uncertainty.
Location-based is the requirement; market-based information is permitted alongside it, where contractual instruments exist.
A tool that defaults to market-based is set up for a different rulebook.
The revised ESRS require both Scope 2 methods, so a UK group reporting under both regimes needs a tool that produces both from one dataset.
The Commission adopted the revised standards on 3 July 2026.
Sources: UK SRS S2 ¶29(a)(v), ¶¶B30–B31; European Commission, 3 July 2026; GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance.
The factor year is the second setting: the 2026 electricity factor was calculated by a new method with a one-year data lag, so a comparison with a year calculated on the 2025 set is not like for like (2026 major changes report).
A good tool annotates that break rather than presenting the fall as a year of grid change.
The third setting is the Scope 3 record, and “consider all fifteen” is not “report all fifteen”.
What UK SRS S2 needs is a category-by-category record of what was included, how it was measured, and why the rest was left out.
A single Scope 3 total is not that record.
| # | Category | What falls in it |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Purchased goods and servicesUpstream | Making the goods and services the company buys in the year, other than those counted in categories 2 to 8. |
| 2 | Capital goodsUpstream | Making the long-lived assets bought in the year, such as plant, machinery, vehicles and buildings. |
| 3 | Fuel- and energy-related activities (not included in Scope 1 or 2)Upstream | Extracting, refining and transporting the fuels and energy the company uses, and grid losses — the parts Scopes 1 and 2 leave out. |
| 4 | Upstream transportation and distributionUpstream | Carriage and storage of purchased goods by third parties, and distribution the company pays for. |
| 5 | Waste generated in operationsUpstream | Third-party disposal and treatment of the waste the company’s own operations produce. |
| 6 | Business travelUpstream | Employee travel for work in vehicles the company does not own or control, including rental cars and flights. |
| 7 | Employee commutingUpstream | Employees travelling between home and their place of work. |
| 8 | Upstream leased assetsUpstream | Running assets the company leases in, where they are not already in its Scope 1 or 2. |
| 9 | Downstream transportation and distributionDownstream | Carriage, storage and retail of sold products that the company does not pay for. |
| 10 | Processing of sold productsDownstream | Further processing of intermediate products by the businesses that buy them. |
| 11 | Use of sold productsDownstream | Emissions when customers use the products sold in the year — fuels, vehicles and appliances above all. |
| 12 | End-of-life treatment of sold productsDownstream | Disposal, recycling and treatment of sold products and their packaging at the end of their life. |
| 13 | Downstream leased assetsDownstream | Running assets the company owns and leases out to others. |
| 14 | FranchisesDownstream | Running the franchises a franchisor licenses, where not in its own Scope 1 or 2. |
| 15 | InvestmentsDownstream | Emissions of investees and borrowers attributed to the company’s investments and loans — financed emissions. |
The categories and the UK rules are taken further on Scope 3 under UK SRS, and the measurement standard behind every tool on the GHG Protocol page.
Carbon credits are a separate matter: UK SRS S2 requires gross emissions (¶29(a)(i)), so credits belong in a separate ledger and never reduce the reported total.
For method detail beyond the categories, the GHG Protocol’s Scope 3 technical calculation guidance and Scope 2 Guidance are the owners’ own texts.
Sources: DESNZ 2026 major changes report; UK SRS S2 ¶¶29, B30–B33; GHG Protocol Scope 3 Standard; FCA PS26/19 ¶3.14.
Scope 3 tracking
Scope 3 improvement is a data-quality programme rather than a promise of instant supplier-specific accuracy.
Module 01 / 03
Identify relevant categories and document exclusions.
Module 02 / 03
Locate significant categories and weak assumptions.
Module 03 / 03
Replace suitable estimates with better activity or supplier evidence.
Spend-based estimates multiply money spent by an emission factor per pound.
They are legitimate for a first screening, and they find the hotspots worth measuring properly.
Where quantities exist, such as kilometres flown or tonnes of material, activity-based calculation replaces the spend estimate.
The category total should move, and the tool should say why.
Supplier-specific data replaces generic factors as suppliers answer.
CDP’s supply-chain programme is one route by which customers ask for it: nearly 45,000 companies were asked in 2025.
UK SRS S2 needs a record of what was included, how it was measured and why the rest was left out.
The GHG Protocol’s calculation guidance gives methods for each of the fifteen categories, advice on choosing between them and a hybrid method for purchased goods and services.
UK SRS S2 ¶¶B32–B33 · GHG Protocol Scope 3 Technical Calculation Guidance
Sources: GHG Protocol Scope 3 Calculation Guidance; UK SRS S2; CDP, 18 March 2026.
SECR
A carbon tool should demonstrate the statutory package for your population rather than producing only a generic Scope 1–3 chart.
Module 01 / 03
Distinguish quoted global reporting from unquoted UK reporting.
Module 02 / 03
Include energy, emissions, methodology, efficiency action and a ratio.
Module 03 / 03
Retain the prior-year figures and explain changes.
| Energy use | Annual energy in kWh, with no territorial limit | UK energy in kWh | Hold a kWh total built from fuel-level lines |
| Emissions | Fuel combustion, facility operation, purchased electricity, heat, steam and cooling | Gas, transport fuel and purchased electricity | Map each line to the statutory limb |
| UK proportion | The share relating to the UK and offshore area | — | Split a global total by geography |
| Intensity ratio | At least one emissions ratio (¶17) | At least one emissions ratio (¶20G) | Let you choose the denominator |
| Methodology | A statement of methods (¶16) | A statement of methods (¶20F) | Export the factor set and approach |
| Efficiency measures | The principal measures taken, if any | The principal measures taken, if any | Keep a log of measures |
| Comparatives | Prior-year figures for emissions, ratio and energy (¶18, ¶18A) | Prior-year figures (¶20H) | Reproduce last year from stored data |
| Low-energy relief | 40,000 kWh or less, tested on all energy | 40,000 kWh or less, tested on all energy | Run the test and draft the statement |
8 of 8 rows
Source: SI 2008/410 Sch 7 ¶¶15–18A (Part 7) and ¶¶20D–20K (Part 7A), with LLPs through SI 2008/1911 reg 12B; sort by any column or filter by the kind of job.
Every item on that list is produced from the same small dataset: fuel, electricity and transport records for the financial year.
That is why SECR alone rarely justifies a large platform, and why the value of a tool for an SECR filer lies in the statutory mapping and the comparatives, not in the breadth of frameworks it lists.
DESNZ’s evaluation of SECR estimated actual non-compliance at 14–23%, and the post-implementation review records ongoing compliance costs of £140 million a year, against roughly £26–31 million predicted — the review gives both figures for the prediction.
Both figures describe the regime, not any tool, but they explain why buyers look for software here.
The government’s method guidance is in the environmental reporting guidelines.
A separate reference tests SECR reporting software against those same Schedule 7 artefacts, and a companion SECR reporting guide walks the filing mechanics.
Evaluating a named vendor
Named vendors are described from their own material, with no claim that this site has tested or approved them.
Read the linked feature and pricing source.
Check the product and contracting entity still offered.
Test the required calculations and evidence exports.
Ask for the annual kWh figure, each emissions limb for your company type, an intensity ratio with a denominator you choose, the methodology statement and last year’s figures beside this year’s.
Ask it to run the 40,000 kWh relief on all energy, not only the fuels reported.
Compliance with the IFRS standards is asserted by the reporting entity about its disclosures, not by a vendor about its product.
Ask which metrics the tool produces, such as gross Scope 1, 2 and 3 on the GHG Protocol basis, and how it keeps credits out of the gross figure.
The revised ESRS require both Scope 2 methods from one dataset.
Ask the vendor to show location-based and market-based figures side by side, with the instruments behind the market-based one.
UK CBAM is a tax on imports from 1 January 2027 under Part 5 of the Finance Act 2026, not a reporting regime.
Ask which CBAM output the tool produces, for which goods, and whether it is for the UK mechanism, the EU one or both.
Pick the regimes you report under in the builder beside this text; it lists one demonstration request per requirement, each with the provision that creates it.
Take the list into the meeting and mark each request as shown on your own data, described only, or not yet asked.
A request that was only described should be shown before you sign, or confirmed in writing.
The same builder appears on each vendor profile — Watershed, Sweep, Normative, Greenly, Workiva, SINAI, Sphera — with that vendor’s name in it.
Questions for the vendor · 13 requests
Your record of your own demonstration — not an assessment of any product.
Nothing you mark leaves your browser.
Worked answer
Give every shortlisted vendor the same invented activity record and factor correction, then ask for the before-and-after calculation and a usable evidence export.
| Fictional controlled fixture | Calculation | Evidence to retain |
|---|---|---|
| Original calculation | 1,200 kWh × 0.20 kgCO₂e/kWh = 240 kgCO₂e, or 0.24 tCO₂e. | The input record, unit, factor identifier and calculation version. |
| Authorised factor correction | The same 1,200 kWh × 0.25 kgCO₂e/kWh = 300 kgCO₂e, or 0.30 tCO₂e. | The changed factor, reason, reviewer and date, without overwriting the original record. |
| Export and review | The difference is 60 kgCO₂e caused by the factor change in this fixture. | An export that another reviewer can reproduce and reconcile with the report line. |
The quantities and factors are invented test inputs, not published UK conversion factors or a statement that any named product passes; a changed estimate alone is not a physical reduction.
Module 01 / 03
Module 02 / 03
Module 03 / 03
The audit trail
Ask how corrections and factor changes remain visible after the inventory is approved.
Module 01 / 03
Retain the original calculation and subsequent changes.
Module 02 / 03
Identify who reviewed and signed off each output.
Module 03 / 03
Export supporting records alongside the reported figures.
Pick the figure in the report, for example purchased-electricity emissions for the year.
The system should show which DESNZ set applied to which months, and why.
A set is for activity data falling entirely or mostly within its year.
Location-based is the UK SRS S2 requirement; market-based may be shown alongside.
The report should say which was used.
Below the factor sit the kilowatt-hours, meter by meter and month by month.
The total should equal the sum, and the sum should match the invoices.
Each line should link to the bill or meter read it came from, with who entered it and when.
A listed company states whether assurance was obtained and, if so, the provider, the disclosures and the standards used.
Where a provider applies it, ISSA (UK) 5000 is for engagements over periods beginning on or after 15 December 2026.
Sources: SI 2008/410 Sch 7; DESNZ methodology paper; UK SRS S2; PS26/19 Appendix 1; ISSA (UK) 5000; ISO 14064-3.
The directory
A framework filter narrows published claims, while the demonstration establishes what the product can do for your organisation.
Find products whose pages name the relevant framework.
Specify the paragraphs or outputs you need.
Ask for the source-to-output workflow with sample data.
| Climatise | Carbon accounting software built around file upload: invoices, spreadsheets and energy data in, Scope 1, 2 and 3 calculated, reports generated with methodology notes, plus an ESOS Phase 4 workflow. | SECR · ESOS · UK SRS · CSRD · ISSB | Enterprise level · TBD | Climatise profile → · climatise.com ↗ |
| Cority | An environment, health and safety platform that includes sustainability reporting alongside occupational health, incident reporting and compliance audits. | CDP · GRI · SASB · TCFD · CSRD · ISSB | Enterprise level · TBD | Cority profile → · cority.com ↗ |
| Emitwise | The Emitwise platform now sits inside Green Project Technologies’ supply-chain and product carbon footprint offering.Acquired by Green Project Technologies in July 2025; the company says Emitwise “is no longer sold as a standalone product or brand”. | None named on the page read | Not sold as a standalone product | Emitwise profile → · emitwise.com ↗ |
| Greenly | A climate platform with modules for GHG assessment, life-cycle assessment, ESG management, CSRD reporting and EU CBAM declarations, and an AI assistant it calls EcoPilot.Greenly and Normative announced a merger in September 2026. | GHG Protocol · CSRD · ESRS · VSME · CBAM · CDP · ISSB · SBTi | Enterprise level · TBD (plans listed, no figures published) | Greenly profile → · greenly.earth ↗ |
| IBM Envizi | ESG data management from IBM: Scope 1, 2 and 3 accounting on the GHG Protocol, financed emissions, supply-chain data and multi-framework reporting. | GHG Protocol · ESRS · CSRD · GRI · SASB · TCFD | Enterprise level · TBD (priced by data volume in three Account bundles; no figures published) | IBM Envizi profile → · ibm.com ↗ |
| Microsoft Sustainability Manager | Microsoft’s sustainability products, led by Sustainability Manager and sustainability data solutions in Microsoft Fabric, for recording, reporting and reducing environmental impact. | CSRD · ISSB · GRI · SASB | US$4,000 (Essentials) or US$12,000 (Premium) per tenant, per month, as published by Microsoft | Microsoft Sustainability Manager profile → · microsoft.com ↗ |
| Normative | Carbon accounting for Scope 1, 2 and 3 on its own implementation of the GHG Protocol standards, with a named climate adviser on each account and an Essential and a Premium package.Normative and Greenly announced a merger in September 2026. | GHG Protocol · CSRD · CDP · SBTi | Enterprise level · TBD (both packages are “get a quote”) | Normative profile → · normative.io ↗ |
| Persefoni | Carbon footprint and sustainability reporting software with plans from a free sign-up upwards, regulatory and investor reporting, and financed-emissions tools for financial services. | SECR · CDP · ISSB · CSRD · GHG Protocol | Pro plan free; Advanced Enterprise level · TBD | Persefoni profile → · persefoni.com ↗ |
| Plan A | Carbon accounting, carbon reporting and decarbonisation planning in one platform, with calculation methods it says are maintained by its scientific staff.Diginex announced on 14 January 2026 that it had closed its acquisition of Plan A. | GHG Protocol · CSRD · ESRS | Enterprise level · TBD | Plan A profile → · plana.earth ↗ |
| Salesforce Net Zero Cloud | Salesforce’s ESG software: carbon conversion of energy and travel data, what-if forecasting, and report builders with drafting by its Agentforce assistant. | CSRD · SASB · GRI · CDP · GHG Protocol | £168,000 per org per year (Net Zero Cloud Growth, billed annually), as published by Salesforce | Salesforce Net Zero Cloud profile → · salesforce.com ↗ |
| Sami | A carbon hub and an ESG hub: data collection, an emission-factor database, action plans, and ESRS-based double materiality with CSRD and VSME report support.SGS announced the acquisition of a majority stake in Sami on 21 November 2025. | ESRS · CSRD · VSME | Enterprise level · TBD | Sami profile → · sami.eco ↗ |
| Seedling | Carbon management software paired with a dedicated carbon specialist, measuring Scope 1, 2 and 3 and producing compliance reports. | SECR · GHG Protocol · ISO 14064 · SBTi | Enterprise level · TBD (a free start is offered; paid prices not published on the page read) | Seedling profile → · seedling.earth ↗ |
| SINAI | Enterprise carbon management that joins Scope 1–3 accounting to decarbonisation planning: marginal abatement cost curves, scenario modelling and carbon-price sensitivity. | CSRD · CBAM · ISSB · CDP · GRI · SBTi · California SB 253 / SB 261 | Enterprise level · TBD | SINAI profile → · sinaitechnologies.com ↗ |
| Sphera | Operational risk, safety and sustainability software; its corporate sustainability product covers disclosure, emissions calculation, financed emissions and performance tracking, beside life-cycle assessment tools. | None named on the page read | Enterprise level · TBD | Sphera profile → · sphera.com ↗ |
| Sweep | Sustainability data management that maps one dataset to many frameworks, with supplier portals, version history on every figure and an auditor access interface. | CSRD · ISSB · UK SRS · GRI · CDP · SASB · TCFD · California SB 253 / SB 261 | Enterprise level · TBD | Sweep profile → · sweep.net ↗ |
| Watershed | An enterprise platform for emissions measurement and disclosure: data ingestion, methodologies for all 15 Scope 3 categories, report authoring and target tracking. | CSRD · ESRS · CDP · TCFD · ISSB | Enterprise level · TBD | Watershed profile → · watershed.com ↗ |
| Workiva | A reporting platform that connects carbon and financial data, with Workiva Carbon for Scope 1–3 calculation and its CSRD solution for double materiality and ESRS disclosure. | CSRD · ESRS · ISSB · GRI · CDP · California SB 253 / SB 261 | Enterprise level · TBD (pricing by consultation; the vendor says every offering carries unlimited seats) | Workiva profile → · workiva.com ↗ |
17 of 17 rows
Directory read on 1 October 2026 from each vendor’s own pages, with no score, rank or verdict, where a missing framework name means not named on the page we read, not unsupported.
Where a vendor publishes no price, its own pricing page asks you to book a demonstration or request a quote; we record that as “Enterprise level · TBD”.
Where a row names no framework, the page we read did not list one — which tells you to ask, not that the product lacks it.
An independently maintained carbon reporting software buyer’s guide covers the same market from its own angle, and there is a separate Climatise carbon reporting software profile.
What vendors say they support
Counts of framework names describe the source pages read and do not measure compliance or product quality.
Record the framework named on the page.
Ask about unnamed capabilities without assuming they are absent.
Require a demonstration of the actual reporting output.
The bars count how many of the 17 vendors name each framework on the page we read.
The European and investor frameworks dominate, which reflects where the vendors sell.
The two UK-specific rules, SECR and UK SRS, are named by only a few, so a UK buyer should expect to ask for them by name.
A framework that is not named is not evidence of absence: it means the page read did not list it.
The same count is the reason the demonstration requests above start from the regime, not the vendor’s feature list.
Source: each vendor’s own site, read 1 October 2026; see the directory above for the page read.
Vendors that changed hands
An acquisition or product change can affect what is sold, supported and contracted without establishing a quality verdict.
Read the owner's published account of the change.
Check what service is currently offered.
Check migration, data exports and support obligations.
Acquired by Green Project Technologies in July 2025; the company says Emitwise “is no longer sold as a standalone product or brand”.
Greenly and Normative announced a merger in September 2026.
Normative and Greenly announced a merger in September 2026.
Diginex announced on 14 January 2026 that it had closed its acquisition of Plan A.
SGS announced the acquisition of a majority stake in Sami on 21 November 2025.
Prices as published
A vendor-published figure should retain its currency and product basis rather than becoming a comparable consultancy-style estimate.
Check the named plan and billing period.
Check users, modules, entities and implementation costs.
Where no paid price is published, request a quote.
Free carbon management software is searched for often, and the directory shows two free entry points: Persefoni’s Pro plan and Seedling’s free start.
A free entry point settles the cost of starting, not whether the output meets SECR, ESOS or UK SRS S2, so the six tests apply to it unchanged.
A published figure also says nothing about fit: a tenant-per-month price and an enterprise quote are priced on different bases, and neither is a verdict.
Statutory thresholds, penalties and scheme fees are not pricing, and they are cited to their instruments elsewhere on the page.
Build or buy help
The choice depends on internal capability and repeatability as much as the number of software features.
An internal team operates the system and owns the decisions.
A provider performs defined work while the company supplies evidence.
An initial project transfers methods and data to an internal owner.
Carbon management software suits a company building an in-house, repeatable reporting process.
| Signal | Points towards software | Points towards outside help |
|---|---|---|
| Frequency | An annual, repeatable inventory | A one-off or first inventory |
| In-house capacity | Someone who owns the data each year | No one with the time or method |
| Regimes | Several, sharing one dataset | One, narrowly |
| Scope 3 | Supplier data you will refine year on year | A first screening to find hotspots |
| Assurance | You want the trail inside your own system | You want a second pair of eyes on method |
| Change | Stable group structure | Acquisitions or restructuring under way |
Smaller companies, or those reporting for the first time, often use outside help — a carbon consultancy or an accountant — to get the first inventory right.
Many use both: outside help for the method in year one, software for the repeat.
No regime requires either: SECR sets what goes in the directors’ report, and ESOS requires a lead assessor to review the assessment unless an exemption applies, but neither names a tool.
Where assurance is in view, the question is the same either way: can a figure be traced to its source?
The international baseline for that work is the IAASB’s ISSA 5000, on which the UK version is built.
If you want to talk the regimes through, you can book a free 15-minute call about the rules; it is not a sales call for any product.
By use case
The appropriate product depends on inventory complexity, reporting outputs and the internal team's capability.
Prioritise reproducible statutory outputs and comparatives.
Prioritise category coverage and data-quality improvement.
Prioritise boundaries, entity controls and reconciliation.
UK kWh; the gas, transport fuel and purchased electricity limbs; your chosen ratio; comparatives.
Global energy and emissions with the UK share; location-based Scope 2; a Scope 3 category record, if UK SRS S2 applies to you.
A reference period that is not your financial year; the 95% line; four organisational-purpose ratios.
A gap register that exports the comply-or-explain statement; the Scope 3 relief statement; the assurance statement.
An inventory you can share by customer or product, and the method behind it.
Financed emissions to a recognised method, separate from operational emissions.
The duties are the instruments’; the right-hand text on each card is our restatement of what each duty needs from a system.
If you are listed, the comply-or-explain limbs are set out on UK SRS compliance, and the four pillars that structure the disclosure on the four pillars of sustainability reporting.
The TCFD, whose recommendations shaped those pillars, disbanded in 2023, and the FCA’s new rules replace the TCFD-aligned disclosures for listed companies.
The UK SRS standards themselves are on the GOV.UK UK SRS guidance page, and the CP26/5 consultation page records what the FCA originally proposed.
The market
Market estimates belong to their publishers and should not be treated as official evidence of a tool's quality.
Identify the report owner and methodology.
Distinguish a forecast from an observed public count.
Use demonstrated requirements rather than market-size claims.
The demand for carbon software comes from regulation and from customers.
The regulatory side is measured: DESNZ’s evaluation found about 19,900 organisations in SECR scope, 76% more than the 11,300 its 2018 impact assessment had predicted.
The customer side is measured by CDP: in 2025 its supply-chain members requested environmental data from nearly 45,000 companies in 110 countries (CDP, 18 March 2026).
The supply of tools is benchmarked by analyst firms, and each speaks only for its own report: Verdantix’s 2026 Green Quadrant assessed 21 carbon management providers and named eight in its leading group.
We do not repeat any market-size estimate, because none is published by a public body and the commercial estimates differ.
We also do not repeat vendors’ own badges; a vendor’s claim about a third party’s view of it is best checked at the third party’s own page.
Sources: DESNZ SECR evaluation; CDP, 18 March 2026; Verdantix.
Three more questions
Security assurance needs a current scope and applicable evidence rather than an unsupported badge.
Identify the actual product and legal entity.
Read systems, dates, exclusions and responsibilities.
Check retention, access and data-export provisions.
None of these is a requirement of SECR, ESOS or UK SRS, and this site has tested no product; they are questions a buyer can put to any vendor.
On security, ISO/IEC 27001 is the international standard for information security management and Cyber Essentials is the government-backed baseline scheme.
Commuting and travel records can contain personal data, and the ICO’s UK GDPR guidance is where those duties are explained.
On verification, ISO 14064-3 specifies how a greenhouse gas statement is verified, and UKAS is the national accreditation body against which a verifier’s accreditation can be checked.
Ask for certificates, not badges: a vendor’s statement about its own certification is its claim until the certificate is seen.
Further reading from the authorities
Use the reporting, standards and consultancy guides to refine the software requirement.
Identify the relevant reporting duty.
Understand inventory boundaries and methods.
Decide which work remains internal or is outsourced.
UK law and government
Standards and standard-setters
Software guides
Managing emissions through the year is covered by the emissions management software guide.
Targets and transition plans are covered by net zero management software.
The data record behind both is covered by sustainability data management software, and the wider programme by sustainability management software.
Frequently asked
This site does not name one, because it has tested none of the products.
The honest test is whether a tool can show you, on your own data, what the rules you report under require: the SECR limbs and intensity ratio, the right DESNZ factor year, location-based Scope 2 for UK SRS S2, and a record of which Scope 3 categories are included.
This page lists those tests with their provisions, and describes 17 vendors from their own websites in alphabetical order.
Largely, yes.
Carbon accounting software, carbon management software, carbon reporting software and GHG reporting software all name tools that turn activity data into an emissions inventory.
"Accounting" stresses the calculation and audit trail, "reporting" the disclosure, and "management" the targets and reduction work that some tools add.
It collects activity data such as fuel, electricity, travel and purchasing, applies emission factors — for UK reporting usually the DESNZ conversion factors — organises the result into Scope 1, 2 and 3 under the GHG Protocol, and produces reports with a record of how each figure was calculated.
Many tools add target-setting and reduction planning.
Broadly three: dedicated carbon accounting platforms built around the Scope 1, 2 and 3 inventory; wider sustainability or ESG suites in which carbon is one module; and point tools for one job, such as supplier data collection or a single statutory report.
Ask it to show, on your data: the annual energy figure in kWh; each emissions limb Schedule 7 names for your type of company; at least one emissions intensity ratio with a denominator you choose; the methodology statement; last year’s figures beside this year’s; and the 40,000 kWh relief tested on all energy, not only the fuels reported.
The same approach works for any vendor and any regime.
Quoted companies of any size; unquoted companies that exceed at least two of £36 million turnover, £18 million balance sheet total and 250 employees — in the first financial year, or for two consecutive years after that, because Schedule 7 ¶20B writes the test as an exemption; and large LLPs on the same figures.
DESNZ’s evaluation put the population at about 19,900 organisations.
UK-focused tools apply the UK Government GHG conversion factors, published by DESNZ each June.
The rule to check is DESNZ’s own: a year’s set is for activity data that falls entirely or mostly in that year, so a period running from April 2026 to March 2027 uses the 2026 set.
Most tools say they do.
What to check is whether the tool records all fifteen GHG Protocol categories as considered and shows which are included and why the others are not, because UK SRS S2 requires that disclosure, and whether it separates spend-based estimates from supplier or activity data.
Software suits a company that wants to run a repeatable inventory in-house; outside help suits a first inventory, a one-off regime or a team without capacity.
Many companies use both.
Neither is required by law — SECR and ESOS set outputs, not tools.
For companies in SECR’s scope, yes: energy and emissions go in the directors’ report.
ESOS is mandatory for undertakings that qualify on 31 December 2026.
UK SRS is voluntary for most entities, and listed companies in scope of the FCA’s final rules (PS26/19) report against it on a comply-or-explain basis for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027.
This site names none, because it has tested none.
For an organisational footprint the test is the same as for any carbon tool: can it show, on your data, the outputs your regime requires.
Personal footprint apps are outside every regime on this page.
In practice the labels overlap.
“Footprint” usually points at the inventory, and “reporting” at the statement built from it, such as the SECR section of the directors’ report or UK SRS S2 metrics.
The test is not the label but whether the output matches the regime you report under.
This site does not estimate prices.
Of the 17 vendors in the directory, Microsoft and Salesforce publish a figure on the page we read, stated as the vendor states it and dated 1 October 2026; Persefoni and Seedling say a free entry point exists; Emitwise is no longer sold as a standalone product; the rest show “Enterprise level · TBD”.
DESNZ published the 2026 conversion factors on 11 June 2026, with a new electricity method; its SECR review of 26 May 2026 recommended keeping SECR with amendments, with a streamlining consultation planned but not opened; DBT published UK SRS S2 on 25 February 2026; the FCA issued PS26/19 on 30 September 2026; and ESOS Phase 4 qualifies on 31 December 2026.
Not yet.
The GHG Protocol and ISO are consolidating their corporate standards; the plan of 29 July 2026 estimates a consultation draft in Q2 2027 and the revised standard in Q4 2028, and says the timeline is subject to change.
A fair question for a vendor is how it versions its methods, so that a restatement is a setting and not a rebuild.
Carbon management is the practice of measuring an organisation’s greenhouse gas emissions, setting targets and acting to reduce them.
Carbon management software supports the measuring and reporting and, in some tools, the targets and reduction planning.
For UK reporting the measurement follows the GHG Protocol and, for conversion, the DESNZ factors.
It is an organisation’s own plan for how it measures, targets and reduces emissions.
No regime on this page requires one: SECR asks for the principal energy efficiency measures taken, if any, and a listed company in scope of the FCA’s rules discloses whether it has a climate-related transition plan and where it can be found, with no duty to have one (PS26/19 ¶2.37).
Two vendors in the directory describe a free entry point on the pages we read on 1 October 2026: Persefoni lists a free Pro plan, and Seedling offers a free start with paid prices not published on the page read.
A free tool can still fail the tests on this page, so they apply unchanged.
Use the same method for every vendor: ask it to show, on your own data, the output each regime requires, then mark each request as shown, described only or not yet asked.
For SECR that is the Schedule 7 limbs and the intensity ratio; for the IFRS standards it is the metrics, remembering that the reporting entity, not the vendor, asserts compliance; for the revised ESRS it includes both Scope 2 methods; and for CBAM it is which output the tool produces and for which goods.
From the companies’ own notices: the Emitwise platform was acquired by Green Project Technologies in July 2025 and is no longer sold as a standalone product; SGS announced a majority stake in Sami on 21 November 2025; Diginex announced on 14 January 2026 that it had closed its acquisition of Plan A; and Normative and Greenly announced a merger in September 2026.
This site gives no market-size figure, because no public body publishes one and the commercial estimates differ.
What public sources do measure is demand: DESNZ’s evaluation found about 19,900 organisations in SECR scope, and CDP reports that its supply-chain members asked nearly 45,000 companies for environmental data in 2025.
The directory records only the frameworks each vendor names on the page we read, so a missing name means not named there, not unsupported.
Across the directory the most often named include CSRD, ISSB, CDP, GRI and the GHG Protocol; SECR is named by a minority and UK SRS by two of the seventeen, which is a reason to ask rather than assume.
Usually by starting with spend-based estimates, multiplying money spent by an emission factor, and replacing them with activity data and then supplier data as these arrive.
The GHG Protocol’s calculation guidance gives methods for each of the fifteen categories, advice on choosing between them and a hybrid method for purchased goods and services, so a tool should record which method produced each category’s figure.
This site names none, because it has tested none.
For tracking, the questions are whether the tool captures data continuously from utility bills, fuel cards and travel records, whether each figure links to its source document, and whether it applies the right DESNZ factor year; those are checks you can run on your own data in a demonstration.
Buying method
Use the same evidence request for every vendor and separate demonstrated behaviour from promises.
Module 01 / 03
Can an independent reviewer recreate the calculation?
Module 02 / 03
Can the tool show differences between reporting outputs?
Module 03 / 03
Can you export the record without the vendor remaining involved?
The directory remains a description of vendor material, with no scores, rankings or recommendations.
Prepare the evidence
Use this preparation sequence alongside the detailed requirements on this page.
An editorial workflow, not a statutory schedule.
Write the reporting boundaries and required outputs before evaluating a platform.
Ask the vendor to demonstrate a representative import and calculation.
Inspect factor versions, estimates, permissions and change history.
Test the export against the required disclosures and existing reporting systems.
Check whether a reviewer can follow a result back to its source record.
Record only the features, scope and prices the vendor actually commits to.
Read the applicable instrument: SI 2008/410 Schedule 7, Parts 7 and 7A — the SECR content duties
A practical brief
Ask for a pack that lets the next reviewer retrace the scope decision, follow the evidence and understand the limitations.
This describes a useful handover; it does not certify compliance or establish that a vendor or adviser delivers it.
Module 01 / 04
Write down the entity, reporting route and relevant period, including why the route applies.
Module 02 / 04
Attach each reported figure or statement to its source, method, version and limitations.
Module 03 / 04
Name the preparer, reviewer, open questions and decisions taken before publication.
Module 04 / 04
Retain the working files and unresolved actions so the next reporting cycle can reuse the evidence.
Keep the input records, calculation files and narrative together.
Record the assumptions challenged and any limitations still unresolved.
Keep the approved version and the actions carried forward.
Continue your research
Sources
Every figure, date and status on this page traces to the instrument’s owner.
Secondary commentary is never the source for a number.
Energy, emissions limbs, intensity ratio, methodology, comparatives, the 40,000 kWh relief.
The amending instrument, for financial years beginning on or after 1 April 2019.
The separate climate-related financial disclosure duty in the non-financial and sustainability information statement.
The Phase 4 qualification test.
Reference period, the 95% line, the energy intensity ratios.
The government’s guidance on the SECR content and methods.
The annual factor sets.
The set for activity data falling mostly in 2026.
The set for activity data falling mostly in 2025.
The factor-year rule and the new electricity method.
About 19,900 organisations in scope; non-compliance of 14–23%.
The government’s review of how SECR has worked.
¶29(a): gross emissions, the GHG Protocol, location-based Scope 2; ¶¶B32–B33 on Scope 3.
Published 25 February 2026.
The UK’s differences from IFRS S1 and S2.
Comply or explain from accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027.
The consultation the final rules replaced; cited for history only.
The measurement basis UK SRS S2 ¶29(a)(ii) names.
The fifteen categories.
The international standard for an organisational inventory.
For voluntary use from 15 December 2026.
The international standard ISSA (UK) 5000 is based on.
IFRS S1 and S2, which UK SRS adopts with amendments.
Supply-chain data requests in 2025.
An analyst report — its own scope and named leaders only.
The 2026 amendments for ESOS Phase 4.
The government’s own Phase 4 guidance.
Location-based and market-based methods.
The family of standards a carbon tool implements.
Consolidated draft estimated Q2 2027; revised standard estimated Q4 2028; subject to change.
Spend-based, average-data and supplier-specific methods.
The verification standard.
A question to put to any vendor about data protection.
The government-backed baseline scheme.
For the personal data in commuting and travel records.
The national accreditation body.
The 2026 questionnaires and scoring methodologies.
Target-setting standards some tools build in.
The standard-setter behind IFRS S2.
The official national series corporate inventories sit beside.
The financed-emissions method for banks, insurers and asset managers.
The revised ESRS, which require both Scope 2 methods.
A tax on imports from 1 January 2027, not a reporting regime; a vendor’s CBAM output is a separate question.
Continue reading
The wider category: UK SRS S1, the ESRS, GRI — the requirements and the same vendors in their own words.
The Schedule 7 test, the three populations and why the 2025 uplift did not move SECR.
The fifteen categories, “consider” against “report”, and the FCA’s one-year relief.