Distance-based
Mode and distance for each journey × a DESNZ passenger factor.
Needs a survey or registration data; the most usual route for attendees.Software · event carbon, cited
Event carbon reporting software: what it must measure
Event carbon reporting software turns an event’s travel, hotel stays, venue energy, catering, production and waste into a carbon footprint, using the GHG Protocol’s methods and, for UK activity, the government’s conversion factors.
This page sets out what an event footprint holds, who reports what between organiser and venue, where ISO 20121 and BAFTA Albert fit, and what UK law does not ask for, with 60 vendors in their own words; this site has tested no products and ranks none.
What the software does
An event footprint, from registration to waste
Event carbon reporting software measures the greenhouse gas emissions of an event and states them in CO2e.
The arithmetic is the same as for a company — activity data multiplied by an emission factor — but the boundary is the event rather than a company’s financial year.
The method underneath is the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, with the Scope 3 Standard for the travel, purchases and waste that make up most of an event.
For UK activity the factors are usually the government’s conversion factors, published once a year by DESNZ.
An event footprint is a kind of carbon footprint software job, organised around one occasion instead of one organisation.
- 1
Set the boundary
Which days, sites, build and break, and which activities the organiser counts.
- 2
Collect the travel
Attendees, staff, speakers and crew, by mode and distance, from registration or a survey.
- 3
Collect the rest
Hotel nights by country, venue meters, generator fuel, catering, production and freight.
- 4
Apply the factors
DESNZ factors matched to the activity year, stored with each line.
- 5
Report and compare
A footprint per event and per attendee, with the method for each line and last year beside it.
What an event footprint holds
Five sources, mapped to the GHG Protocol
An event footprint has five usual sources: travel, accommodation, venue energy and power, purchases, and waste.
Most of them sit outside anything the organiser owns, which makes an event a Scope 3 exercise for the organiser almost from the start.
The Scope 3 Standard asks a company to account for all fifteen of its categories and to disclose and justify any exclusion, under §6.2.
DESNZ’s factor set covers each source: business travel by air, land and sea, hotel stay, fuels and electricity, material use and waste disposal.
Read the detailed guidance and references
The categories below are the ones an organiser’s own inventory would use; an event report may present the same figures by source instead.
Attendee travel is the line with no obvious home in a company inventory, because attendees are neither the organiser’s staff nor its suppliers; hold it as a labelled line and state where, if anywhere, it sits in the corporate figures.
| Source | GHG Protocol category (organiser’s view) | DESNZ factor worksheets |
|---|---|---|
| Staff travel | Scope 3, category 6 (business travel) | Business travel: air, land, sea |
| Attendee, speaker and contractor travel | Not the organiser’s staff travel; a labelled line, location stated | Business travel: air, land, sea |
| Hotel stays | Scope 3, with the category stated | Hotel stay, by country |
| Venue electricity and heat | Scope 2 for whoever controls the meter; Scope 3 for the other party | UK electricity; heat and steam |
| Generator fuel | Scope 1 for whoever controls the generator; Scope 3 for the other party | Fuels |
| Catering, production, staging, print | Scope 3, category 1 (purchased goods and services) | Material use; or spend-based multipliers |
| Freight of equipment | Scope 3, category 4 (upstream transportation and distribution) | Freighting goods |
| Waste | Scope 3, category 5 (waste generated in operations) | Waste disposal |
An event’s emissionsExplore
Module 01 / 05
Travel
Attendees, staff, speakers and crew, by air, rail, road and sea.
Module 02 / 05
Accommodation
Hotel stays, by country, from DESNZ’s hotel stay factors.
Module 03 / 05
Venue and power
Grid electricity, heat and generator fuel during build, show and break.
Travel
Travel is often the largest line, so collect it first
For an event that draws people from a distance, travel is often the largest part of the footprint.
This site has opened no primary source that puts a general figure on that share, so it prints none; the figure for your event is the one to measure.
The GHG Protocol’s Scope 3 calculation guidance gives three methods for business travel: fuel-based, distance-based and spend-based.
For attendees, distance-based is the usual route: a registration question or a short survey for mode and origin, then a DESNZ passenger factor for each journey.
Read the detailed guidance and references
The data problem is response, not arithmetic: attendees who do not answer must stay visibly unanswered, and any estimate for them must say how it was made.
For flights, ask whether a tool separates domestic, short-haul and long-haul legs and records the cabin class, so each leg takes the factor that fits it.
Staff travel is the organiser’s own business travel, category 6, and also one of the five Scope 3 categories the PPN 006 Technical Standard names for a Carbon Reduction Plan.
Spend from expense claims and travel bookings is a starting point, set out on spend-based carbon accounting software; distances are where the figure becomes specific to the event.
Event
travel
travel
Fuel-based
Litres bought for vehicles the organiser runs or hires × a fuel factor.
Suits crew vans, shuttles and production vehicles.Spend-based
Money spent on tickets and taxis × a spend multiplier.
A fallback where no distances exist; it moves with price, not emissions.Accommodation
Hotel stays: DESNZ factors by country
Accommodation is usually calculated with the hotel stay factors in the government’s conversion factors, which are set by country.
The 2026 methodology paper says the hotel stay factors rest on Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking Index 2021 data, reported in CO2e, so some countries’ factors are on one global warming potential basis and some on another.
The paper also records hotel stay among the factors held constant from 2022, so the hotel line does not move from year to year the way electricity does.
Read the detailed guidance and references
In July 2026 DESNZ republished the 2026 flat file because some values had been reported as zero rather than left blank where no data existed; the affected factors included “hotel stays in certain countries”.
The full-set workbook had them blank and was not revised, so a tool that imported the flat file before the correction may hold zeros for those countries.
The test is simple: ask the vendor which DESNZ file its hotel factors came from, and whether a country with no published factor shows as blank or as zero.
The worksheets in each set, and how to read them, are on GHG conversion factors.
Coverage
Hotel stayA worksheet in the DESNZ setUnderlying data
HSBI 2021Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking Index (¶11.4)Held constant
Since 2022Not updated in each annual setJuly 2026
Flat-file fixHotel stays in certain countries: zero corrected to blankOrganiser or venue
Who reports the venue’s energy depends on who controls it
An organiser and a venue see the same kilowatt-hours from different sides, and each reports by who controls the source.
The Corporate Standard sets the boundary by a consolidation approach — equity share, or financial or operational control — and every figure inherits it.
DESNZ puts the practical point at ¶1.3 of its methodology paper: whether emissions from a vehicle, office or factory you use are Scope 1 or Scope 3 “may depend on how organisations define their operational boundaries”.
Read the detailed guidance and references
A temporary generator is the clearest case: whoever operates it and buys its fuel usually reports the fuel as Scope 1, and the party that hires it with an operator sees it in its value chain.
An organiser needs the venue’s sub-meter readings, or an agreed allocation, for the days it held the space, including build and break.
A venue that hosts many events needs the reverse: a way to give each client its share without removing anything from its own Scope 1 and 2.
Agree the split in the contract, so nothing is counted twice within one report and nothing is missed by both.
How scopes divide, and who counts as controlling a source, is on Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.
Venue
energy
energy
The venue
Its building’s grid electricity and heat are its Scope 2; boilers and its own generators are its Scope 1.
In its corporate inventory, year round, across every event it hosts.The organiser
The same energy, for the days it hired the space, is part of its value chain unless it controls the source.
In the event report; the method for the split should be written down.The UK factors
DESNZ 2026: the factor year follows the event
¶1.10 of the 2026 methodology paper says the 2026 factors are for activity data falling entirely or mostly within 2026.
So an event held in 2026 uses the 2026 set, even if its report is written in 2027, and a tool must keep every year’s set to compare one edition of an event with the last.
Take a venue that used 20,000 kWh of UK grid electricity over a 2026 event: on the generated factor, 0.13096 kgCO2e per kWh, that is 2,619.2 kgCO2e.
The grid losses, at 0.01299, add 259.8 kgCO2e; the consumed factor, 0.14396, gives 2,879.2 kgCO2e including losses.
Read the detailed guidance and references
The two parts add up to a fraction less than the consumed figure because the published factors are rounded; the consumed factor is the table’s own, and a tool should say which it used.
The electricity factor fell about 26% from the 2025 set, mostly grid decarbonisation in DESNZ’s account, with 6 to 7 percentage points from a methodology change in the major changes report, so a comparison between two editions of an event must say which sets were used.
DESNZ says at ¶1.6 that spend-based multipliers, published with the UK and England carbon footprint statistics, can give an initial assessment of supply-chain emissions where activity data is missing, which is the usual starting point for catering and production.
DESNZ describes its factors as relevant to SECR reporting and adds that other uses are at the user’s own risk.
| UK electricity, kgCO2e per kWh | 2025 set (data year 2023) | 2026 set (data year 2025) |
|---|---|---|
| Generated | 0.17700 | 0.13096 |
| Transmission and distribution losses | 0.01853 | 0.01299 |
| Consumed (includes losses) | 0.19553 | 0.14396 |
Same kWh, two factor sets
2025 factor set · 0.17700 kgCO2e/kWh17.7 tCO2e
2026 factor set · 0.13096 kgCO2e/kWh13.1 tCO2e
A company that changed nothing sees 26.0% less on this line because the factor moved.
DESNZ attributes most of the fall to grid decarbonisation and 6 to 7 percentage points to methodology.
Factors: DESNZ 2026 methodology paper, Table 9 · 2026 major changes report.
Generated electricity is Scope 2; transmission and distribution losses are Scope 3. With losses selected, the illustration uses the printed consumed total in DESNZ Table 9, spanning both scopes. It is not your SECR figure; nothing is stored or sent.
ISO 20121
ISO 20121 is a management system, not a calculator
ISO 20121:2024, Event sustainability management systems — Requirements with guidance for use, is the second edition of the standard, published in April 2024.
ISO’s own record shows it replacing ISO 20121:2012, which is withdrawn, and says it applies to events of all types and sizes, from small gatherings to large conferences and festivals.
ISO describes it as managing social, economic and environmental impacts, and names three ways to demonstrate conformity: self-declaration, supplier validation and third-party certification.
As its title says, it is a management system standard rather than a method for calculating emissions, so an organiser working to it still needs the GHG Protocol and the factors for the carbon figure.
Read the detailed guidance and references
ISO says the 2024 update puts more weight on social legacies, inclusivity and the different ways of demonstrating compliance.
For software this means two different purchases: a tool that calculates the footprint, and a tool that holds the management system — policy, objectives, suppliers, evidence and review — of which the footprint is one input.
Some products sell both; ask which part of the product does the arithmetic, and whether its factors are dated.
Current edition
ISO 20121:2024Edition 2, published April 2024Replaced
ISO 20121:2012Withdrawn, per ISO’s life cycle recordImpacts covered
ThreeSocial, economic and environmentalDemonstrating conformity
Three routesSelf-declaration, supplier validation, third-party certificationScreen production
Film and TV run their own footprint scheme
BAFTA Albert certification is, in its own words, the UK screen industry’s recognised standard for environmental sustainability in film and TV production.
A production completes a carbon footprint with the Albert carbon calculator across pre-production, filming and post-production, carries out a carbon action plan, submits evidence and receives a 1, 2 or 3-star rating.
- 200901
- 201102
A BAFTA-led industry standard
The calculator becomes an industry scheme, owned and run by BAFTA. - 6 January 202503
- 1 September 202504
- 16 September 202605
New Albert toolkit
The BBC’s guidance gives this launch date for a newly designed carbon calculator. - 16 December 202606
The BBC makes it “a mandatory requirement” for new commissions and recommissions of TV broadcast content to attain Albert certification, under its sustainable productions guidance, and suggests budgeting at least the estimated footprint multiplied by £10.50 per tonne of CO2e.
Channel 4 requires all productions to use Albert tools to measure and report their footprint, and the calculator and action plan must begin during pre-production to qualify.
These are commissioners’ contractual requirements, not statute, and each commissioner sets its own; the scheme itself is free to sign up to.
Live events attached to a production should check which calculator the commissioner expects before buying another; the scheme in full is on BAFTA Albert certification.
What UK law asks for
No UK duty this site tracks is framed around an event
None of the UK reporting duties this site tracks attaches to an event; they attach to companies and to contracts.
So an event footprint is usually asked for by a client, a sponsor, a commissioner or the organiser’s own policy, and its format is whatever they ask for.
An event can still feed a company’s statutory figures: energy and the fuel a company buys for transport during an event sit inside its boundary like any other activity.
Read the detailed guidance and references
SECR, under Schedule 7 of SI 2008/410, applies to quoted companies and to large unquoted companies and LLPs; under the “not more than” tests a company is large when it exceeds two of £36m turnover, £18m balance sheet and 250 employees, judged over two consecutive years after the first, as set out on SECR reporting requirements.
Listed companies in UKLR 6, 14, 15, 16 and 22 report against UK SRS on a comply-or-explain basis for periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027, under the FCA’s PS26/19; DBT published UK SRS S1 and S2 on 25 February 2026 for voluntary use by everyone else.
PPN 006 is procurement policy for in-scope central government contracts, not a legal duty on a company; its Technical Standard names business travel and waste generated in operations among five Scope 3 categories, covered on the PPN 006 carbon reduction plan.
The government’s Environmental Reporting Guidelines record no statutory requirement to have SECR figures audited, and nothing in them is written for events.
What each company duty requires a platform to output, line by line, is on carbon reporting software.
Who asks for an event footprintExplore
Module 01 / 04
Clients and sponsors
A brief, a tender or a sponsorship agreement asking for a figure.
Module 02 / 04
Commissioners
Broadcasters requiring Albert on productions they commission.
Module 03 / 04
The organiser’s own company
Its SECR, UK SRS or PPN 006 figures, where an event falls inside its boundary.
Module 04 / 04
Its own policy
An ISO 20121 management system or a published target.
From footprint to claim
Carbon neutral events: PAS 2060 is gone, ISO 14068 is changing
A footprint is a measurement; a carbon neutral event is a claim about reductions and offsetting, made against a standard and governed by advertising law.
Software can produce the first; it cannot by itself support the second.
- 1 January 202501
- End of 202502
- 11 September 202603
- September 202604
A PAS 2060 opinion issued for a past event remains valid for that event; it is not a current credential, and nobody can be assessed against PAS 2060 today.
In the UK, offset-based carbon-neutral claims are actionable only if misleading, under Part 4 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, and section 11 of the CAP Code says unqualified environmental claims could mislead; the detail is on PAS 2060 and ISO 14068.
The vendors
60 carbon accounting and small-business tools, in their own words
This site’s registry has no event category, so the directory lists every vendor it files under carbon accounting or small-business tools, alphabetically, which ranks nothing.
Of those 60, one of them (Unravel Carbon) mentions events on the pages this site read; the directory covers 73 vendors across all categories.
60 vendors · carbon accounting, smes
“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.
Where a vendor’s own pages mention events, as Unravel Carbon’s do, the registry records the page and the words; a mention is not a finding that the product handles attendee travel or hotel stays.
Since February 2025 the owners’ own announcements record 11 ownership changes touching vendors in this directory, set out on carbon accounting software; check who you would be contracting with before an event series depends on it.
Calculator, spreadsheet or platform
When an event emissions calculator will do, and when it stops
An event emissions calculator turns journeys, nights, kilowatt-hours and tonnes into CO2e, and for a single event a spreadsheet with a written method can do that.
The DESNZ conversion factors are free, including the business travel, hotel stay and waste worksheets.
Among the vendors in this guide, 3 publish a free tier or plan on their own pages (Measurabl, Persefoni, Small99), and 13 say they serve small or mid-sized businesses.
A calculator stops coping when an event becomes a series: each edition needs its own factor year, its own attendee survey and a comparison with the last that someone outside the team will read.
Read the detailed guidance and references
Most vendors do not publish a price: of the 60 in this guide, 6 publish a figure on their own pages (Compare Your Footprint, Ecologi, Microsoft Sustainability Manager, Novata, Salesforce Net Zero Cloud, Zevero), 3 a free tier or plan, and 51 are recorded as Enterprise level · TBD, read 11 October 2026 and 30 September–1 October 2026.
For a vendor without a published price, ask for a written cost per event and per year, including attendee surveys, added events, supplier data and the export at the end.
Platform against the way you work now
Current process £0 a year · quote £0 a year
Fill in all three to see the break-even hours.
Arithmetic on your own inputs.
The quote’s implementation, uplift and exit terms are in the three-year worksheet on the carbon reporting software page.
Nothing is stored or sent.
The tests before you sign
Eight questions, each tied to its source
Run each test on the data from one of your own past events, because a demonstration event is built to look finished and yours is not.
Tick the questions that match your events and send the same list to every vendor.
A blank answer is not a yes, and the same list sent to each vendor is the only fair comparison.
Read the detailed guidance and references
The travel and waste tests come from the Scope 3 calculation guidance; the hotel test from the July 2026 correction on the 2026 publication page; the factor test from ¶1.10 of the methodology paper; the boundary and export tests from the Corporate Standard.
Supplier data for catering and production arrives through the portals and questionnaires covered on Scope 3 emissions software.
Demo questions · tick the ones you need
The pass tests are our reading of the cited provisions.
Nothing you tick is stored or sent.
Choosing without a ranking
“Best” is a question about your events, not a product
There is no best event carbon reporting software in general, and a list that names one has chosen the criteria that produce its answer.
The useful question is which tool measures the sources your events actually have, on the boundary you have agreed with the venue, and shows its working.
Many comparisons that rank for these searches are published by a vendor that appears in its own table; read who wrote a list before you read its order.
If the event footprint must also feed your company’s own inventory, test the tool as carbon accounting software as well.
This site has tested no products
Nothing on this page is a rating, ranking or recommendation of any product or firm.
The vendor directory quotes each vendor’s own words, dated, and every count on this page is computed from it.
- 1
Name who is asking
A client, a sponsor, a commissioner, your own company’s reporting or an ISO 20121 system.
- 2
Name the sources
Attendee travel, hotels, venue energy, generators, catering, production, freight, waste.
- 3
Agree the boundary
What the venue reports, what you report, and build and break days.
- 4
Test on a past event
Travel by mode, hotels by country, factor year, method per line, export.
- 5
Check the owner and the exit
Who you contract with, and what leaves with you after the series.
Frequently asked
Event carbon reporting software, answered
What is event carbon reporting software?
Software that turns an event’s activity data — attendee and staff travel, hotel stays, venue energy, generators, catering, production and waste — into a carbon footprint in CO2e, with the emission factor behind each line.
The arithmetic is the GHG Protocol’s and, for UK activity, usually the DESNZ conversion factors; the event is the boundary instead of a company’s year.
What is the best event carbon reporting software in the UK?
This site ranks no products and has tested none, so it names no best.
The useful test is whether a tool collects attendee travel by mode and distance, holds hotel stays by country, keeps the DESNZ factor set for the activity year, separates what the organiser controls from what the venue does, and exports the working — shown on the data from one of your own past events.
Is there a free event emissions calculator?
The DESNZ conversion factors are free to download, including business travel, hotel stay and waste factors, and a spreadsheet with a written method can carry a first footprint for a single event.
Among the vendors in this guide’s directory, 3 publish a free tier or plan on their own pages (Measurabl, Persefoni, Small99).
A free calculator gives a figure; check that it records the factor year and the method for each line.
Is attendee travel the largest part of an event’s footprint?
Often, for events that draw people from a distance, which is why the travel data deserves the most collection effort.
This site has opened no primary source that puts a general figure on the share, so it prints none: measure it for your own event, by mode and distance, before deciding where reductions lie.
Does UK law require an event to report its carbon footprint?
None of the UK reporting duties this site tracks attaches to an event.
SECR, UK SRS and ESOS attach to companies, and PPN 006 to bidders for in-scope government contracts.
An event footprint is usually asked for by a client, a commissioner, a funder, a sponsor or the organiser’s own policy; an event run by a company in scope of SECR may still feed that company’s figures.
What is ISO 20121?
ISO 20121:2024, Event sustainability management systems, is the second edition of the standard, published in April 2024 and replacing ISO 20121:2012.
ISO describes it as applying to events of all types and sizes and to social, economic and environmental impacts, with self-declaration, supplier validation or third-party certification as ways to demonstrate conformity.
Its title makes it a management system standard; it is not a method for calculating emissions, so the arithmetic still comes from the GHG Protocol and the factors.
Does the organiser or the venue report the venue’s energy?
It depends on who controls the source and on the consolidation approach each reports under.
The venue usually reports its building’s energy as its own Scope 1 and 2.
An organiser that hires the venue sees the same energy as part of its value chain; DESNZ notes that whether a vehicle, office or factory you use is Scope 1 or Scope 3 may depend on how you define operational boundaries.
Agree the meter readings and the split in writing, so nothing is counted twice in one report or missed in both.
Which emission factors should a UK event footprint use?
For UK activity, usually the government’s conversion factors, published once a year by DESNZ.
They cover business travel by air, land and sea, hotel stays, material use and waste disposal as well as fuels and electricity.
The 2026 set is for activity data falling entirely or mostly within 2026, so a festival held in summer 2026 uses the 2026 set; in it, UK electricity consumed, including grid losses, is 0.14396 kgCO2e per kWh.
How does software calculate hotel stays?
Usually with DESNZ’s hotel stay factors, which are set by country.
DESNZ says they rest on Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking Index 2021 data, have been held constant since the 2022 set, and are not all on the same global warming potential basis.
The July 2026 reissue of the 2026 flat file corrected values for hotel stays in certain countries that had been reported as zero rather than left blank, so an import that turns a blank into a zero is a defect to test for.
What is the difference between event sustainability software and event carbon software?
Event carbon software measures greenhouse gas emissions.
Event sustainability software is usually wider: it supports a management system such as ISO 20121, which ISO describes as covering social and economic impacts as well as environmental ones, with policies, objectives, suppliers and legacy.
A sustainability tool may hold the carbon figure; ask where its arithmetic comes from.
Can an event be certified carbon neutral?
Not to PAS 2060, which BSI withdrew at the end of 2025.
ISO 14068-1:2023 was withdrawn on 11 September 2026 and is being replaced by ISO 14068:2026 (Carbon neutrality).
In the UK an offset-based carbon-neutral claim is actionable only if misleading, and the ASA’s settled position is that an unqualified one is; software measures a footprint and cannot by itself support the claim.
What do film and TV productions use?
BAFTA Albert, the screen industry’s certification scheme: a production completes a footprint with the Albert carbon calculator, carries out a carbon action plan and submits evidence for a 1, 2 or 3-star rating.
The BBC requires Albert certification for new commissions and recommissions of TV broadcast content, and Channel 4 requires Albert tools on all productions.
The Current Toolkit closes on 16 December 2026, with a Next Generation Toolkit replacing it.
Which companies sell event carbon reporting software?
This site’s registry has no event category.
The directory on this page lists the 60 vendors it files under carbon accounting or small-business tools, alphabetically, in their own words; one of them (Unravel Carbon) mentions events on the pages this site read.
Inclusion is not an endorsement and order is not a rank.
Has this site tested any event carbon software?
No. This site has tested no products.
The page is built from the standards, factors and UK rules that govern a footprint, each cited to its source, and the vendor directory quotes only what each vendor publishes about itself.
Sources
Primary sources
Every standard, factor, date and status on this page traces to the source listed here.
Vendor descriptions, prices and ownership are cited on each vendor’s profile to the vendor’s or acquirer’s own page.
Checked against 19 sources fromISOGHG Protocol (WRI, WBCSD)GHG ProtocolDepartment for Energy Security and Net ZeroDefraBAFTA Albert
- ISOISO 20121:2024 — Event sustainability management systems — Requirements with guidance for use
Edition 2, published April 2024, replacing ISO 20121:2012; self-declaration, supplier validation or third-party certification.
- GHG Protocol (WRI, WBCSD)A Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard
Consolidation approaches; Scope 1 and 2 as the required minimum.
- GHG ProtocolCorporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard, §6.2 and Table 5.4
The fifteen categories; exclusions disclosed and justified.
- GHG ProtocolTechnical Guidance for Calculating Scope 3 Emissions
Fuel-based, distance-based and spend-based methods for business travel; waste-type-specific methods for waste.
- Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroGovernment conversion factors for company reporting
One set per activity year, including business travel, hotel stay, material use and waste disposal.
- Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroGreenhouse gas reporting: conversion factors 2026
Published 11 June 2026; the July 2026 flat-file correction to hotel stays in certain countries.
- Department for Energy Security and Net Zero2026 GHG conversion factors methodology paper, ¶1.3, ¶1.6, ¶1.10, ¶11.4 and Table 9
Operational boundaries, the activity-year rule, the hotel stay data and the electricity factors.
- DefraUK and England’s carbon footprint — spend-based emissions multipliers
The dataset behind spend-based estimates for catering and production.
- BAFTA AlbertWhat is Certification?
Footprint, carbon action plan, evidence and a 1, 2 or 3-star rating; the Current Toolkit closes on 16 December 2026.
- BBCSustainability requirements — sustainable productions
Albert certification required for new commissions and recommissions; the new toolkit from 16 September 2026.
- Channel 4Albert certification
Albert tools for all productions; the footprint begins in pre-production.
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2008/410, Schedule 7 (SECR)
The company’s energy and carbon lines; the size tests.
- Department for Business and TradeUK Sustainability Reporting Standards S1 and S2
Published 25 February 2026 for voluntary use.
- Financial Conduct AuthorityPS26/19 — UK SRS reporting by listed companies
Comply or explain for periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027.
- Cabinet OfficePPN 006 Technical Standard for completion of Carbon Reduction Plans
Scope 1 and 2 and five named Scope 3 categories, including business travel and waste; procurement policy.
- BSI KnowledgeBS ISO 14068-1:2023 product record
BSI’s statement of the period before PAS 2060:2014 was withdrawn.
- ISOISO 14068 — Climate change management — Carbon neutrality
Will replace ISO 14068-1:2023; ISO gives the publication date as 2026-09.
- legislation.gov.ukDigital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, Part 4
Misleading actions and omissions.
- Advertising Standards Authority (CAP)CAP Code section 11 — Environmental claims
Unqualified claims could mislead; absolute claims need a high level of substantiation.
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