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Carbon accounting software hardly needs an introduction — it is fast becoming an essential tool for most businesses today.
But before we get into any details, here’s one thing to remember: tracking your emissions in Excel is not a good idea – it extends a heartfelt invitation to human error, will never scale along with your business, and is a famous time thief.
In this article, we’re telling you about the best carbon accounting software, showing where you might find it lacking, and giving you a list of top picks from the carbon accounting software market.
What is carbon accounting software?
Carbon accounting software are tools that help you calculate your carbon footprint. But more often than not, they will go further than that and help improve how you measure, track, and manage your greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
The larger the business, the more difficult it is to collect, calculate, and report on your emissions data as it includes various types of information like energy usage, waste, transportation, supply chain operations, etc.
With enterprise carbon accounting software on the table, you can not only simplify data collection processes, but also ensure data accuracy and transparency. This makes it much easier to be compliant with regulations like the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), Greenhouse Gas Protocol, Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), while also giving stakeholders relevant information around your carbon footprint.
Why carbon accounting software might not be enough for certain use cases?
When looking at various carbon accounting software companies, you generally need to check these features off the list:
- Automated data collection
- Emissions factor libraries
- Audit trails
- Reporting capabilities
- Carbon reduction targets and sustainability goals
- Smooth integrations with other tools and system
And although this looks like a good list already, limiting yourself to tools that can only help with carbon accounting can backfire as they are not designed to make your business future-proof.
As regulations expand beyond greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, companies will need to disclose a broader range of information. If your software can’t adapt to these evolving requirements, you may find yourself searching for a new vendor, which can make data transitions challenging.
While carbon accounting is essential, it’s just one piece of the larger ESG puzzle. A comprehensive solution that addresses resource efficiency, labor practices, diversity, and governance enables sustainable growth. It ensures regulatory compliance, enhances reputation, and creates long-term stakeholder value.
12 cutting-edge carbon accounting software solutions to future-proof your business
1) ESG Flo – all-in-one solution for carbon accounting and ESG reporting
ESG Flo is one of the best options on the market and much more than just a great carbon accounting tool. It covers the full ESG data spectrum, using AI to automate data collection and transformation from just about any data source – PDF's, spreadsheets, ERP systems, surveys, emails, etc.
Unlike many other software that only focus on the sustainability aspect, this one goes far beyond that, making it easier to track and report your whole ESG impact. Here you get to report on any mandatory, voluntary, or custom disclosure framework, while also enjoying efficient cross-framework data sharing.
But let’s zoom in on carbon accounting specifically. With ESG Flo, you can calculate your GHG emissions with confidence using trusted methods like mass-based calculations for Scope 3 emissions and smart factor matching from sources like Ecoinvent, EPA, and IEA.
And while calculating Scope 3 emissions can be challenging, ESG Flo is standing at the forefront of solving that issue and ensures high data quality across all sources.
💡Relevant: How EnerSys uses GenAI to drive efficiency, ensure accuracy, and safeguard sustainability & ESG data
2) Workiva – carbon accounting & financial reporting platform
Workiva is a company that offers a portfolio of tools, with carbon accounting being one of them. People choose it for different use cases, such as compliance, ESG reporting, financial reporting, statutory reporting, controls reporting, GHG emissions calculations – or all of them combined.
Needless to say, being this all-in-one solution is what makes Workiva stand out and many users point out that it’s having those data connection points that they value the most.
However, when software gets this complex, one-sided communication and product glitches are sure to follow. As one user pointed out on G2, ‘there are times when the platform freezes during the peak season.’
💡Related: 5 best Workiva alternatives to try for all things ESG management
3) Persefoni – carbon accounting & climate management platform
Persephoni is a climate management platform with primary focus on carbon accounting, yet it can also support you with ESG reporting. Users choose this tool to measure carbon footprint, build business decarbonization strategies, and remain compliant with mandatory regulations such as SEC, CSRD, SECR, and others.
Users point out that the tool helps them keep track of their GHG emission levels in a ‘modernized and futuristic way’, while also leveraging AI to follow relevant ESG regulations.
When it comes to frustrations, Nicolas Z., Head of Commercial Analysis, mentioned his less-than-perfect user experience:
‘it's not the easiest UI. Even after reviewing it with the Persefoni Team, I kept getting lost when I wanted to find new info or features. It could be more intuitive.’
4) Watershed – GHG accounting platform
Watershed is a sustainability platform built for enterprises that want to track their carbon emissions and take action on them. The tool is useful for users from different industries, as long as their focus is on carbon accounting.
That’s not to say that Watershed doesn’t support you with ESG reporting – here you can expect to get audit-grade data across various regulatory frameworks, like CSRD, SEC, and others. If you’re looking for a tool that will help you pinpoint your emissions and decarbonize the business, this one is definitely worth considering.
💡Related: 5 best Watershed alternatives for ESG reporting and carbon accounting + user reviews
5) SWEEP – carbon accounting & sustainability data management tool
Sweep is yet another good option on the carbon accounting market. It helps users collect, manage, and act on their ESG data. It caters to companies of different sizes and across different industries, helping them improve their sustainability journey.
If you need to meet disclosure requirements, achieve specific sustainability goals, drill into your value chain performance, and build future-proof strategies, Sweep is a strong candidate for the job, along with ESG Flo, Watershed, and other options we will mention in a minute.
6) Position Green – ESG reporting & carbon management software
Position Green is an ESG reporting and carbon accounting software that helps you evaluate your environmental impact, report on it, and look for ways to improve it. It helps you understand the global impact your company is having on the planet and look for efficient ways to become more sustainable.
Users point out that this tool is easy in use and the reporting experience is fairly intuitive within the tool.
However, there are also some drawbacks to consider before committing to this solution:
‘The software does require a lot of manual data handling after exporting the data. I miss visualizations of relevant data that is included in other software.’ – Kristian S., Sustainability Manager via Capterra.
💡Related: Top 7 Position Green alternatives of 2024 + user reviews
7) Plan A – carbon management tool
Plan A is a carbon manager and an ESG reporting software that helps you centralize all of your sustainability efforts. Here you can collect data around your carbon footprint and follow key regulatory disclosures like GRI, SASB, TCFD, and others.
Similarly to the tools we mentioned earlier, this one helps you set and achieve carbon reduction goals and supports you in decarbonizing your business. On top of that, you might be able to get consulting support with things like double materiality assessment, gap analysis, and external assurance.
💡Related: The 12 best ESG software platforms for 2024 + why you need to invest
8) Greenly – carbon footprint & ESG management tool
Greenly is a sustainability management platform that can give you the standard climate suite found across many tools within this space: carbon assessment, decarbonization strategies, CSRD compliance, life cycle assessment, etc.
For many users, Greenly has become their go-to software to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability, making it easy to quantify and visualize their carbon footprint.
At the same time, users also have some frustrations around customer support and communication the company provides:
‘We found customer support to really not be that helpful in explaining different offset measures or even just resolving simple problems with the product. They have also added/removed features on their platform with no communication to the users, which directly impacted work we had already completed.’ - Brittany-Marie, Impact Ambassador via G2.
9) Pulsora – carbon accounting tool & sustainability management tool
Pulsora is a tool that helps companies collect, report, and improve their ESG and sustainability performance. Their GHG calculator helps you measure your direct and indirect emissions so you can later analyze and report on them.
You get to collect your sustainability data at every step of the chain, which is particularly helpful when you need to report to stakeholders and track whether you are meeting your ESG objectives.
There are also some challenges you might run into when using the tool. As one user pointed out on G2, ‘report generation appears to be unproductive. I get the data from the software but the building of reports is not automated. It implies that our team invests more time in restructuring and aggregating data, which can be difficult.’
10) Novisto – sustainability management platform
Novisto is another sustainability management platform that combines carbon accounting and ESG reporting. It helps you accelerate your ESG journey by providing relevant sustainability insights to drive data-backed decisions.
For its customers, Novisto is a user-friendly tool that is easy to navigate but there are also some things they point out as a recurring frustration:
‘It is in its early stages of development and doesn't have all of the functionality that we know it will have in the future.’ – Sarah F., Manager of Investor Relations & ESG via G2.
💡Related: 5 Novisto alternatives for carbon management and ESG reporting
11) Normative – carbon accounting software
Normative is a carbon accounting platform that is primarily all about calculating your carbon footprint. It helps you plan reductions and achieve net zero. And although it’s good to have a narrow focus, this is one of those cases where you might need to get an add-on vendor to report on your ESG data. After all, most companies that need to track their environmental impact also need to comply with major sustainability regulations.
Users point out that Normative is not a one-in-all solution like many others and it has a strong focus on carbon accounting, yet for some people it’s just the thing they need.
Christina R., a Sustainability Manager, also mentioned that the tool requires more manual work than one would hope: ‘It was a bit more manual work than expected to enter data into the platform via their templates.’
12) Coolset – carbon accounting & sustainability management platform
Last but not least, Coolset is a sustainability management platform that helps you comply with CSRD and track your carbon emissions. It works best for small and medium-sized enterprises by helping them move away from spreadsheets and decarbonize their business.
Important thing to consider before trying is that the platform might have issues with updates and loading time, on top of data accuracy issues for your carbon emissions:
‘The values we use for calculating the footprint on Scope 1,2,3 are sometimes still a bit high and too generic,” a user on G2 says.
What next?
So, what do we do with this list of tools?
First things first, you need to establish your use cases and see which tools match your needs best.
If you want to group together the tools that have similar functionality, ESG Flo, Watershed, SWEEP, Position Green, and Plan A should be your top picks if you are after carbon accounting and ESG management specifically.
Workiva, for example, is much broader and doesn’t have as firm a focus on sustainability. Workday helps you report on the social impact within your ESG data, while AuditBoard helps you track ESG data along with risk factors for the business. While these three have touchpoints with the rest of the tools we mentioned on this list, some users might find them lacking the core sustainability functionality.
With that in mind and a checklist of must-have features, pick your favorites and get a tour with them to see how they work. A demo with ESG Flo is the best place to start, book your slot today!
