Vendor profile · Seedling · described from its own site
Seedling carbon accounting software
Seedling sells carbon accounting software paired with a dedicated carbon specialist, and lists SECR, PPN 006 and B Corp reports (seedling.earth).
Most searches that reach this page are about SECR software for small UK businesses, so this page also states exactly who SECR and PPN 006 reach.
We have not tested Seedling and give it no rating.
In its own words
What Seedling says it does
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Model
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Measurement
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Reports named
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Plans
| Item | As Seedling describes it |
|---|---|
| Model | Software plus a dedicated carbon specialist |
| Measurement | Scope 1, 2 and 3; GHG Protocol and ISO 14064 |
| Reports named | GHG, net zero, SECR, PPN 006, B Corp |
| Plans | Starter, Core, Advanced |
| Own mark | Seedling Business Certification (“Climate Committed”) |
| Price | Not published — Enterprise level · TBD |
Read the detailed guidance and evidence
Seedling’s home page leads with “Carbon Management Software With Expert Support”.
It describes a platform for Scope 1, 2 and 3 measurement “aligned to the GHG Protocol and ISO 14064 standards”, with activity-based Scope 3 capture, integrations, supplier and employee surveys, SBTi-aligned targets and net zero roadmap modelling (seedling.earth).
Alongside the software, each customer gets what Seedling calls a dedicated carbon specialist, who reviews data, sense-checks assumptions and builds a decarbonisation plan around the business’s actual hotspots.
Seedling sets out a five-step process: kick-off call, data input, expert review, roadmap, then report and certify.
Its listed outputs are compliance-grade reports for GHG, net zero, SECR, PPN and B Corp, a shareable public impact page, and its own business certification.
These are Seedling’s statements about its own product.
Audience
Who Seedling says it is for
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Disclosure
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Read the detailed guidance and evidence
Seedling is unusually direct about fit.
Its home page says it suits organisations of up to 2,000 employees in any sector, lean sustainability teams, and people in operations, finance or compliance managing carbon on the side.
It says it would point elsewhere anyone needing bespoke API integrations or live data monitoring, reporting broken down by cost centre or department, or workshop-heavy consulting.
Searches for easy SECR software for small UK businesses meet a legal fact first: a small private company is not in SECR.
SECR reaches quoted companies of any size (Sch 7 Part 7), and unquoted companies only once they exceed at least two of £36 million turnover, £18 million balance sheet and 250 employees (Sch 7 ¶20B).
The full test is on SECR thresholds, and the duties for smaller firms on SME sustainability reporting.
Emissions
Scope 1, 2 and 3: what Seedling claims, and what the UK rules ask
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Scope 1
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Key point 02
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Scope 3
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Scope 3 · 2
Read the detailed guidance and evidence
Seedling describes full Scope 1, 2 and 3 measurement, starting with high-level methods to find hotspots and adding more accurate data as it is collected.
Its pricing table marks the Starter plan’s footprint as hotspot analysis only, and the Core and Advanced footprints as accurate.
SECR does not require the complete fifteen-category Scope 3 inventory: an unquoted company follows the statutory gas, transport-fuel and purchased-electricity limbs, and the transport-fuel limb can include Scope 3 activities (Sch 7 ¶20D).
For a PPN 006 plan, Scope 3 is five categories only — upstream and downstream transport and distribution, waste, business travel and employee commuting (Technical Standard).
For UK SRS S2, every one of the fifteen categories must be considered and the included ones disclosed, with location-based Scope 2 (¶29(a); ¶¶B30–B33).
Three regimes, three different Scope 3 answers: a tool should let you produce each from one inventory without changing the underlying figures.
The fifteen categories are explained on Scope 3 emissions, and the UK SRS rule on UK SRS S2.
PPN 006
The Carbon Reduction Plan: who is actually asked for one
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Targets
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Oversight
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Key point 03
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Key point 04
Carbon Reduction Plan check · one contract at a time
A CRP is a condition a buyer sets for a specific procurement, not a general legal duty; the tender documents govern.
Indicative only.
Nothing you enter leaves your browser.
Read the detailed guidance and evidence
Seedling lists PPN 006 reports, and for many smaller UK companies a Carbon Reduction Plan is the first carbon document a customer asks for.
PPN 006 is procurement policy, not a legal duty on companies: in-scope buyers — central government departments, their executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies — should ask for a plan as a condition of participation (PPN 006).
The threshold is an estimated contract value above £5 million a year including VAT, averaged over the life of the contract, and it is tested contract by contract.
It applies to procurements commenced on or after 24 February 2025; earlier ones follow PPN 06/21.
The NHS runs its own requirement, which accepts a plan built to PPN 006 (NHS England).
The check beside this text works through a specific tender.
The UK regimes
Seedling against SECR, UK SRS and the other regimes it is searched for
The left-hand columns are the law and the vendor’s own words.
The right-hand column is the request that turns one into evidence about the other.
Nothing here is a finding about the product.
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SECR
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PPN 006
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UK SRS S2
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Targets
Read the detailed guidance and evidence
| Regime | What the rule requires | What Seedling says | Ask to see |
|---|---|---|---|
| SECR | kWh; the statutory emissions limbs; one emissions intensity ratio; methodology; comparatives (Sch 7 ¶¶15–18A, 20D–20H) | “Detailed reports (PPN, B Corp, SECR)” in its plan comparison (pricing page) | The SECR report on your data: kWh total, each limb, the ratio, the methodology, last year’s figures |
| PPN 006 | Scope 1 and 2 in full, five Scope 3 categories, net zero by 2050 in the UK, for contracts above £5m a year (Technical Standard) | Lists PPN 006 among its report types | A Carbon Reduction Plan in the Technical Standard’s format, five Scope 3 categories exactly |
| UK SRS S2 | Gross Scopes 1–3; location-based Scope 2; all fifteen Scope 3 categories considered (¶29(a); ¶¶B30–B33) | “Full Scope 1, 2 and 3 measurement aligned to the GHG Protocol and ISO 14064 standards” (seedling.earth) | Location-based Scope 2, and a record of each Scope 3 category included or excluded |
| Targets | Targets set in 2026 use SBTi Corporate Net-Zero Standard v1.3.1 (SBTi) | SBTi-aligned target setting | Which SBTi standard and version the targets are built to, and whether they are validated |
| Seedling Certification | No statute or regulator recognises a vendor’s own mark | A proprietary business certification, “Climate Committed”, in Core and Advanced | What the mark attests to, and that it is not presented as an accreditation |
Searches ask for the best software for SECR reporting in the UK, UK-compliant SECR tools, tools for streamlined SECR compliance and net zero reporting software for UK businesses.
This site ranks none of them; the table gives the test any one of them has to pass.
The ratio is a common stumbling point: SECR requires at least one ratio of emissions to a quantifiable factor the company chooses, with no denominator prescribed (Sch 7 ¶20G).
The government’s SECR guidance is its own account of what the directors’ report should contain, and DESNZ publishes the conversion factors most UK reports use.
UK SRS is available for voluntary use by any UK entity (DBT guidance), and only listed companies in scope of the FCA rules report against it on a comply-or-explain basis, for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027.
Audit trail
Assurance readiness: what can be checked, and by whom
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Key point 01
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Assurance
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Listed categories
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Assurance · 2
Read the detailed guidance and evidence
Seedling’s process includes an expert review of each customer’s data for gaps and inconsistencies before the footprint is shown.
That is a review by the vendor’s own staff, which is different from independent assurance.
In the UK no company is required to obtain sustainability assurance; listed companies in scope of the FCA rules state whether they obtained it.
Seedling’s own certification is a vendor’s mark — certified, accredited, verified and evaluated are different claims, and none of them is made by a regulator here.
Seedling names SBTi-aligned targets; SBTi’s standards and guidance say targets set in 2026 use Corporate Net-Zero Standard Version 1.3.1, with Version 2.0 validation from early 2027.
It also names ISO 14064, the ISO standard for organisation-level quantification, and the GHG Protocol; customer requests often arrive through CDP.
Price
Seedling pricing: what the vendor publishes
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Price evidence
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Key point 02
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Oversight
Module 04 / 04
Price evidence · 2
Read the detailed guidance and evidence
Seedling publishes three plans — Starter, Core and Advanced — but no prices (pricing page).
The page asks for your headcount and business type and emails a personalised quote; the home page also offers a free start.
Core is described as including reports such as GHG, B Corp and PPN 006, one-to-one expert onboarding and its certification; Advanced adds unlimited sites, unlimited report drafts and unlimited expert support, and the comparison table lists detailed PPN, B Corp and SECR reports.
This site records the price as Enterprise level · TBD.
For a UK reporter the useful quote names the reports included — SECR and PPN 006 especially — and the number of sites.
In the demonstration
Questions to put to Seedling, each tied to a provision
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Disclosure
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Key point 02
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Key point 04
Questions for Seedling · 13 requests
- Show the year’s kWh total and the lines it is built from, split by fuel.SECR · SI 2008/410 Sch 7 ¶15(3A); ¶20D(3) ↗
- Map each calculation line to the statutory limb it reports under.SECR · Sch 7 ¶15(2)–(3); ¶20D(1)–(2) ↗
- Let us set our own denominator, and show the ratio uses emissions, not energy.SECR · Sch 7 ¶17; ¶20G ↗
- Export the methodology statement, naming the factor set and approach used.SECR · Sch 7 ¶16; ¶20F ↗
- Reproduce last year’s energy and emissions beside this year’s from stored data.SECR · Sch 7 ¶18, ¶18A; ¶20H ↗
- Keep a log of measures that feeds the narrative.SECR · Sch 7 ¶15(3D); ¶20D(4) ↗
- Show the relief test running on every energy product, and the statement it produces.SECR · Sch 7 ¶15(5)(a); ¶20D(7)(a); ¶20, ¶20K ↗
- Show which factor set was applied to each activity line, and the rule for periods spanning two years.Conversion factors · DESNZ 2026 Methodology Paper ¶1.10 ↗
- Does the year-on-year view annotate the 2026 methodology change?Conversion factors · Methodology Paper ¶1.13; 2026 major changes report ↗
- Show the measurement approach and organisational boundary the engine applies.UK SRS S2 · UK SRS S2 ¶29(a)(ii) ↗
- Show that credits sit in a separate ledger and never reduce the reported total.UK SRS S2 · UK SRS S2 ¶29(a)(i) ↗
- Default Scope 2 to location-based, with market-based alongside if we choose.UK SRS S2 · UK SRS S2 ¶29(a)(v); ¶¶B30–B31 ↗
- Show a category-by-category record of what is included and why the rest is not.UK SRS S2 · UK SRS S2 ¶¶B32–B33; ¶29A ↗
Your record of your own demonstration — not an assessment of any product.
Nothing you mark leaves your browser.
Read the detailed guidance and evidence
Seedling names an SECR report, so the SECR requests are the ones to put to it first, with the quoted-company limb dropped if you are unquoted.
The builder beside this text lists them with their provisions; mark each as shown on your data, described only, or not yet asked.
The SECR deadlines and exemptions are on SECR deadlines and SECR exemptions.
Everything above describes what Seedling publishes about itself, set beside what the rules require.
We have not trialled the product, taken a briefing or accepted any fee, and we rank no vendor above another.
Also in the directory
Other vendors described the same way
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Key point 01
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Key point 02
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Key point 03
Read the detailed guidance and evidence
These profiles are built on the same pattern: the vendor’s own words, set against the same requirements.
Listing them is not a recommendation, and they are in no order of merit.
- Plan A — carbon accounting joined to decarbonisation planning.
- Greenly — a climate platform with GHG, CSRD and CBAM modules.
- Climatise — file-upload carbon accounting naming SECR, ESOS and UK SRS.
All seventeen are described side by side, alphabetically, on carbon management software, with the requirements every tool is measured against.
Frequently asked
Questions people ask
What is Seedling?
Seedling describes itself as carbon management software with expert support: a platform for Scope 1, 2 and 3 measurement aligned to the GHG Protocol and ISO 14064, paired with a dedicated carbon specialist who reviews data and builds a decarbonisation plan. It lists GHG, net zero, SECR, PPN and B Corp reports.
Is there easy SECR software for small UK businesses?
A small private company is not in SECR at all.
SECR reaches quoted companies of any size and unquoted companies and LLPs that exceed at least two of £36m turnover, £18m balance sheet and 250 employees.
A small business is more likely to be asked for a Carbon Reduction Plan under PPN 006 when bidding for a large government contract.
What is the best software for SECR reporting in the UK?
This site does not rank software.
The useful test is whether a tool produces the directors’ report section Schedule 7 requires — kWh, the statutory emissions limbs, an emissions intensity ratio, a methodology statement and comparatives — on your own data.
Seedling lists an SECR report in its plan comparison.
How much does Seedling cost?
Seedling does not publish prices.
Its pricing page lists Starter, Core and Advanced plans and gives a personalised quote by email after you enter your headcount and business type. This site records the price as Enterprise level · TBD.
Who is Seedling for?
Seedling says it is a great fit for organisations of up to 2,000 employees in any sector, and for lean sustainability teams or people in operations, finance or compliance managing carbon on the side.
It says it would point elsewhere anyone needing bespoke API integrations, live data monitoring or reporting by cost centre.
Does Seedling produce a PPN 006 Carbon Reduction Plan?
Seedling lists PPN 006 among its report types.
A plan under PPN 006 covers Scope 1 and 2 in full and five Scope 3 categories, and commits to net zero by 2050 in the UK; it is asked for only on in-scope central government contracts above £5m a year including VAT.
What is Seedling Certification?
Seedling’s own business certification, which it calls Climate Committed and says recognises businesses that have measured their emissions and set reduction targets with a plan.
It is a vendor’s mark, not an accreditation, a statutory scheme or a regulator’s recognition.
Has this site tested Seedling?
No. This page describes what Seedling publishes about itself and sets it beside what the rules require. It gives no rating.
Prepare the evidence
Seedling carbon accounting software: from a requirement to a reporting pack
Use this preparation sequence alongside the detailed requirements on this page.
An editorial workflow, not a statutory schedule.
- Stage 0101
Reporting specification
Write the reporting boundaries and required outputs before evaluating a platform.
- Stage 0202
Evidence sample
Ask the vendor to demonstrate a representative import and calculation.
- Stage 0303
Method control
Inspect factor versions, estimates, permissions and change history.
- Stage 0404
Reporting export
Test the export against the required disclosures and existing reporting systems.
- Stage 0505
Review trail
Check whether a reviewer can follow a result back to its source record.
- Stage 0606
Commercial record
Record only the features, scope and prices the vendor actually commits to.
Read the applicable instrument: Seedling — carbon management software with expert support
A practical brief
An evidence pack, with a clear review trail
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
Applicability record
Write down the entity, reporting route and relevant period, including why the route applies.
Module 02 / 04
Evidence register
Attach each reported figure or statement to its source, method, version and limitations.
Module 03 / 04
Review trail
Name the preparer, reviewer, open questions and decisions taken before publication.
Module 04 / 04
Usable handover
Retain the working files and unresolved actions so the next reporting cycle can reuse the evidence.
View the preparation diagram
- Prepare01
Create the traceable pack
Keep the input records, calculation files and narrative together.
- Challenge02
Resolve questions before publication
Record the assumptions challenged and any limitations still unresolved.
- Retain03
Make the next cycle reproducible
Keep the approved version and the actions carried forward.
Continue your research
Related guides, one question at a time
Sources
Primary sources
Every figure, date and status on this page traces to the instrument’s owner.
Secondary commentary is never the source for a number.
- SeedlingSeedling — carbon management software with expert support
Seedling’s own description of its product. A product reference, not evidence.
- SeedlingSeedling pricing — Starter, Core and Advanced
The three plans and what each includes; no prices published.
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2008/410 Schedule 7 — SECR
Who reports and what the directors’ report must contain.
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2008/410 Sch 7 ¶20B — the unquoted-company exemption test
The “not more than” qualifying conditions, two of three.
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2008/410 Sch 7 ¶20G — the intensity ratio
An emissions ratio; no denominator prescribed.
- Department for Business and TradeEnvironmental reporting guidelines, including SECR guidance
The government’s SECR guidance.
- Cabinet OfficePPN 006 — Carbon Reduction Plans in major government contracts
The condition of participation, the £5m-a-year threshold and the in-scope buyers.
- Cabinet OfficePPN 006 Technical Standard for completion of Carbon Reduction Plans
Scope 1 and 2 in full, five Scope 3 categories.
- NHS EnglandCarbon Reduction Plan requirements for the procurement of NHS goods, services and works
The NHS’s own requirement, which accepts a PPN 006 plan.
- Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroGovernment conversion factors for company reporting
The UK factor sets.
- Department for Business and TradeUK Sustainability Reporting Standards — guidance
UK SRS available for voluntary use.
- Department for Business and TradeUK SRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures, ¶29(a), ¶¶B30–B33
Gross emissions, location-based Scope 2, the fifteen Scope 3 categories.
- Financial Conduct AuthorityPS26/19 — UK SRS on a comply-or-explain basis
Listed companies only.
- GHG ProtocolCorporate Accounting and Reporting Standard
The measurement basis Seedling and UK SRS S2 both name.
- ISOISO 14064-1 — organisation-level GHG quantification
The ISO standard Seedling names.
- Science Based Targets initiativeStandards and guidance
Which Corporate Net-Zero Standard version applies to targets set in 2026.
- CDPCDP disclosure platform
A common source of customer supply-chain requests.