Corporate Standard alone
Scope 3 is an optional reporting category; the minimum is Scope 1 and 2.
Corporate Standard Ch 4 and Ch 9Software · the value chain, cited
Scope 3 emissions software: methods, suppliers and the UK rules
Scope 3 emissions software calculates the fifteen value-chain categories: a method for each, supplier data where it exists, and a record of how much rests on estimates.
This page takes each requirement to its provision and turns it into a test; choosing a platform overall is on carbon accounting software, and this site has tested no product.
What the software does
Six jobs, from screening to disclosure
Scope 3 emissions software turns spend, activity and supplier data into the fifteen value-chain categories of the GHG Protocol.
The standard underneath is the Scope 3 Standard, and its companion technical guidance supplies the calculation methods.
The hard part is not the arithmetic but the record: which method each category used, which suppliers answered, and what is still an estimate.
Which page answers which question
Scope 3 as a subject — the categories, boundaries and screening — is on Scope 3 emissions.
The listed-company position under UK SRS, relief included, is on UK SRS Scope 3 reporting.
The standard mechanics a whole inventory needs are on GHG accounting software; this page is the value-chain layer.
- 1
Screen
Estimate all fifteen categories cheaply to find the ones that matter.
- 2
Choose a method
Supplier-specific, hybrid, average-data or spend-based, per category.
- 3
Collect
Spend from the ledger, activity data, and suppliers’ own figures.
- 4
Calculate
Apply dated factors or multipliers, and keep the working.
- 5
Record quality
Supplier share, verified share and the reason for each exclusion.
- 6
Disclose
The categories included and how each was measured.
What the standards require
Account for all, consider all, disclose which
Three instruments give three different Scope 3 positions, and a tool has to record enough to satisfy the strictest one you follow.
The Scope 3 Standard says at §6.2 that companies “shall account for all scope 3 emissions … and disclose and justify any exclusions”.
UK SRS S2 asks an entity at ¶B32 to “consider all 15 categories” and to disclose which are included, and ¶B33 requires that disclosure “regardless of the method” used.
So every category needs a status in the tool: included, excluded with a reason, or not applicable.
Read the detailed guidance and references
No category is optional under the Scope 3 Standard; the word “optional” in §6.2 attaches to activities within a category beyond its minimum boundary.
A category a company does not have is reported as zero or “not applicable”, which is a status a tool should hold rather than a blank.
One sub-rule is genuine: for downstream intermediate products, a company may disclose and justify excluding categories 9, 10, 11 and 12, but should not selectively exclude a subset of them.
Consider all fifteen is not report all fifteen, so a UK SRS S2 disclosure can be complete with fewer categories included, provided the list is disclosed.
The GHG Protocol Corporate Standard on its own treats Scope 3 as optional, which is why a product built only to it may stop at Scope 2.
Scope 3
inventory
inventory
Scope 3 Standard
Account for all Scope 3 emissions and disclose and justify any exclusions.
Scope 3 Standard §6.2UK SRS S2
Consider all fifteen categories and disclose which are included.
UK SRS S2 ¶¶B32–B33Calculation methods
Spend-based, average-data, supplier-specific: a method per category
Scope 3 software has to store a calculation method for each category, because the methods differ by category and change at different speeds.
The GHG Protocol’s technical guidance ranks the methods for purchased goods “from most to least specific”, from supplier-specific through hybrid and average-data to spend-based.
It also says companies “need not always use the most specific method as a first preference”, so spend-based is a legitimate starting point, not a failure.
Other categories have their own families — fuel- and distance-based for travel and freight, waste-type-specific for waste — set out in the table below.
Read the detailed guidance and references
The technical guidance is guidance: it says to refer to the Scope 3 Standard for requirements, so a method choice is a judgement, recorded, not a rule obeyed.
Chapter 11 of the Scope 3 Standard asks, for each category, for the types and sources of data, a description of data quality, and the percentage of emissions calculated using data obtained from suppliers.
Only a tool that stores method and source per category can produce that table without rework.
The PPN 006 column marks the five categories a Carbon Reduction Plan asks for.
| Category | Method families in the GHG Protocol guidance | PPN 006 |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Purchased goods and services | Supplier-specific · hybrid · average-data · spend-based | — |
| 2. Capital goods | Supplier-specific · hybrid · average-data · spend-based | — |
| 3. Fuel- and energy-related activities | Supplier-specific · average-data | — |
| 4. Upstream transportation and distribution | Fuel-, distance- or spend-based (transport); site-specific or average-data (distribution) | Named |
| 5. Waste generated in operations | Supplier-specific · waste-type-specific · average-data | Named |
| 6. Business travel | Fuel-based · distance-based · spend-based | Named |
| 7. Employee commuting | Fuel-based · distance-based · average-data | Named |
| 8. Upstream leased assets | Asset-specific · lessor-specific · average-data | — |
| 9. Downstream transportation and distribution | Fuel-, distance- or spend-based (transport); site-specific or average-data (distribution) | Named |
| 10. Processing of sold products | Site-specific · average-data | — |
| 11. Use of sold products | Direct and indirect use-phase methods | — |
| 12. End-of-life treatment of sold products | Waste-type-specific | — |
| 13. Downstream leased assets | As for upstream leased assets | — |
| 14. Franchises | Franchise-specific · average-data | — |
| 15. Investments | Investment-specific · project-specific · average-data | — |
- 1
Supplier-specific
Product-level cradle-to-gate data from the supplier itself.
- 2
Hybrid
Supplier activity data where available, secondary data for the gaps.
- 3
Average-data
Physical quantities, such as mass, times an industry-average factor.
- 4
Spend-based
Money spent times an emissions-per-unit-of-spend factor.
Spend-based data and Defra multipliers
Spend-based figures are allowed, if they say so
Most UK Scope 3 inventories begin with spend, and the government says how far that can go.
At ¶1.6 of its 2026 methodology paper, DESNZ says its conversion factors “differ from the spend-based emissions multipliers currently published by … Defra”.
Those multipliers, it says, “can be used to provide an initial assessment of a user’s full supply-chain emissions based on spending across different goods and services”.
The same paragraph adds that “users should ensure they report the methods used for their emissions accounting”, which is a field a tool has to carry per category.
Read the detailed guidance and references
Defra publishes the multipliers with its carbon footprint statistics as “Spend-based emissions multipliers, 1997 to 2023”, with an annual update on 30 June 2026.
The release says it is produced using a multi-regional input-output model developed for Defra by the University of Leeds.
This page quotes no multiplier value: the unit, price basis and classification belong in the dataset, and a tool should name all three.
The activity-based factors, for freight, travel and waste, are DESNZ’s annual conversion factors, matched to the activity year; how they work is on GHG conversion factors.
DESNZ ¶1.6
A different productThe conversion factors differ from Defra’s spend-based multipliersWhat they suit
An initial assessmentOf full supply-chain emissions, based on spendingWhen
Where activity data is shortUsers may wish to use spend-based methodsThe condition
Report the method“Users should ensure they report the methods used”UK SRS S2 ¶¶B38–B57
The data hierarchy a tool has to record
UK SRS S2 sets a measurement framework for Scope 3 at ¶¶B38–B57, and most of it is about which inputs to prefer.
¶B40 of UK SRS S2 lists four characteristics, “in no particular order”: direct measurement, data from specific activities in the value chain, timely data that represents the jurisdiction and technology, and verified data.
¶B47 says an entity “shall prioritise—with all else being equal—the use of primary data”, and ¶B48 counts “supplier-specific emission factors for purchased goods or services” as primary.
¶B57 then presumes Scope 3 “can be estimated reliably using secondary data and industry averages”.
Read the detailed guidance and references
¶B56 asks for the extent to which Scope 3 is measured using inputs from specific activities in the value chain, and the extent to which it is measured using inputs that are verified.
Both are percentages a tool can only compute if each input carries its source and verification status.
¶B29 prescribes no emission factors, and ¶B51 asks an entity to prioritise factors for the jurisdiction where the activity took place.
¶B42 says the trade-offs between those characteristics require management to apply judgement, so the tool should record the judgement, not make it.
¶29(a)(iii) asks for any changes to the measurement approach, inputs and assumptions during the period and the reasons, which only a change history can answer.
The standard paragraph by paragraph is on UK SRS S2.
UK SRS S2 Scope 3 inputsExplore
Module 02 / 04
Value-chain specific
¶B40(b): data from specific activities in the value chain.
Module 03 / 04
Timely and local
¶B40(c): jurisdiction and technology of the activity; ¶B51 local factors first.
Listed companies
The one-year Scope 3 relief, and what comes after
Listed companies get one year of Scope 3 relief under the FCA’s rules, and Scope 3 software bought for them has to be ready for the year after.
The FCA’s PS26/19 applies comply or explain across UK SRS for companies in UKLR 6, 14, 15, 16 and 22, for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027, with first reporting in 2028 (¶3.12).
¶3.14 allows “non-disclosure under UK SRS S2 regarding Scope 3 emissions for a period of 1-year from initial application”.
- 25 February 202601
UK SRS S1 and S2 published
Published by DBT for voluntary use; ¶C4 relieves Scope 3 with no time limit in the standard itself. - 30 September 202602
- Periods from 1 January 202703
The relief year
A company may rely on the Scope 3 relief and must say so; for UKLR 6 the rule is TP 16.4R(2)(a). - 202804
First reports
Reports for the first periods are published; no comparative Scope 3 is needed for the first period disclosed. - Periods from 1 January 202805
Relief expired
Scope 3 becomes comply or explain: disclose, or explain what is missing, why and what is being done.
Read the detailed guidance and references
A company using the relief states in its annual financial report that it relies on the transitional provision and on UK SRS S2 ¶C4, and ¶3.20 says no further explanation is needed during the relief period.
¶3.22 adds that companies already disclosing Scope 3 “may wish to continue to do so” during the relief, and “our rules do not prevent this”.
After expiry nothing becomes mandatory: a company that cannot disclose explains what is missing, why, and the steps it is taking, under UKLR 6.6.6R(7A).
For everyone else UK SRS is voluntary, and UK SRS S2 ¶C4 relieves Scope 3 with no time limit, while ¶C3, the GHG-method relief, keeps its first-year limit.
The practical consequence for software is timing: the relief year is the time to run the spend-based screen and the first supplier requests, so the second year’s figure has a method behind every category.
The full listed-company position is on UK SRS Scope 3 reporting.
Supplier data
Supply chain emissions software: portals, questionnaires and primary data
Supply chain emissions software is the supplier-facing half of Scope 3: the portal, questionnaire or data exchange through which a buyer gets primary data.
Its job ends where the Scope 3 Standard’s Chapter 11 begins, with “the percentage of emissions calculated using data obtained from suppliers or other value chain partners” for each category.
CDP’s supply-chain programme is one shared route: in its Sustainable Supply Chains report of 18 March 2026, CDP says members “requested critical environmental data from nearly 45,000 companies spanning 110 countries” in 2025.
The same report says over 19,200 disclosures made through CDP in 2025 responded to at least one supply-chain request from a buyer.
Read the detailed guidance and references
A supplier’s company-wide footprint is not a product figure: a buyer needs either a product-level footprint or an allocation it can defend, and the tool should store which.
The test on a demonstration is replacement: a supplier figure arrives, the estimate it replaces stays visible, and the supplier-data share moves.
In this site’s registry, 41 vendors are filed under supply chain, from what they publish about themselves; the directory below lists them with the rest.
Several describe replacing spend-based estimates with supplier data in their own words; what they say is in the claims table further down, and none of it is a finding by this site.
A request is only as good as its wording; the sequence for a supplier request is set out on Scope 3 emissions.
- 1
Rank suppliers
By estimated emissions from the screen, not by spend alone.
- 2
Ask for something specific
A product footprint or an allocated figure, for a named period and boundary.
- 3
Receive and check
Method, factors, boundary and whether it was verified.
- 4
Replace the estimate
Keep the spend-based figure in the history, and the reason.
- 5
Report the share
Per category: supplier data, verified data, estimates.
PPN 006
Five categories for a Carbon Reduction Plan, from the same inventory
A Carbon Reduction Plan needs five Scope 3 categories, not all of Scope 3, and software should produce them as a view of the same inventory.
The PPN 006 Technical Standard asks for Scope 1 and 2 in full and five Scope 3 categories: upstream transportation and distribution, waste generated in operations, business travel, employee commuting and downstream transportation and distribution.
Purchased goods and services, usually the largest category, is not one of them.
PPN 006 is procurement policy: bidders for contracts with an estimated value above £5 million a year, from central government departments, their executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies, are asked for a plan as a condition of participation.
Read the detailed guidance and references
The threshold is per contract, including VAT and averaged over the life of the contract; it is not a legal duty on a company to hold a plan.
The plan also confirms a commitment to net zero by 2050 in the UK.
In this site’s registry 6 of the 65 vendors in this guide mention PPN 006 on the pages read; a vendor that does not mention it may still produce the five categories, which is a question for a demonstration.
The plan itself is on Carbon Reduction Plans and PPN 006.
Category 4
Upstream transportation and distributionNamed in the PPN 006 Technical StandardCategory 5
Waste generated in operationsNamed in the PPN 006 Technical StandardCategory 6
Business travelNamed in the PPN 006 Technical StandardCategory 7
Employee commutingNamed in the PPN 006 Technical StandardCategory 9
Downstream transportation and distributionNamed in the PPN 006 Technical StandardScreening and data quality
Relevance, quality and reassessment: the judgements a tool records
Scope 3 is a set of judgements as much as a set of sums, and the software’s job is to hold each judgement where a reviewer can find it.
Table 6.1 of the Scope 3 Standard lists the relevance criteria — size, influence, risk, stakeholders, outsourcing, sector guidance and spending or revenue analysis.
§7.3 sets data-quality indicators and points improvement at categories with “relatively low data quality” and “relatively high emissions”.
UK SRS S2 ¶B34 adds a trigger: after a significant event, such as a change of supplier or an acquisition, the entity reassesses which Scope 3 categories and entities to include.
Read the detailed guidance and references
¶B34 is a reassessment of scope, not a base-year recalculation; base-year policy is a separate GHG Protocol mechanic, covered with the other standard mechanics linked at the top of this page.
The Scope 3 Standard also asks for the base year, its rationale and the recalculation policy, so the tool’s history has to reach back to the base year.
The demonstration test is to log an acquisition and see whether the tool prompts a review of the category list and records the outcome.
Scope 3 judgementsExplore
Module 01 / 04
Relevance
Size, influence, risk, stakeholders, outsourcing, sector guidance, spend or revenue (Table 6.1).
Module 02 / 04
Data quality
Representativeness in technology, time and geography; completeness and reliability (§7.3).
Module 03 / 04
Improve first
Relatively low data quality and relatively high emissions (§7.3).
Module 04 / 04
Reassess
After a significant event, which categories and entities to include (¶B34).
Category 15 · a pointer
Investments and financed emissions: PCAF’s territory
Category 15, investments, is where Scope 3 becomes financed emissions, and it runs on its own standard.
UK SRS S2 ¶29A permits an entity to limit Category 15 to financed emissions and to exclude emissions attributable to derivatives, as does IFRS S2 under the ISSB’s December 2025 amendments.
The method is usually PCAF’s: its Part A, third edition, published in December 2025, covers ten asset classes.
Read the detailed guidance and references
PCAF says the Built on GHG Protocol mark covers the six asset classes of its first edition, and that later methodologies have not been reviewed by the GHG Protocol, whose review service has closed.
IFRS S2 ¶29C asks for total Category 15 emissions and the financed-emissions subtotal, so a tool needs both figures.
In this site’s registry 14 of the vendors in this guide are also filed under financed emissions; this page goes no further than pointing at the standard.
The disclosure side is on IFRS S2 Scope 3 financed emissions.
UK SRS S2 ¶29A
Financed onlyCategory 15 may be limited to financed emissionsDerivatives
May be excludedExplaining what was treated as one (IFRS S2 ¶29B)PCAF Part A
Third editionDecember 2025; ten asset classesGHG Protocol mark
Six asset classesThe first-edition methods onlyThe demonstration tests
Ten tests, each from a provision
Each requirement on this page becomes a question a vendor can answer on a demonstration with your own spend and supplier data.
Tick the ones your inventory needs and copy the list; each carries the provision it comes from and what a passing answer looks like.
A blank answer in writing is not a yes, and a demonstration dataset is built to look finished where yours is not.
Some vendors publish which categories each plan calculates: Microsoft Sustainability Manager and Salesforce Net Zero Cloud do so on their own pages, and their profiles set the plans out category by category.
The wider buying sequence — requirements, pricing, exit terms — is on carbon reporting 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.
What vendors say
Scope 3 claims, in each vendor’s own words
Of the 65 vendors in this guide, 62 make a Scope 3 claim on the pages this site read, on 11 October 2026 and 30 September–1 October 2026.
That is a count of self-description, not of capability: a claim is the vendor’s own sentence, and a missing claim means only that this site did not find one.
The table beside this shows the claim for every vendor in the registry, with the page it was read on.
A claim to cover “all 15 categories” is the start of the method question, not the answer to it.
What vendors say about one regime · read 11 October 2026 and 30 September–1 October 2026
Each cell is the vendor’s own description of itself, linked to the page it is on.
A missing claim is a question to put to the vendor in writing, not evidence that the product lacks the capability.
The vendors
65 vendors, in their own words
Every vendor this site files under supply chain or carbon accounting, alphabetically, which ranks nothing.
The registry holds 73 vendors across all categories; the filter narrows this list.
65 vendors · supply chain, 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”
“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.
“A connected system built on a global standard for measuring and understanding sustainability performance across supply chains”
“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”
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”
“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”
“Run risk screening, corrective actions and reporting across your global supply chain, backed by verified SMETA audits”
“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.
Of these, 7 publish a price on their own pages and 4 publish a free tier or plan; the rest are recorded as Enterprise level · TBD.
Inclusion is not an endorsement, and a vendor’s words are not a finding that its product passes any test on this page.
What is moving
Owners and standards, both changing
Both the supply-chain software market and the Scope 3 standard are changing, and a tool bought now has to survive both.
The GHG Protocol’s Standard Development Plan v2.0 of 29 July 2026 folds its Scope 3 work into a single co-branded corporate standard with ISO, with consultation estimated for Q2 2027 and publication for Q4 2028.
| When | Event | Announced by |
|---|---|---|
| July 2025 | Green Project Technologies buys the Emitwise software | Emitwise |
| 4 September 2025 | Position Green acquires Greenomy | Position Green |
| 22 October 2025 | Diligent and Persefoni form a partnership | Diligent |
| 2 December 2025 – 14 January 2026 | Diginex acquires Plan A | Diginex |
| 31 March 2026 | Novisto acquires Minimum | Novisto |
| 14 July 2026 | Green Project Technologies acquires Optera | Green Project Technologies |
| 19 August 2026 | osapiens buys the Nasdaq Metrio platform | osapiens |
| September 2026 | Greenly and Normative announce a merger | Greenly |
Read the detailed guidance and references
The plan’s dates are estimates, subject to change, and the existing Scope 3 Standard stays in use meanwhile.
A method change of that size is the case a base-year recalculation policy exists for, so the test is whether the tool can restate while keeping the original.
Ownership changes matter for the exit: ask whether the inventory, its methods and the supplier responses export in a form you could rebuild elsewhere.
The words buyers use
Scope 3 reporting, tracking, accounting: what each name implies
The names overlap, and the tests underneath are the same.
| Name | What it usually emphasises | Where this site covers it |
|---|---|---|
| Scope 3 emissions software | The fifteen categories, a method per category, supplier data | This page |
| Scope 3 accounting software | The calculation: methods, factors, multipliers | This page; mechanics on GHG accounting software |
| Scope 3 reporting software | The disclosure: categories included, supplier and verified shares | This page; the listed position on UK SRS Scope 3 reporting |
| Scope 3 tracking software | Year-on-year movement as categories move from spend to supplier data | This page |
| Supply chain emissions software · supplier emissions software | Portals and questionnaires that collect suppliers’ figures | This page, supplier section |
| Supply chain carbon management software | Supplier data plus reduction targets and engagement | This page, then carbon management |
| Carbon accounting software | The whole inventory, described for buyers | The buying guide |
Whatever the name on the product, the tests in this page’s demonstration list apply unchanged.
Frequently asked
Scope 3 emissions software, answered
What is Scope 3 emissions software?
Software that calculates the fifteen value-chain categories of the GHG Protocol Scope 3 Standard: it records a calculation method for each category, applies spend-based, average-data or supplier-specific data, collects suppliers’ figures, and keeps the working so the disclosure can say which categories are included and how much rests on supplier data.
What is supply chain emissions software?
Usually the supplier-facing part of Scope 3 software: portals and questionnaires through which a buyer asks suppliers for their emissions or product footprints, and the matching that turns a supplier’s answer into a figure in categories 1 and 2.
It is tested the same way — what replaces the estimate, and whether the supplier-data share is recorded.
What is the best Scope 3 emissions software?
This site has tested no product and names no best.
The tests come from the standard and your own duties: a method stored per category, the supplier-data percentage the Scope 3 Standard’s Chapter 11 asks for, spend-based factors named and dated, verified inputs marked for UK SRS S2 ¶B56, and PPN 006’s five categories from the same inventory.
Run them on your own data.
Is spend-based Scope 3 acceptable under UK SRS S2?
Yes. ¶B57 presumes Scope 3 can be estimated reliably using secondary data and industry averages, and ¶B47 asks for primary data to be prioritised “with all else being equal”.
DESNZ says Defra’s spend-based multipliers can give an initial assessment where activity data is lacking, and asks users to report the methods used.
Does UK SRS S2 require all fifteen Scope 3 categories?
No. ¶B32 requires an entity to consider all fifteen and to disclose which are included, and ¶B33 requires that disclosure regardless of method.
The GHG Protocol Scope 3 Standard is stricter: account for all Scope 3 and disclose and justify any exclusion.
Do listed companies have to report Scope 3 from 2027?
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 FCA PS26/19.
A one-year Scope 3 relief applies from initial application; a company using it says so, and after it expires Scope 3 is comply or explain, not mandatory.
Which Scope 3 categories does PPN 006 need?
Five: upstream transportation and distribution, waste generated in operations, business travel, employee commuting, and downstream transportation and distribution.
PPN 006 is procurement policy for in-scope central government contracts above £5 million a year, not a legal duty on companies.
What is the difference between Scope 3 reporting software and Scope 3 accounting software?
Accounting is the calculation — methods, factors, supplier data — and reporting is the disclosure built on it.
Most products sell both; the accounting layer decides whether the disclosure can say which categories are included, by what method and on how much supplier data.
Do supplier questionnaires replace spend-based estimates?
Only category by category and supplier by supplier.
A tool should hold the estimate and the supplier figure side by side, record which one the inventory uses, and report the share from suppliers.
CDP’s supply-chain programme is one route by which buyers ask suppliers for data.
Is financed emissions software the same as Scope 3 software?
Financed emissions are Category 15 of Scope 3, measured for banks, insurers and investors under PCAF’s standard.
UK SRS S2 ¶29A permits Category 15 to be limited to financed emissions.
A general Scope 3 tool may hold Category 15 only as an imported figure, so ask how it is calculated.
Can Scope 3 be tracked in a spreadsheet?
A spend-based first pass can.
The spreadsheet stops coping when categories move to supplier data at different times, when the supplier-data share and verified share must be reported, and when one inventory must feed UK SRS, PPN 006 and customers’ questionnaires.
Has this site tested any Scope 3 software?
No. The page is built from the GHG Protocol, UK SRS S2, DESNZ, Defra, FCA, Cabinet Office, CDP and PCAF texts, 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 and prices are cited on each vendor’s profile to the vendor’s own page.
Checked against 15 sources fromGHG Protocol (WRI, WBCSD)GHG ProtocolDepartment for Business and TradeFinancial Conduct AuthorityDepartment for Energy Security and Net ZeroDepartment for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
- GHG Protocol (WRI, WBCSD)Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard (2011) — §6.2, Table 5.4, Table 6.1, §7.3 and Chapter 11
Account for all Scope 3 and justify exclusions; the fifteen categories; relevance criteria, data quality and the supplier-data percentage.
- GHG ProtocolA Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard (as amended) — Chapters 4 and 9
Scope 3 an optional reporting category; a minimum of Scope 1 and Scope 2.
- GHG ProtocolTechnical Guidance for Calculating Scope 3 Emissions
Methods ranked from most to least specific; companies need not always use the most specific first. Guidance, not requirements.
- GHG ProtocolScope 3 discussion paper (24 October 2024), Table 1
The calculation-method families for each of the fifteen categories.
- Department for Business and TradeUK SRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures — ¶¶29(a), 29A, B29, B32–B34, B38–B57, C3–C4
Consider all fifteen categories, disclose those included; the Scope 3 measurement framework; the untimed ¶C4 relief.
- Department for Business and TradeUK Sustainability Reporting Standards S1 and S2
Published 25 February 2026 for voluntary use.
- Financial Conduct AuthorityPS26/19 — ¶¶3.12, 3.14, 3.20, 3.22, 3.23 and Appendix 1 (UKLR TP 16)
Comply or explain for periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027; the one-year Scope 3 relief and its statement.
- Department for Energy Security and Net Zero2026 GHG conversion factors methodology paper, ¶1.6 and ¶1.10
The conversion factors differ from Defra’s spend-based multipliers; report the methods used; the activity-year rule.
- Department for Environment, Food & Rural AffairsUK’s carbon footprint — spend-based emissions multipliers, 1997 to 2023
The dataset behind most UK spend-based Scope 3 estimates; annual update 30 June 2026.
- Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroGreenhouse gas reporting: conversion factors 2026
The activity-based factors, including freight, travel, waste and the July 2026 flat-file correction.
- Cabinet OfficePPN 006 Technical Standard for completion of Carbon Reduction Plans
Scope 1 and 2 plus five named Scope 3 categories; procurement policy, not a legal duty.
- CDPSustainable Supply Chains: How Disclosure Data Drives Progress and Accelerates Action (18 March 2026)
Supply-chain requests to nearly 45,000 companies in 2025.
- ISSBAmendments to Greenhouse Gas Emissions Disclosures (Amendments to IFRS S2), December 2025, ¶¶29A–29C
Category 15 may be limited to financed emissions; derivatives may be excluded.
- PCAFThe Global GHG Accounting and Reporting Standard Part A: Financed Emissions, Third Edition (December 2025)
Ten asset classes; the Built on GHG Protocol mark covers the original six.
- GHG ProtocolConsolidated Corporate Standard — Standard Development Plan v2.0 (29 July 2026)
Scope 3 work folded into one co-branded standard; consultation estimated Q2 2027, publication Q4 2028.
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