Accounting
Activity data × emission factors, by scope and category, with the working kept.
Is the number right, and can we show how we got it?Software · carbon management, cited
Carbon management software: what it adds to the inventory
Carbon management software takes a measured inventory and helps a company act on it: targets, reduction plans, internal carbon prices, supplier data and progress.
This page sets out what UK rules and voluntary schemes ask of each, cited to the provision, and lists 60 vendors in their own words; this site has tested no products and ranks none.
What carbon management software does
From a number to a plan you can track
Carbon management software is the layer that sits on top of a greenhouse gas inventory and turns it into decisions.
It holds targets, the reduction measures meant to meet them, the price a company puts on its own emissions, and the supplier work that improves Scope 3.
The measurement underneath is a separate job, covered on carbon accounting software, and this page does not repeat it.
Every management figure inherits that inventory, built under the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, so a weak inventory produces a confident plan for the wrong number.
The rest of this page takes each management job to the rule or scheme that asks for it, then lists the vendors and the tests.
- 1
Take the inventory
Scope 1, 2 and 3 from the accounting layer, with the base year and the working.
- 2
Set targets
Scopes, gases, base year, gross or net, and any third-party validation.
- 3
Plan the measures
Each measure with an owner, a date, a cost and the tonnes it should remove.
- 4
Price the carbon
An internal carbon price applied to investment cases, recorded by date.
- 5
Work the supply chain
Supplier data replacing spend-based estimates, category by category.
- 6
Track and disclose
Plan against actual, then the UK SRS, PPN 006, ESOS or transition-plan output.
The three types
Accounting, reporting, management: this site’s division, not a law’s
People ask for “the three types of carbon management software”, and no regulator or standard-setter defines three types.
The honest answer is a division by job: accounting measures, reporting formats, and management acts.
That division is this site’s own, and most products sell more than one of the three, so it is a way to write your requirements rather than a way to sort vendors.
Read the detailed guidance and references
The accounting layer is set out in the guide to carbon accounting software, and the disclosure layer on carbon reporting software.
Some buyers use “decarbonisation software” for the third type; the words differ, the job is the same.
| Type (this site’s division) | Its job | What asks for it |
|---|---|---|
| Accounting | Inventory: Scope 1, 2 and 3, factors, base year, audit trail | GHG Protocol; UK SRS S2 ¶29(a); SECR Sch 7 |
| Reporting | Disclosure in the required form | SECR Sch 7; UK SRS S2; UKLR 6.6.6R; PPN 006; CDP |
| Management | Targets, measures, carbon prices, supplier data, progress | UK SRS S2 ¶¶14, 29(f), 33–36; PPN 006 plan; ESOS Part 6A; SBTi criteria |
One
inventory
inventory
Reporting
The SECR lines, the UK SRS metrics, a PPN 006 plan, a CDP response.
Is the output in the shape the rule requires?Management
Targets, reduction plans, internal carbon prices, supplier engagement, progress.
What are we doing about the number, and is it working?Targets
What a target record has to carry
A target is the first thing management software adds, and UK SRS S2 says what a disclosed target must show.
Under ¶¶33–36 of UK SRS S2, an entity discloses each target’s objective, whether a third party validated it, its performance, and for a greenhouse gas target the gases, scopes, whether it is gross or net, and any planned use of carbon credits.
A net target always comes with its gross target, under ¶36(c), so software that holds only the net figure cannot produce the disclosure.
No UK rule requires a target to be validated by the Science Based Targets initiative: ¶34(a) asks only whether a third party validated it.
Read the detailed guidance and references
The SBTi is voluntary, which the is SBTi mandatory guide sets out with what UK rules ask instead.
Its Corporate Near-Term Criteria V5.3.1 are the criteria in use today: Scope 3 targets where relevant Scope 3 is 40% or more of total emissions (C4), at least 95% of Scope 1 and 2 in the target boundary (C5), and at least 67% of Scope 3 (C6).
Criterion C11 says carbon credits must not be counted as emission reductions toward near-term targets, so a tool should keep credits outside the inventory.
UK SRS S1 and S2 are voluntary for any entity that is not a listed company within the FCA’s rules, as the Department for Business and Trade published them on 25 February 2026.
The software test is a single target record that prints every field above without anyone retyping it.
Objective
S2 ¶33(b)Mitigation, adaptation or conformance with science-based initiativesValidation
S2 ¶34(a)Whether a third party validated the target and its methodPerformance
S2 ¶35Progress against each target, and the trendEach GHG target
S2 ¶36Gases, scopes, gross or net, sectoral approach, creditsThe SBTi version change
Two standards in use until 2028
A platform bought now will hold targets under the SBTi’s V1.3.1 criteria and, for new submissions, its Corporate Net-Zero Standard V2.0.
The dates below are the SBTi’s own, from its transition guide; check sector and financial-institution routes separately.
- 11 June 202601
V2.0 published
Publication is not the same as the opening of validation. - 1 October 202602
Validation resources published
SBTi Services published the resources companies use to prepare V2.0 submissions. - 1 February 202703
V2.0 validations open
The general corporate route opens for target validation under V2.0. - 31 January 202804
V1.3.1 validations close
The last date for general corporate submissions under V1.3.1.
Read the detailed guidance and references
Under the V2.0 criteria, a near-term Scope 3 target covers at least every category that is 5% or more of Scope 3 emissions in categories 1 to 14 (C14.1), and every company develops and maintains a transition plan showing how it will implement its targets (C2).
So a tool must compute category shares from the inventory and hold the plan beside the target, not in a separate document.
How the Scope 3 boundary works under each version is on SBTi Scope 3.
Reduction plans and marginal abatement
Measures with owners, costs and tonnes
A reduction plan is a list of measures, each with an owner, a date, a cost and the emissions it should remove.
UK SRS S2 asks how an entity plans to achieve its targets, under ¶14(a)(v), and for information on the progress of plans disclosed before, under ¶14(c).
A marginal abatement view orders the measures by cost per tonne avoided; it is a planning technique, and no UK rule requires one.
UK SRS S2’s own definition of an internal carbon price, in Appendix A, refers to future emissions abatement costs, which is where the two jobs meet.
Read the detailed guidance and references
Three UK instruments ask for a plan of measures, each in its own form.
A Carbon Reduction Plan under the PPN 006 Technical Standard carries emissions reduction targets and carbon reduction projects, is signed off by the board, and is reviewed within six months of the financial year end; the full position is on carbon reduction plans under PPN 006.
An ESOS action plan under Part 6A of the ESOS Regulations records the energy-saving measures a participant intends to take, and the Scheme Administrator publishes action plans and progress updates.
For Phase 4 the action plan is due by 5 December 2028, with progress updates by 5 December 2029, 2030 and 2031, according to the Environment Agency’s Phase 4 guidance; the ESOS action plan guide covers the detail.
There is no penalty for a missing action plan or progress update, but the failure is published.
SECR asks only for a description of the principal energy-efficiency measures taken in the year, under ¶15(3D) of Schedule 7 for quoted companies and ¶20D(4) for large unquoted companies and LLPs, and DESNZ’s 2026 review describes SECR as backward-looking, with no forward targets or transition plans.
| Instrument | Status | The plan it asks for |
|---|---|---|
| UK SRS S2 ¶14(a)(v), ¶14(c) | Voluntary; comply or explain for listed companies in scope of PS26/19 | How targets will be achieved, and progress on plans disclosed before |
| PPN 006 Carbon Reduction Plan | Procurement policy; a condition of bidding above £5m a year | Targets and carbon reduction projects, signed off by the board |
| ESOS action plan (Part 6A) | In force for ESOS participants | Energy-saving measures, then three progress updates |
| SECR Sch 7 ¶15(3D), ¶20D(4) | In force for SECR companies | A description of principal efficiency measures already taken |
- 1
List the measures
Each one tied to the sources and sites in the inventory it would change.
- 2
Cost and size them
Capital and running cost, and the tonnes of CO2e each is expected to avoid.
- 3
Order by cost per tonne
A marginal abatement view: cheapest tonnes first, as a planning aid.
- 4
Assign and date
An owner, a start date and the year the saving should appear.
- 5
Track plan against actual
The saving the measure delivered, read from next year’s inventory.
Internal carbon prices
A price on your own emissions, disclosed whether or not you use one
An internal carbon price is a price a company sets on its own emissions to test decisions against.
Paragraph 29(f) of UK SRS S2 asks whether and how an entity applies a carbon price in decision-making, and the price per tonne it uses.
Because the question is “whether and how”, an entity that applies no price still has something to disclose.
Appendix A defines the price as one used to assess the financial implications of changes to investment, production and consumption patterns, and names shadow prices and internal fees as two common forms.
Read the detailed guidance and references
Paragraph 29 sets the cross-industry metrics, and its (g) asks how climate-related considerations enter executive remuneration; the full list is on IFRS S2 cross-industry metrics.
The UK text of ¶29(f) is the same as IFRS S2’s.
This site prints no typical price: none is set by the standard, and a figure from a survey would be someone else’s choice, dated.
The software test is a price stored by date and applied to a real investment case on your data, with the record of where it was used.
UK SRS S2 ¶29(f)Explore
Module 01 / 04
Whether and how
Is a carbon price applied in decision-making: investment, transfer pricing, scenario analysis?
Module 02 / 04
Price per tonne
The price for each tonne of emissions used to assess their cost.
Module 03 / 04
Shadow price
A theoretical cost used to test investment decisions.
Module 04 / 04
Internal fee
A charge on business units for the emissions they cause.
Supplier engagement
Scope 3 improves one supplier at a time
Scope 3 is where an inventory’s data is weakest, and the only way to improve it is through suppliers.
The GHG Protocol’s Scope 3 calculation guidance ranks methods from most to least specific: supplier-specific, hybrid, average-data and spend-based.
Supplier engagement software moves a category up that list, and it has to record which method produced each figure.
A fall in Scope 3 that comes from a method change is not a reduction, so the tool must keep the two apart before it reports progress against a target.
Read the detailed guidance and references
The Scope 3 Standard asks a company to account for all Scope 3 emissions and to disclose and justify exclusions.
CDP’s supply-chain programme, described in Strengthening the chain, is one route by which customers request suppliers’ data.
Listed companies in scope of PS26/19 have a one-year relief from disclosing Scope 3, for accounting periods beginning in 2027, under UKLR TP 16.4R(2)(a) for UKLR 6.
Scope 3 as a subject is on Scope 3 emissions.
- 1
Rank by spend and emissions
Find the suppliers behind the largest Scope 3 categories.
- 2
Request data
A questionnaire, a portal or CDP’s supply-chain programme.
- 3
Record the method
Supplier-specific, hybrid, average-data or spend-based, with the year.
- 4
Swap the estimate
Replace the spend-based figure for that supplier, and record the change.
- 5
Track the target
Show the movement as a method change or a real reduction.
Transition plans
Nobody must have one; some must say whether they do
No UK company is under a legal duty to have a climate transition plan.
Under the FCA’s PS26/19, a company in UKLR 6, 16 or 22 states whether it has published a climate-related transition plan, where, or why it has not, under UKLR 6.6.6R(8)(e) and its UKLR 16 and 22 equivalents.
That statement does not reach UKLR 14 or 15, and the FCA says in PS26/19 ¶2.36 that UK SRS S2 does not require an entity to have a transition plan.
What S2 asks, at ¶14(a)(iv), is information about any transition plan the entity has, including its key assumptions and dependencies.
Read the detailed guidance and references
The wider listing-rule duty is comply or explain across UK SRS for UKLR 6, 14, 15, 16 and 22, for periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027, under PS26/19; nothing in it makes UK SRS mandatory.
The government consulted on transition-plan requirements from 25 June to 17 September 2025, and its consultation page still said “We are analysing your feedback” when read on 11 October 2026.
The IFRS Foundation’s June 2025 guidance on transition disclosures does not add to IFRS S2’s requirements, and the Transition Plan Taskforce’s framework is archived material of a body that completed its work in 2024.
For software, the test is whether the plan’s targets, measures and assumptions live in the same record as the inventory, so the statement and the S2 disclosure draw on one source.
The UK position is set out in full on UK SRS transition plans.
What the rules askExplore
Module 01 / 04
FCA statement
UKLR 6, 16 and 22: whether a transition plan is published, where, or why not.
Module 02 / 04
UK SRS S2 ¶14(a)(iv)
Information about any transition plan the entity has, its assumptions and dependencies.
Module 03 / 04
Government
Consulted in 2025 on transition-plan requirements; no outcome published.
Module 04 / 04
SBTi V2.0
A transition plan showing how targets will be implemented (C2).
Base years and recalculation
A target is only as stable as its base year
Every target is measured from a base year, and the base year has to be recalculated when the company changes shape.
The GHG Protocol’s 2019 Inventory Guidance lists the triggers: significant changes in structure, in calculation method, and significant errors.
It sets no figure for “significant”; the company sets and discloses its own threshold.
For a science-based target the rule is separate: the GHG Protocol’s technical assistance notes that the SBTi requires a threshold of 5% or less for recalculating target emissions.
The check beside this lists what a platform change does to SECR, UK SRS, a validated target and a base year.
Step 1 · what the inventory feeds
Step 2 · what the move changes
Step 3 · 7 things the next report has to carry
- Before access ends, export activity data, every factor with its version, and the methodology notes, so each past figure can be rebuilt.Our reading of the consistency principle, GHG Protocol Ch 1
- Keep each year on the factor set for its own activity year; a new library does not license re-running old years on new factors.DESNZ 2026 methodology ¶1.10
- Scope 2 electricity uses the emission factors corresponding to the relevant year.GHG Protocol technical assistance
- Test the change against your own significance threshold; a significant change in calculation methodology can require the base year to be recalculated. The GHG Protocol sets no figure — you set and disclose one.GHG Protocol 2019 Inventory Guidance
- Last year’s energy and emissions still appear beside this year’s in the directors’ report.Sch 7 ¶18, ¶18A (quoted) · ¶20H (unquoted)
- The methodology statement describes the methods actually used this year.Sch 7 ¶16 (quoted) · ¶20F (unquoted)
- Where the comparatives are restated on the new method, say so in that statement, so the two columns are read on one basis.Our reading of the Sch 7 ¶16 · ¶20F
Duties are the cited provisions; lines marked “our reading” are this site’s.
Not advice on any product or contract.
Nothing you tick is stored or sent.
Who asks for what
The management outputs, duty by duty
Each row is a different instrument at a different status, and only some are law.
A management layer earns its cost when one register of targets and measures feeds all the rows that apply to you.
| Instrument and status | Who | Management output |
|---|---|---|
| UK SRS S2 · voluntary (DBT, 25 Feb 2026) | Any entity that chooses it | Targets ¶¶33–36; transition plan information ¶14; internal carbon price ¶29(f) |
| UK SRS via PS26/19 · comply or explain, periods from 1 Jan 2027 | Companies in UKLR 6, 14, 15, 16 and 22 | As above, or a statement of what is not disclosed, why and next steps |
| UKLR 6.6.6R(8)(e) and equivalents · PS26/19 | Companies in UKLR 6, 16 and 22 only | Whether a transition plan is published, where, or why not |
| PPN 006 · procurement policy | Bidders for in-scope central government contracts above £5m a year | Carbon Reduction Plan: targets, projects, net zero by 2050 commitment |
| ESOS Part 6A · in force | ESOS participants | Action plan of energy-saving measures; three progress updates |
| SECR Sch 7 · in force | Quoted companies; large unquoted companies and LLPs | Principal efficiency measures taken; no targets |
| SBTi · voluntary | Companies that choose validation | Targets to its criteria; under V2.0 a transition plan |
A company is large for SECR only when it exceeds two of £36m turnover, £18m balance sheet and 250 employees, judged over two consecutive years after the first, because the test is framed as “not more than” on the exempt side.
The tests before you sign
Ten demonstrations, each tied to its provision
The list beside this turns each management job into a demonstration a vendor can pass or fail on your data.
Tick the ones your duties and commitments need, copy them, and send the same list to every vendor.
Run the accounting tests first, because a target tracked against an inventory that cannot be reproduced cannot be defended.
A blank answer in writing is not a yes.
Demo questions · tick the ones that apply
The pass tests are our reading of the cited provisions.
Nothing you tick is stored or sent.
The vendors
60 vendors, in their own words
Every vendor this site files under carbon accounting, the category whose products build the inventory a management layer needs, listed alphabetically, which ranks nothing.
The registry covers 73 vendors across all categories, read 11 October 2026 and 30 September–1 October 2026; the filter narrows this list.
60 vendors · carbon accounting
“Altruistiq helps companies with complex value chains go faster and further on sustainability”
“Intelligent AI that measures, reduces, and reports Scope 1–3 and LCA emissions in line with CDP, SBTi, CSRD, and CBAM requirements”
“Benchmark Gensuite is a unified EHS management software platform built on a single architecture—connecting safety, environmental compliance, and operational risk across every site”
“Our software provides companies and financial institutions with precise accounting of the emissions caused by making, shipping and using critical commodities and products around the globe”
“Measure, reduce, and report your Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions”
“The professional benchmarking and reporting platform built for sustainability consultants, SMEs, and the platforms that serve them”
“Coolset gives supply chain and ESG teams the structure, automation and guidance to meet complex compliance requirements like EUDR, PPWR and CSRD, and manage Scope 1-3 emissions”
“One AI-enabled EHS software platform to drive performance across employee health, safety, quality, environmental, and sustainability”
“Cozero helps enterprises steer decarbonization with the same rigor as financial performance, from data collection to investment decisions and regulatory disclosure”
“Dcycle is an ESG software platform founded in 2020 that helps companies collect, manage, and govern sustainability and non-financial data”
Diginex describes carbon accounting, sustainability reporting, supply chain, human rights monitoring and ESG investor intelligence for asset managers, banks and companies.
Diligent’s carbon accounting page describes a solution that “automatically collates your data and produces up to 80 different pre-configured audit-ready reports”.
Ecologi describes itself as a B Corp-certified climate action platform.
EcoOnline sells software to manage EHS and compliance.
“The Emitwise platform is now part of Green Project, where the team continues to build and deliver end-to-end decarbonization solutions”
“Enablon is Wolters Kluwer’s integrated software platform for environment, health and safety, PSM, and enterprise oversight, with ESG capabilities embedded as part of a broader risk approach”
“Collect, analyze, and report sustainability, financial, and risk KPIs with 10+ software modules – individually or in line with official standards”
“Manage safety, compliance, ESG, sustainability and operational risk from a platform built to keep programs reliable across sites, teams and operational change”
“The climate management platform built on AI, backed by dedicated sustainability experts”
“Measure, report, and reduce your company's emissions on one audit-ready sustainability management platform”
IBM describes Envizi as a “compliance ready solution for ESG data”.
“Ideagen Carbon Accounting is an AI-powered solution designed to address complex multi-region ESG reporting challenges in carbon accounting”
“Bring safety, environment, and quality workflows into one connected platform”
IsoMetrix sells software to “manage their environmental, health, safety, sustainability, and social risks”.
“Makersite’s Product Lifecycle Intelligence software brings together your cost, environment, compliance, and risk data in one place”
“Manglai is a platform to manage all of your environmental impact”
“Measurabl makes subjective sustainability data objective”
Microsoft Sustainability Manager
“Track and reduce your environmental impact using data and AI”
A carbon management platform that, in Novisto’s words, “simplifies the collection, calculation, and reporting of corporate carbon footprints”.
“Net Zero Now exists to provide a simple, credible and affordable route to Net Zero for SMEs and to celebrate and promote those that achieve this vitally important goal”
“Normative is a carbon accounting platform that helps companies calculate, report, and reduce Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions using 349,000 verified emission factors”
“Novata is a sustainability data management platform built for private market investors, deal teams, banks, and companies that need a scalable way to collect, manage, and act on sustainability data”
“One digital solution for sustainability planning, data management, reporting, analysis and action - built for enterprise”
“Our platform empowers organizations to accurately measure and manage scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions with direct and actionable information”
Oracle Fusion Cloud Sustainability
“Oracle Fusion Cloud Sustainability is a new offering to capture environmental, social, and governance data for any kind of activity that has a sustainability impact”
“osapiens is the AI platform for compliance and supplier intelligence to help companies manage risk and become more resilient”
Persefoni describes software and AI tools to manage an organisation’s “sustainability data, disclosures, and performance”.
“Your certified software for reliable emissions intelligence to measure, report and reduce your carbon footprint”
“We guide businesses in understanding their emissions, empower them to develop carbon reduction plans, and supporting them on their journey to net zero”
Position Green describes “a sustainability reporting and management platform that combines powerful software with expert advisory services”.
“Pulsora is an AI-powered sustainability and carbon management platform that automates data collection, measurement, and reporting workflows for sustainability teams”
“Digitally handle occupational safety, quality, sustainability, and environmental management”
“It leverages the full power of the Salesforce ecosystem by pulling an organization’s sustainability data into one place and creating actionable insights to guide strategic decisions”
“Measure your full carbon footprint, build your net zero strategy and develop in-house expertise with a single partner”
SAP Sustainability Footprint Management
“Decarbonize your value chain and calculate your corporate and product carbon footprint at scale with ERP-centric, AI-enabled carbon management”
“Seedling is an all-in-one carbon accounting and Net Zero planning platform for businesses of up to 2000 FTEs”
ServiceNow Operational Sustainability Management
“ServiceNow Operational Sustainability Management helps organizations manage, visualize, and report on sustainability efforts and risks across environmental, social, and governance (ESG) programs”
“SimaPro is life cycle assessment software that helps organizations measure, analyze, and reduce environmental impacts using robust datasets, scientific methods, and transparent modeling”
SINAI describes “audit-grade Scope 1–3 accounting, automated compliance reporting, complete supply chain visibility” and decarbonisation planning for global enterprises.
“Small99 Hero creates a pathway to net zero for you based on your industry, outlining how long your Net Zero journey will take and how much it will cost”
“Sphera unifies risk, safety and sustainability into a single enterprise-wide view — connecting intelligence across operations, products and supply chains”
“Sweep's AI turns sustainability data into measurable business performance”
“Manage sustainability metrics intelligently in medium-sized businesses - through automated processes, AI-powered carbon accounting, and audit-proof ESG reports”
“Terrascope is an enterprise carbon management and decarbonisation platform for companies with complex supply chains”
“Trace combines AI-powered software with expert advisory support to help organisations meet their mandatory climate and sustainability reporting obligations, efficiently and with confidence”
“Unravel Carbon is the climate platform helping companies with global supply chains make data-driven decisions”
“Carbon accounting is often the first step companies take toward climate disclosure, compliance, and action—and with Watershed, it’s part of your complete enterprise sustainability platform”
Workday (supplier sustainability)
“Turn sustainable sourcing into a competitive advantage with Workday supplier sustainability solutions”
“Workiva Carbon is an end-to-end carbon accounting software solution that enables organizations to measure, manage, collaborate on, and report emissions data”
“Carbon management software with experts built in, so you can move from measurement to action without spreadsheets or one-off consulting projects”
Alphabetical, which ranks nothing. Each description is the vendor’s own words from its own site, read 11 October 2026 and 30 September–1 October 2026; prices appear only where the vendor publishes one. No product here has been tested by this site.
Of these, 17 speak of reduction, decarbonisation, targets or net zero in their own one-line description: ASUENE, Climatise, Cozero, Emitwise, Greenly, Microsoft Sustainability Manager, Net Zero Now, Normative, Plan A, Planet Mark, Sami, SAP Sustainability Footprint Management, Seedling, SimaPro, SINAI Technologies, Small99, Terrascope.
That count reads the vendors’ words, not their products; a vendor whose description does not use those words may still sell a management module, so ask.
Owners have changed often: the registry records 11 ownership events among its vendors since February 2025, each from the owner’s own announcement, set out in the timeline on carbon accounting software.
Cost
Management modules are often priced apart
Most vendors do not publish a price.
Of the 60 in this guide, 6 publish a figure on their own pages and 3 publish a free tier or plan; the rest are recorded as Enterprise level · TBD.
Target setting, reduction planning and supplier engagement can each be a separate module, licence or supplier-volume charge, so ask for a quote that names them.
The worksheet beside this totals a three-year cost from the figures in your own quotes; it holds no vendor price.
Your three-year cost · your numbers only
Three-year total £0
Licences, three years£0
Implementation and migration£0
Training and support£0
Added entities£0
Exit£0
Arithmetic on the figures you type, from the vendor’s written quote.
Added entities are counted for an average of one and a half years each. This page states no vendor price and estimates none.
Nothing is stored or sent.
The words buyers use
Platform, tools, system — and the standards with similar names
A carbon management platform holds the inventory, the targets and the measures together; carbon management tools each do one of those jobs.
“Carbon management system” is used for software, but in standards a management system is an organisational process, such as ISO 14001 for the environment or ISO 50001 for energy.
Software can support a management system; it is not one, and buying it certifies nothing.
Read the detailed guidance and references
“Emissions management software” and “GHG management software” are used for the same market.
Analysts use their own category names: Verdantix titles its 2026 benchmark Green Quadrant: Enterprise Carbon Management Software, which evaluated 21 vendors; its placings are the analyst’s statement, dated, and are not reproduced here.
Where the need is advice rather than software, a carbon management consultancy is the other route, and many companies use both.
Similar words, different thingsExplore
Module 01 / 04
Carbon management platform
Inventory, targets, measures and history in one place, with permissions and an audit trail.
Module 02 / 04
Carbon management tools
Single-purpose: a target calculator, a supplier survey, a cost-per-tonne model.
Module 03 / 04
Environmental management system
An organisational process to ISO 14001, which can be certified.
Module 04 / 04
Energy management system
An organisational process to ISO 50001, also an ESOS compliance route.
Choosing without a ranking
“Best” is a question about your duties, not a product
There is no best carbon management software in general, and a list that names one has chosen the criteria that produce its answer.
Several of the lists that rank for these searches in the UK are published by vendors, so read who wrote a list before you read its order.
The useful question is which product passes the tests your own commitments impose, shown on your own data.
- 1
Name the commitments
UK SRS targets, a transition-plan statement, PPN 006, ESOS, an SBTi target, customer requests.
- 2
Check the inventory first
Factor years, Scope 3 methods, restatement and export, on the accounting guide.
- 3
Turn commitments into tests
Target record, gross and net, carbon price, measures, supplier data, base year.
- 4
Demonstrate on your data
One target, one measure, one supplier swap, one restatement.
- 5
Check the owner and the exit
Who you contract with after the 2025–26 consolidation, and what you can take away.
A practical buying sequence
A demonstration that proves the plan
A suggested sequence for comparing proposals; it is not a claim that any listed product passes these tests.
- 01 / Brief01
Name the commitments and outputs
Targets, plans, prices and statements you owe or have chosen. - 02 / Inventory02
Confirm the base year and methods
The accounting layer must reproduce last year before anything is planned on it. - 03 / Target03
Enter one real target
Scopes, gases, base year, gross and net, validation status. - 04 / Plan04
Load three real measures
Owners, dates, costs and expected tonnes; then mark one as delivered. - 05 / Export05
Take it all out
Targets, measures, prices and their history, with the inventory.
Every vendor profile follows one method: the vendor’s own words, dated, with what its pages claim on SECR, UK SRS, ISSB, CSRD, ESOS, PPN 006, CBAM, LCA and Scope 3.
The claims are set side by side on carbon reporting software.
This site has tested no products
Nothing on this page is a rating, ranking or recommendation of any product.
Vendors appear because the registry files them under carbon accounting, in alphabetical order.
Frequently asked
Carbon management software, answered
What is carbon management software?
Software that takes a greenhouse gas inventory and helps a company act on it: setting targets, planning and costing reduction measures, applying an internal carbon price, working with suppliers on Scope 3 data, and tracking progress against the plan.
The measurement underneath is carbon accounting; management is what is done with the number.
What are the three types of carbon management software?
No regulator or standard-setter defines three types.
This site divides the market by the job: carbon accounting (measuring the inventory), carbon reporting (formatting it for SECR, UK SRS, PPN 006 or CDP) and carbon management or decarbonisation (targets, plans, prices and supplier work).
Most products sell more than one, so the division is a way to write requirements, not a way to classify vendors.
What is the difference between carbon management software and carbon accounting software?
Carbon accounting software builds the inventory: activity data, emission factors, Scope 1, 2 and 3, and the working behind each figure.
Carbon management software adds what comes after: targets, reduction plans, internal carbon prices, supplier engagement and progress tracking.
A management layer built on a weak inventory manages the wrong number, so test the accounting first.
What is the best carbon management software in the UK?
This site does not rank products and has tested none, so it names no best.
Test each product against what your duties and commitments ask of a management layer: a target record that carries everything UK SRS S2 ¶¶33–36 asks for, gross and net targets kept apart, a versioned internal carbon price, reduction measures tracked plan against actual, Scope 3 coverage computed from the inventory, and an export of all of it.
What is a carbon management platform, and what are carbon management tools?
A tool usually does one job, such as a target calculator or a supplier survey.
A platform holds the inventory, the targets, the measures and their history in one place, with permissions and an audit trail.
The difference matters when a target has to be restated after an acquisition and the plan has to follow.
What is a carbon management system?
The phrase is used two ways.
In software it means a carbon management platform.
In standards it can mean a management system in the ISO sense, such as ISO 14001 for environmental management or ISO 50001 for energy management, which are organisational processes that can be certified; software can support one but is not one.
Does UK law require a carbon reduction target?
No general UK law requires one.
UK SRS S2 asks an entity applying it to disclose the targets it has set, under paragraphs 33 to 36, and SECR has no forward targets at all.
A Carbon Reduction Plan under PPN 006 carries targets, but it is a condition of bidding for in-scope central government contracts above £5 million a year, not a duty on every company.
Is SBTi validation required?
No. The Science Based Targets initiative is voluntary, and UK SRS S2 ¶34(a) asks only whether a target and its methodology were validated by a third party.
The SBTi’s Corporate Net-Zero Standard V2.0 opens for validation on 1 February 2027; V1.3.1 submissions close on 31 January 2028.
Must a listed company have a transition plan?
No. Under the FCA’s PS26/19, companies in UKLR 6, 16 and 22 must state whether they have published a climate-related transition plan and where, or why not, under UKLR 6.6.6R(8)(e) and its equivalents.
UK SRS S2 ¶14(a)(iv) asks for information about any transition plan an entity has.
The government’s consultation on transition-plan requirements had no published outcome on 11 October 2026.
What is an internal carbon price, and does the software need one?
UK SRS S2 Appendix A defines it as a price an entity uses to assess the financial implications of changes to investment, production and consumption patterns, including shadow prices and internal fees.
Paragraph 29(f) asks whether and how one is applied in decision-making and the price per tonne, so software should store the price by date and record where it is used, or that none is.
How does carbon management software handle supplier engagement?
It requests emissions data from suppliers, records the method and year of each answer, and swaps a spend-based estimate for supplier-specific data category by category.
The GHG Protocol ranks supplier-specific data as the most specific Scope 3 method, and the SBTi’s V5.3.1 criteria require Scope 3 targets where relevant Scope 3 is 40% or more of total emissions.
Can carbon credits count toward a target in the software?
Not toward reductions.
The SBTi’s V5.3.1 criterion C11 says credits must not be counted as emission reductions toward near-term targets, and UK SRS S2 ¶36(c) requires an entity with a net target to disclose its gross target separately, with its planned use of credits under ¶36(e).
Software should keep credits outside the inventory and beside the net target.
How much does carbon management software cost?
Most vendors do not publish a price.
Of the 60 vendors this guide lists, 6 publish a figure on their own pages and 3 publish a free tier or plan; the rest are recorded as Enterprise level · TBD.
Target, planning and supplier modules can be priced separately, so ask for a three-year cost that names them.
Has this site tested any carbon management software?
No. This site has tested no products.
The page is built from UK SRS S2, the FCA’s rules, PPN 006, ESOS, SECR, the GHG Protocol and the SBTi’s own criteria, each cited to its provision, and the vendor directory quotes only what each vendor publishes about itself.
Sources
Primary sources
Every requirement on this page traces to the provision listed here.
Vendor descriptions, prices and ownership events are cited on each vendor’s profile to the vendor’s or acquirer’s own page.
Checked against 23 sources fromDepartment for Business and TradeFinancial Conduct AuthorityDepartment for Energy Security and Net ZeroIFRS FoundationIFRS Foundation (TPT archive)Science Based Targets initiative
- Department for Business and TradeUK SRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures (PDF), ¶¶14, 29(f)–(g), 33–36 and Appendix A
Transition plan information, internal carbon prices, targets, and the definition of an internal carbon price.
- Department for Business and TradeUK Sustainability Reporting Standards S1 and S2
Published 25 February 2026 for voluntary use.
- Financial Conduct AuthorityPS26/19 — final rules on UK SRS reporting by listed companies
Comply or explain across UK SRS for UKLR 6, 14, 15, 16 and 22, periods from 1 January 2027.
- Financial Conduct AuthorityPS26/19 (PDF): ¶2.36 and Appendix 1, UKLR 6.6.6R(8)(e), 16.3.23R(6)(c), 22.2.24R(6)(c), TP 16
The transition-plan statement, for UKLR 6, 16 and 22 only, and the Scope 3 relief.
- Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroClimate-related transition plan requirements (consultation)
Closed 17 September 2025; still “analysing your feedback” when read on 11 October 2026.
- IFRS FoundationDisclosing information about an entity’s climate-related transition, including information about transition plans, in accordance with IFRS S2 (June 2025)
Guidance; it does not add to the requirements in IFRS S2.
- IFRS Foundation (TPT archive)Transition Plan Taskforce Disclosure Framework (October 2023), §2.2
Archived material of a taskforce that completed its work in 2024.
- Science Based Targets initiativeCorporate Near-Term Criteria V5.3.1, C4–C13
The criteria in use today: Scope 3 coverage, boundaries and carbon credits.
- Science Based Targets initiativeCorporate Net-Zero Standard V2.0 Criteria, C2 and C14
The transition plan and the Scope 3 boundary once V2.0 is usable.
- SBTi ServicesGuide for companies in the transition to the Corporate Net-Zero Standard V2.0, Table 1
The dates: validations open 1 February 2027; V1.3.1 closes 31 January 2028.
- GHG Protocol (WRI, WBCSD)A Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard
The inventory every target and plan is measured against.
- GHG ProtocolCorporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard
All Scope 3 accounted for; exclusions disclosed and justified.
- GHG ProtocolTechnical Guidance for Calculating Scope 3 Emissions
Supplier-specific, hybrid, average-data and spend-based methods.
- GHG ProtocolScope 1 & 2 GHG Inventory Guidance (2019)
Base-year recalculation and the company’s own significance threshold.
- GHG Protocol technical assistanceIn what scenarios would I need to recalculate base year emissions?
Records that the SBTi requires a threshold of 5% or less for recalculating target emissions.
- Cabinet OfficePPN 006 Technical Standard for completion of Carbon Reduction Plans
Targets and carbon reduction projects; review within six months of the financial year end.
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2014/1643, Part 6A — ESOS action plans and progress updates
The ESOS reduction-plan duty.
- Environment AgencyHow to comply with ESOS Phase 4
Action plan by 5 December 2028; progress updates 2029 to 2031.
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2008/410, Schedule 7, ¶20D(4)
The SECR description of principal energy-efficiency measures.
- Department for Energy Security and Net Zero2026 post-implementation review of the SECR regulations
SECR is backward-looking, with no forward targets or transition plans.
- CDPStrengthening the chain
CDP’s supply-chain programme, through which customers request suppliers’ data.
- ISOISO 50001 — energy management
A management-system standard, not a software category.
- VerdantixGreen Quadrant: Enterprise Carbon Management Software (2026) — press release
An analyst’s own category name and method; its placings are not printed here.
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