New factor set loaded
Last year stays on the factors for its own activity year, under DESNZ ¶1.10.
A tool that overwrites factors cannot reproduce what it published.Software · buyer’s checklist, cited
How to choose ESG reporting software: a UK buyer’s checklist and RFP
Choose ESG reporting software from the duties you carry, written as requirements with pass tests, answered in writing and shown on your own data.
This page turns UK SRS, the FCA’s rules, SECR, ESOS and UK GDPR into a checklist and an RFP question set, cited to each provision, and lists 68 vendors in their own words; this site has tested no products and ranks none.
The short answer
Five steps, from duty to contract
Choosing ESG reporting software starts with the duties you actually carry, because those decide which features are requirements and which are extras.
Write each duty as a requirement with a pass test, send the same list to every vendor, and score what each product shows on your own data.
Then read the contract as closely as the demonstration: the legal entity, its owner, the processor terms and the exit.
The market behind the page is set out on the ESG software comparison, which matches outputs to UK obligations; this page is the buying procedure.
- 1
List your duties
SECR, ESOS, UK SRS through the listing rules or by choice, PPN 006, an EU subsidiary under CSRD, customer questionnaires.
- 2
Write requirements
Each duty becomes a capability with a pass test, tied to the provision that creates it.
- 3
Send one RFP
The same questions to every vendor, answered in writing; a blank answer is not a yes.
- 4
Demonstrate on your data
One figure from source to disclosure, one restatement, one export.
- 5
Check the contract
Who you sign with, who owns them, the processor terms and the exit.
ESG reporting software requirements
Your duties are the requirements document
No UK law sets requirements for ESG software itself; the requirements come from what the software has to produce.
Answer the six questions beside this and the planner lists the capabilities your obligations create, each with its provision.
Read the detailed guidance and references
| Duty and status | Who | What the software must produce |
|---|---|---|
| SECR · in force, SI 2008/410 Sch 7 | Quoted companies; large unquoted companies and LLPs exceeding two of £36m turnover, £18m balance sheet and 250 employees | kWh, emissions, a ratio, the methodology, efficiency measures and comparatives |
| ESOS Phase 4 · in force | Large undertakings and their groups, qualifying on 31 December 2026 | Total energy by purpose and its evidence; notification by 5 December 2027 |
| UK SRS (listed) · comply or explain, PS26/19 | Companies in UKLR 6, 14, 15, 16 and 22, periods from 1 January 2027 | S1 and S2 disclosures, or a statement of what is missing, why, and the steps planned |
| UK SRS (voluntary) · DBT, 25 February 2026 | Any UK entity that chooses to apply it | As above, by choice |
| PPN 006 · procurement policy | Bidders for in-scope central government contracts | A Carbon Reduction Plan: Scope 1 and 2 and five named Scope 3 categories |
| CSRD · EU law, after Omnibus I | EU undertakings exceeding 1,000 employees and €450m net turnover | ESRS disclosures, for financial years from 1 January 2027 |
The SECR size test is framed as “not more than” on the exempt side, so a large unquoted company is in when it exceeds two of the three limits, judged over two consecutive years after the first; the detail is on SECR reporting requirements.
Under the FCA’s PS26/19, nothing in UK SRS is mandatory for listed companies: they disclose or explain, with first reporting in 2028.
PPN 006 binds contracting authorities; it is not a legal duty on a company to hold a Carbon Reduction Plan.
Customer and investor questionnaires are not law, but they often decide the first year’s workload, so list them beside the duties.
Obligations in, capabilities out
A requirements list, not a recommendation: it names no product. Each line is tied to the provision that creates it.
Nothing is stored or sent.
ESG software selection criteria
Six groups of criteria, each tied to a provision
ESG software selection criteria fall into six groups, and every group traces to a provision or to the contract.
Weight them by your duties: a listed company carries the explain and assurance statements, while an unlisted company may need only SECR and its customers’ questionnaires.
The features to look for in ESG software are the ones those criteria make necessary; everything else is an extra to price separately.
The same six groups organise the RFP questions further down, so a requirement written here becomes a question there.
Duty coverage
Your outputsSECR, ESOS, UK SRS, PPN 006, CSRD — only those you carryData model
S1 ¶20Same reporting entity as the financial statementsAudit trail
UKLR 6.6.6R(8)(d)Evidence a practitioner can sample; ISSA (UK) 5000 voluntaryFramework mapping
Requirement levelCoverage and gaps, not a list of logosIntegrations
Source to figureFinance, energy, HR and supplier data, on a scheduleExit and owner
Art 28(3)(g)Export, processor terms, and who you contract withData model and entity structure
The reporting entity is the one in your accounts
The data model is the criterion hardest to change after signature, so test it first.
UK SRS S1 ¶20 requires sustainability disclosures to be for the same reporting entity as the related financial statements.
Paragraphs 21 to 24 then ask for connected information: consistent data and assumptions with the financial statements, and the same presentation currency.
Read the detailed guidance and references
A tool built around sites or a single legal entity can produce a total that no one can reconcile to the group in the accounts.
The GHG Protocol’s Corporate Standard asks for a stated consolidation approach — equity share, or financial or operational control — which the entity model has to carry.
Acquisitions and disposals must be dated inside the period, because a site sold in month six contributes six months, not twelve.
Ask the vendor to load your real structure, including a joint venture and your own year end, before any demonstration of dashboards.
How the data itself is governed — owners, definitions and controls — is on ESG data management.
One group, one boundaryExplore
Module 01 / 04
Reporting entity
Disclosures for the same entity as the financial statements (S1 ¶20).
Module 02 / 04
Subsidiaries and joint ventures
A consolidation approach applied the same way every year.
Module 03 / 04
Sites and meters
Activity data held where it arises, rolled up by ownership.
Module 04 / 04
Periods
Your financial year end, with acquisitions and disposals dated.
Audit trail and assurance readiness
Assurance is optional; the statement about it is not
No UK rule requires a company to have its sustainability disclosures assured.
A listed company in scope of the FCA’s rules states whether it obtained assurance and, if it did, the four items beside this, under UKLR 6.6.6R(8)(d) as made by PS26/19.
The FRC issued ISSA (UK) 5000 on 12 November 2025 for voluntary use, effective for periods beginning on or after 15 December 2026.
Read the detailed guidance and references
What any engagement needs, whenever a company commissions one, is evidence a practitioner can sample: source documents linked to lines, and a history of who changed what and why.
A platform either keeps that lineage as the work happens or someone reconstructs it later, which adds work and cost.
The international standard behind the UK version is the IAASB’s ISSA 5000.
So the software test is a trace: pick one published figure and follow it to the bill, the entry, every change and the reviewer.
The UK position in full is on sustainability assurance.
Item (i)
The providerThe name of the third-party assurance providerItem (ii)
Scope and levelWhich disclosures, and reasonable or limitedItem (iii)
The standardThe assurance standards usedItem (iv)
The reportWhere it is published and how to access itFramework coverage
Map the duties you carry, not a list of logos
A vendor’s list of supported frameworks says what its templates are named, not whether your disclosures can be produced from them.
Ask for coverage requirement by requirement, with the gaps named, for the frameworks your duties actually require.
For a listed company, the explain record matters as much as the coverage: UKLR 6.6.6R(7A)(b) asks for a summary of the S2 requirements not met, the reasons, and the steps planned.
Read the detailed guidance and references
The FCA’s final rules replace the TCFD-aligned listing-rule disclosures, in the words of ¶1.10 of PS26/19; a product sold for TCFD should show what it produces for UK SRS S2, as set out on TCFD reporting software.
The FCA’s reliefs allow non-disclosure of Scope 3 for one year and of non-climate S1 matters for two years from initial application, so the software has to record a relief taken as well as a disclosure made.
A UK group with an EU subsidiary inside CSRD needs ESRS as well, and the scope after Omnibus I is set out in the consolidated Accounting Directive; the tooling question is on CSRD reporting software.
A UK buyer should not infer UK coverage from an EU or ISSB claim, or the reverse; ask for the UK SRS mapping by name.
Where UK SRS disclosures sit in another report, UK SRS S1 ¶¶B45–B47 allow a cross-reference, and the software should produce both the disclosure and the reference.
One record, several frameworksExplore
Module 01 / 04
UK SRS S1 and S2
Comply or explain for listed companies from periods beginning 1 January 2027; voluntary for everyone else.
Module 03 / 04
CSRD and ESRS
For EU undertakings over 1,000 employees and €450m net turnover.
Module 04 / 04
GRI and questionnaires
Voluntary frameworks and customer requests, from the same data.
The calculation layer underneath
Reproduce last year before you report this one
An ESG reporting tool is only as good as the emissions figures it carries, so test the calculation layer even when you are buying the reporting layer.
DESNZ’s 2026 methodology paper says at ¶1.10 that a factor set is for activity data falling entirely or mostly within its year, so every year’s set must be kept.
The GHG Protocol’s 2019 Inventory Guidance requires a base year to be recalculated for significant changes in structure, methodology or errors.
The measurement tests in depth are on carbon accounting software, and Scope 3 data collection on Scope 3 emissions software.
Last year’s
figure
figure
Base year restated
The original survives beside the restated figure, with the reason and threshold.
The GHG Protocol sets no threshold; the company sets and discloses its own.Integrations
Where the data comes from decides the first year
No regulation specifies integrations, so this criterion is this site’s reading of where reporting effort sits.
Ask which sources connect directly, which arrive by upload, how often, and who owns each feed on your side.
A connection to the finance system matters most for UK SRS, because S1 ¶¶21–24 ask for data and assumptions consistent with the financial statements.
A missing reading must stay visibly missing rather than becoming a zero, and that is a defect to test on an import.
People data brings UK GDPR with it, which is why the processor contract appears in the exit section below.
- 1
Finance and ERP
Revenue, spend and the entity list, so denominators match the accounts.
- 2
Energy and property
Meter data, bills and landlord recharges, by site and period.
- 3
People
Headcount, travel and workforce data, often personal data.
- 4
Suppliers
Questionnaire answers and supplier-specific emissions, with method and year.
- 5
Outputs
The annual report, the SECR section, the ESOS pack and any EU report.
ESG software RFP
An RFP question set, each question with its pass test
Each question beside this names its provision and what a passing answer looks like; tick the ones that apply and copy them into your RFP.
Send the same questions to every vendor, ask for written answers first, then ask the shortlist to run the same questions on your own data.
The first question is the most revealing, because a product that cannot hold your group structure will struggle with every question after it.
Read the detailed guidance and references
Put the context in the RFP, not only the questions: your entities, year end, reporting periods, the duties you carry and a sample data set that includes a missing month and a prior year.
Ask for a three-year cost that names implementation, added entities, integrations, supplier volumes, any annual uplift and the cost of leaving.
Ask for the data-processing terms with the proposal, not after selection, because they change what the export clause is worth.
A demonstration dataset is built to look finished and yours is not, so the scored round should run on yours.
The same discipline applied to the wider reporting layer is on sustainability reporting software.
RFP questions · tick the ones your duties need
The pass tests are our reading of the cited provisions.
Nothing you tick is stored or sent.
Compare ESG reporting software providers
Score the evidence, not the product
Compare providers requirement by requirement, by the strength of each answer, rather than by a single total.
A total hides the one failed requirement that matters, such as an entity model that cannot hold your joint venture.
Record who answered and when, because answers made before the 2025–26 ownership changes may not bind the current owner.
Analyst placings, where a vendor cites one, are the analyst’s own statement, dated, and not a finding of this site.
| Strength of answer | What it means | How to treat it |
|---|---|---|
| Shown on your data | The product ran the test on your sample | The only answer that closes a requirement |
| Shown on demo data | The capability exists; your case is untested | Repeat on your data before signature |
| Written answer only | A claim the vendor will stand behind | Put it in the contract or the statement of work |
| On the roadmap | Not available today | Treat as absent; ask for the date in writing |
| Blank | No answer | Not a yes |
The exit
Data export and the processor contract, agreed before you need them
The exit is chosen on the day you sign, so treat it as a selection criterion rather than a later problem.
Ask for an export of activity data, factors by version, methods, the change log and evidence files, in a documented format, during the contract and at its end.
Where a vendor processes personal data for you, UK GDPR Article 28(3) requires a contract under which the processor, among other things, deletes or returns the data at your choice at the end of the service.
Read the detailed guidance and references
The same article requires the processor to respect conditions on engaging sub-processors, at 28(3)(d), and to make information available and allow audits, at 28(3)(h).
Article 28(2) requires the controller’s prior written authorisation, specific or general, before the processor engages another processor.
Activity data often contains personal data — names on expense claims, travel, home-working — so most ESG platforms will need these terms.
The check beside this lists what the next report must still carry after a move, under SECR, UK SRS and the GHG Protocol.
The consistency principle of the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard is why an export without factor versions is not enough: last year must be reproducible.
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.
Vendor stability after the 2025–26 ownership changes
11 ownership changes since February 2025
Each event below is dated from the acquirer’s or target’s own announcement, as recorded in this site’s registry.
Of the 68 vendors this guide lists, 20 have an ownership change on record, as at the registry’s read dates.
- 11 February 202501
Ecologi acquires Net Zero Now
Ecologi announced that it has acquired Net Zero Now; the combined business operates under the Ecologi brand. - July 202502
Green Project Technologies buys the Emitwise software
Green Project Technologies acquired Emitwise’s software solution; Emitwise “is no longer sold as a standalone product or brand”. - 2 September 202503
SimaPro and PRé join One Click LCA
One Click LCA announced that SimaPro and its developer PRé Sustainability “have joined the One Click LCA family”; both products continue as distinct products. - 4 September 202504
Position Green acquires Greenomy
Position Green announced that it has acquired Greenomy; Euroclear, Greenomy’s majority investor, stays on as a shareholder in Position Green. - 22 October 202505
Diligent and Persefoni form a partnership
Diligent will transition its carbon accounting clients to Persefoni’s platform and take an equity position in Persefoni. It is a partnership, not an acquisition. - 21 November 202506
SGS takes a majority stake in Sami
SGS announced the acquisition of a majority stake in Sami, a Paris-based carbon accounting platform. - 2 December 2025 – 14 January 202607
Diginex acquires Plan A
A non-binding memorandum on 2 December 2025, a definitive agreement signed on 31 December 2025, and closing announced on 14 January 2026, for 100% of PlanA.earth GmbH. - 31 March 202608
Novisto acquires Minimum
Novisto announced that it has acquired Minimum, a London-based carbon management software company. - 14 July 202609
Green Project Technologies acquires Optera
Green Project Technologies announced the acquisition of Optera, an enterprise carbon accounting and reporting platform. - 19 August 202610
osapiens buys the Nasdaq Metrio platform
osapiens announced that it has completed the acquisition of the Nasdaq Metrio platform and customers from Nasdaq. - September 202611
Greenly and Normative announce a merger
Greenly and Normative announced that they are merging; the owners’ three announcements carry datelines of 10, 15 and 17 September 2026.
The latest, announced in September 2026, is set out with what it does and does not say on the Greenly–Normative merger page.
Ask every shortlisted vendor which legal entity you would contract with, who owns it, and what a change of control does to the contract, the price and your data.
One event was a sale of the software rather than of a company: Emitwise is no longer sold as a standalone product or brand, in its own words, so a customer of an acquired product should get the export and processor terms in writing.
The vendors
68 ESG reporting and carbon accounting vendors, in their own words
Every vendor this site files under ESG reporting or carbon accounting, alphabetically, which ranks nothing; 51 of them carry the ESG reporting category.
The directory covers 73 vendors across all categories, read 11 October 2026 and 30 September–1 October 2026; the filter narrows this list.
68 vendors · esg reporting, 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”
“AI workflows that extract answers from your documents with full source references”
“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”
“We support financial institutions, companies, governments, and consumers in making the right decisions - efficiently, confidently, and at scale”
“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”
“Datamaran’s AI platform empowers business leaders to confidently navigate the complex ESG landscape by transforming vast amounts of information into actionable insights”
“Dcycle is an ESG software platform founded in 2020 that helps companies collect, manage, and govern sustainability and non-financial data”
“Deepki centralizes your sustainability data, strategy and operations in one place so you can act on carbon, climate risk, and finance”
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”
Greenomy offered ESG reporting software for “compliance with key frameworks, including CSRD, EU Taxonomy, and VSME”, in Position Green’s words.
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”
IntegrityNext describes itself as a “supply chain sustainability intelligence & orchestration platform”.
“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”
“One home for your ESG data, mapped to every framework and rating”
“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”
“Worldfavor is a supply chain due diligence platform founded in Stockholm in 2016”
“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.
Each vendor’s claims on SECR, UK SRS, ISSB, CSRD, ESOS, PPN 006, CBAM, LCA and Scope 3 are tabulated on carbon reporting software, and a blank there means only that the claim was not found on the pages read.
Of these vendors, 6 publish a price on their own pages and 4 publish a free tier or plan; the rest are recorded as Enterprise level · TBD.
Comparisons and reviews
Read who wrote a list before you read its order
Many of the guides that rank for how to choose ESG reporting software in the UK are published by vendors, as the search results showed on 11 October 2026.
A vendor’s guide is a reasonable source of questions and a weak source of answers, because its criteria tend to be the ones its product meets.
Directory reviews describe other buyers’ experience with their own duties, which may not be yours.
Use them to build a long list, then let your own requirements and demonstrations decide.
Evidence
about a product
about a product
What others say
Vendor-written buyer guides, directory listings and analyst placings.
Useful for a long list; each is its author’s statement, dated.What you saw
Written answers to your requirements, then the product run on your data.
The only evidence that closes a requirement.A practical buying sequence
From brief to signature, in six steps
A suggested sequence for running the selection; it is not a statutory timetable and not a claim that any listed product passes these tests.
- 01 / Duties01
Name the outputs you owe
SECR, ESOS, UK SRS, PPN 006, CSRD and the questionnaires you answer, with their periods. - 02 / Requirements02
Write the pass tests
One capability per duty, tied to its provision, weighted by what you carry. - 03 / RFP03
Ask in writing
The same questions to every vendor, with your structure, sample data and a three-year cost request. - 04 / Demonstrate04
Run it on your data
One figure from source to disclosure, one restatement, one explain record. - 05 / Contract05
Check owner and terms
The contracting entity and its owner, the processor terms and the change-of-control clause. - 06 / Exit test06
Export before you sign
Take a full export from the trial and check that last year could be rebuilt from it.
The checklist on this page is built from the provisions cited in each section, and the RFP questions carry their own citations.
Where a line is this site’s reading rather than a provision, it says so.
This site has tested no products
Nothing on this page is a rating, ranking or recommendation of any product.
The vendor directory quotes only what each vendor publishes about itself, with the date it was read.
Frequently asked
Choosing ESG reporting software, answered
How do I choose ESG reporting software?
Start from the duties you actually carry, not from a feature list.
Turn each duty into a requirement with a pass test, send the same requirements to every vendor in writing, watch each shortlisted product run them on your own data, then check the contract: who you sign with, how you get your data out, and what happens on a change of owner. This site has tested no products and names no best.
What features should I look for in ESG software?
The features that your duties make necessary: an entity model that matches your financial statements, factor versions by activity year, a change history behind every figure, outputs in the shape each regime asks for, a record of what is not yet met, and a full export.
Dashboards, AI drafting and benchmarking are optional extras; none of them replaces a figure you can reproduce.
What are the selection criteria for ESG software?
This site uses six groups: duty coverage, data model and entity structure, audit trail and assurance readiness, framework mapping, integrations, and the exit with vendor stability.
Weight them by your own duties; a listed company carries the comply-or-explain and assurance statements, while an unlisted company may need only SECR and customer questionnaires.
What should an ESG software RFP include?
Your boundary and reporting periods, the duties and frameworks you report under, sample data including a messy case, the questions in this page’s RFP list with their pass tests, a request for a three-year cost that includes implementation and exit, the data-processing terms, and the legal entity and owner you would be contracting with.
Ask every vendor the same questions; a blank answer is not a yes.
What are the requirements for ESG reporting software in the UK?
No UK law sets requirements for the software itself.
The requirements come from what the software must produce: the SECR lines in the directors’ report, an ESOS evidence pack, UK SRS disclosures for listed companies on a comply-or-explain basis from periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027 or for anyone applying UK SRS voluntarily, and a Carbon Reduction Plan where PPN 006 applies to a contract you bid for.
How do I compare ESG reporting software providers?
Against one written list of requirements, answered in writing and then demonstrated on your data.
Record the strength of each answer — shown on your data, shown on demo data, written only, on the roadmap, or blank — rather than giving products a single score.
Read who wrote any comparison you find, because many are published by a vendor.
Which is the best ESG reporting software?
This site does not rank products and has tested none, so it names no best.
The useful question is which product passes the tests your duties impose — the entity model, the audit trail, the outputs, the explain record and the exit — shown on your own data.
Does ESG reporting software need to support assurance?
No UK rule requires sustainability assurance.
A listed company in scope of the FCA’s rules states whether it obtained any, and if so the provider, what was assured and to what level, the standards used and where the report is (UKLR 6.6.6R(8)(d)).
ISSA (UK) 5000 is for voluntary use and effective for periods beginning on or after 15 December 2026; a platform should keep the evidence a practitioner would sample, whether or not you commission one.
Do we need TCFD software now that the FCA has moved to UK SRS?
The FCA’s final rules replace the TCFD-aligned listing-rule disclosures with UK SRS on a comply-or-explain basis, for periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027.
Ask a vendor selling TCFD reporting what it produces for UK SRS S2 and for the explain statement, rather than for the TCFD recommendations alone.
What should the contract say about getting our data out?
That you can export everything — activity data, factors by version, methods, the change log and evidence files — in a documented format, during the contract and at its end.
Where the vendor processes personal data for you, UK GDPR Article 28(3) requires a processor contract covering, among other things, sub-processors, deletion or return of the data at the end, and audits.
Has the ESG software market consolidated?
Yes.
Since February 2025 the owners’ own announcements record 11 ownership changes among vendors in this site’s registry, the latest the Greenly–Normative merger announced in September 2026.
Ask who you would be contracting with and what a change of control does to your contract and data.
How much does ESG reporting software cost?
Most vendors do not publish a price.
Of the 68 vendors this guide lists, 6 publish a figure on their own pages and 4 publish a free tier or plan; the rest are recorded as Enterprise level · TBD.
Ask for a three-year cost that includes implementation, added entities, integrations, assurance support and the cost of exit.
Has this site tested any ESG reporting software?
No. This site has tested no products.
The checklist and the RFP questions are built from UK SRS, the FCA’s rules, SECR, ESOS, PPN 006, the GHG Protocol and UK GDPR, each cited to its provision, and the vendor directory quotes only what each vendor publishes about itself.
Sources
Primary sources
Every criterion and RFP question 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 17 sources fromDepartment for Business and TradeFinancial Conduct AuthorityFinancial Reporting CouncilIAASBGHG Protocol (WRI, WBCSD)GHG Protocol
- Department for Business and TradeUK SRS S1 General Requirements (PDF), ¶20, ¶¶21–24 and ¶¶B45–B47
The same reporting entity as the financial statements; connected information; cross-reference.
- Department for Business and TradeUK SRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures (PDF)
The climate disclosures a framework mapping has to reach, requirement by requirement.
- 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): ¶1.10, ¶3.14 and Appendix 1, UKLR 6.6.6R(7A) and (8)(c)–(d)
The explain statement, the location rule, the assurance statement, the reliefs, and the end of the TCFD rules.
- Financial Reporting CouncilISSA (UK) 5000, General Requirements for Sustainability Assurance Engagements
Issued 12 November 2025 for voluntary use; effective for periods beginning on or after 15 December 2026.
- IAASBISSA 5000, General Requirements for Sustainability Assurance Engagements
The international standard the UK version is based on.
- GHG Protocol (WRI, WBCSD)A Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard — Chapters 1 and 3
The consistency and transparency principles; the consolidation approaches.
- GHG ProtocolScope 1 & 2 GHG Inventory Guidance (2019)
Base-year recalculation and the company’s own significance threshold.
- Department for Energy Security and Net Zero2026 GHG conversion factors methodology paper, ¶1.10
A factor set is for activity data falling entirely or mostly within its year.
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2008/410, Schedule 7 Parts 7 and 7A
The SECR lines and the two-of-three size test for unquoted companies.
- Environment AgencyHow to comply with ESOS Phase 4
Qualification on 31 December 2026; notification by 5 December 2027.
- Cabinet OfficePPN 006 Technical Standard for completion of Carbon Reduction Plans
Procurement policy for in-scope central government contracts, not a duty on every company.
- EUR-LexDirective 2013/34/EU as consolidated on 18 March 2026, Articles 19a, 29a and 40a
CSRD after Omnibus I: more than 1,000 employees and €450m net turnover.
- Global Reporting InitiativeGRI Standards
A voluntary framework a buyer may also want mapped.
- legislation.gov.ukUK GDPR, Article 28 — Processor
The processor contract: sub-processors (28(3)(d)), deletion or return at the end (28(3)(g)), audits (28(3)(h)).
- GreenlyGreenly and Normative are joining forces (September 2026)
The latest ownership change in the timeline; the owner’s own announcement.
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