Spend-based estimate
Available for every supplier from the ledger, with a factor per pound for the product group.
Reliable as an average; it does not move when the supplier improves.Software · supplier emissions, cited
Supply chain emissions software: getting your suppliers’ figures into your Scope 3
Supply chain emissions software asks suppliers for their emissions data and uses their answers in place of estimates in your Scope 3 inventory.
UK SRS S2 asks you to prefer that primary data, all else being equal, and to say how much of your Scope 3 figure rests on it.
This page sets out how the supplier layer works, what the rules ask of it, and the tests to run; it then lists 41 supply-chain platforms in their own words.
What the software does
What does supply chain emissions software do? Five jobs, from spend to supplier figure
Supply chain emissions software is the supplier-facing part of a Scope 3 inventory.
It starts from what you buy, estimates the emissions behind it, and then works supplier by supplier to replace estimates with the suppliers’ own figures.
The calculation of every value-chain category belongs to Scope 3 emissions software; this page is about the suppliers.
Checking suppliers for human rights and environmental risk is a different product again, covered on supply chain risk management software.
Done well, this software makes one hard job lighter: getting a busy supplier to send a number you can use.
- 1
Map
Match suppliers in the ledger to purchase categories and to the Scope 3 categories they sit in.
- 2
Estimate
A first figure from spend-based or average-data factors, labelled as an estimate.
- 3
Ask
Send requests to the suppliers that matter most, through a portal, a questionnaire or CDP.
- 4
Replace
Swap the estimate for the supplier’s own figure or factor, and keep the estimate in the history.
- 5
Record
The share from suppliers, the verified share and the reason for every gap.
Primary against spend-based
Spend-based or supplier data? Both, category by category
The GHG Protocol’s technical guidance ranks four methods for purchased goods from most to least specific: supplier-specific, hybrid, average-data and spend-based.
It also says companies need not always use the most specific method first.
Most inventories start spend-based, using Defra’s multipliers, because the ledger is the one dataset every company already has.
Supplier data then replaces the estimate where it matters most, supplier by supplier.
A tool should store the method on every line, so the mix can be read and reported at any point.
Four methods, most to least specificExplore
Four methods, most to least specific
Supplier-specific
Product-level cradle-to-gate data from the supplier.
Four methods, most to least specific
Hybrid
Supplier activity data where it exists, secondary data for the gaps.
Four methods, most to least specific
Average-data
Mass or units bought, times an industry-average factor.
Four methods, most to least specific
Spend-based
Money spent, times a factor per pound, such as Defra’s multipliers.
UK SRS S2 ¶¶B40–B57
What does UK SRS S2 ask of supplier data? Prefer it, and disclose how much you used
| Paragraph | What it says | What the software must hold |
|---|---|---|
| ¶B32 | Consider all fifteen Scope 3 categories; disclose those included. | Every category, with a reason for each exclusion. |
| ¶B40 | Four characteristics of good data, “in no particular order”: direct measurement, specific value-chain activities, timely and local, verified. | Each input tagged with the characteristics it has. |
| ¶B42 | Trade-offs between them need management judgement. | A record of the judgement, not a product default. |
| ¶B47 | Prioritise primary data, “with all else being equal”. | Supplier figures used where they exist. |
| ¶B48 | Supplier-specific emission factors for purchased goods or services count as primary data. | A factor per supplier or product, with its source. |
| ¶B53 | Prioritise verified data. | A verified flag on each supplier input. |
| ¶B56 | Disclose the extent measured from specific activities and the extent from verified inputs. | Both shares computed from the records. |
| ¶B57 | Scope 3 can be estimated reliably using secondary data and industry averages. | Estimates declared as estimates. |
UK SRS S2 never requires supplier data outright, and it accepts that secondary data can give a reliable estimate.
What it does require is honesty about the mix: the share measured from specific value-chain activities and the share that is verified.
The GHG Protocol’s Scope 3 Standard asks the same question in Chapter 11: for each category, the percentage of emissions calculated using data obtained from suppliers.
So the most useful number a supply chain tool produces is not the total, it is the share from suppliers, category by category.
The EU value chain cap
What can a buyer require from a supplier? In the EU, a capped list
A company reporting under the CSRD may require of a smaller supplier only the datapoints in Annex II of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1560.
That protects suppliers with 1,000 employees or fewer, and the list holds Scope 1 and location-based Scope 2, not Scope 3.
A buyer can still ask for more, but it must say which items go beyond the cap and that the supplier may decline them.
For a UK buyer with EU customers or EU subsidiaries, a supply chain tool that can label requests as inside or above the cap saves a lot of awkward emails.
The supplier’s side of the same rule is on ESG questionnaires.
The value chain capExplore
The value chain cap
Who is protected
Suppliers with 1,000 employees or fewer on average in the preceding year.
The value chain cap
What may be required
Annex II: 23 datapoints above 10 employees, 9 at 10 or fewer.
The value chain cap
The emissions row
Scope 1 and location-based Scope 2 only; Scope 3 may be asked, not required.
The value chain cap
From when
Financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2027; transposition by 19 March 2027.
The listed-company clock
When does Scope 3 supplier data start to matter? For listed companies, after one year of relief
- 25 February 202601
- Periods from 1 January 202702
Comply or explain begins
Listed companies in UKLR 6, 14, 15, 16 and 22 report against UK SRS on a comply-or-explain basis. - First year of application03
The Scope 3 relief
One year of relief from Scope 3 disclosure from initial application; a company using it says so. - The year after04
The relief changes when Scope 3 must be disclosed, not whether suppliers can be asked sooner.
The full listed-company position is on UK SRS Scope 3 reporting.
Asking suppliers
How do you get suppliers to answer? Ask fewer, ask clearly, ask once
Companies asked through CDP’s supply chain programme
Nearly 45,000CDP, 2025Value chain cap datapoints
23Suppliers above 10 employees; 9 at 10 or fewerPPN 006 Scope 3 categories
5Categories 4, 5, 6, 7 and 9UK SRS S2 primary-data rule
¶B47“With all else being equal”Read how requests work in practice
CDP says its supply-chain programme sent requests to nearly 45,000 companies in 2025 (CDP).
A supplier that already discloses to CDP or publishes a verified statement has an answer ready, and a tool can accept it as it is.
A supplier that bids for major government contracts already reports five Scope 3 categories under PPN 006, so its own Scope 1 and 2 are usually close to hand.
A request a supplier can answerExplore
A request a supplier can answer
Prioritise
Start with the suppliers behind the largest estimated emissions, by category.
A request a supplier can answer
State the boundary
The period, the products and the scopes you need, in plain words.
A request a supplier can answer
Accept what exists
A CDP response, a published report or a verified statement, rather than a new form.
A request a supplier can answer
Record and feed back
Store the answer with its source and show the supplier how it was used.
Data quality
Is a supplier’s figure always better than the estimate? Usually, not automatically
A supplier figure reflects that supplier’s real performance, which is why UK SRS S2 prefers it.
It can still be for a different period, a different boundary or the whole company rather than your products.
UK SRS S2 ¶B42 leaves those trade-offs to management judgement, so a tool should record the judgement, not make it silently.
A tool that shows the estimate and the supplier figure side by side, with the reason one was chosen, makes that judgement easy to review.
One
purchase
purchase
Supplier figure
The supplier’s own footprint or product factor, allocated to what you bought.
Moves with the supplier’s real performance; check its period, boundary and verification.What the platforms say
Which platforms collect supplier emissions? 39 supply-chain platforms say so in their own words
The panel shows what every vendor in the registry says on its own site about Scope 3, alphabetically.
Watershed, for example, describes a supply chain product that “works directly with your vendors, and with your existing teams and tools, to measure and analyze supplier emissions in days” (Watershed).
Greenly says that “validated supplier data replaces spend-based estimates in your Scope 3 footprint automatically” (Greenly).
Those are the vendors’ descriptions, and they describe exactly the job this page is about.
A missing claim is a question to ask the vendor, not evidence the product lacks the capability.
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 tests before you sign
What should you ask in a demonstration? Eight questions, each tied to its source
Run each question on one of your own suppliers, not on the vendor’s sample data.
The pass line is written from the provision cited beside it.
This site has tested no products
The questions are drawn from the GHG Protocol, UK SRS S2, PPN 006 and the assurance standards; they do not score or rank anything.
Supplier data demo questions · tick the ones you need
The pass tests are our reading of the cited provisions.
Nothing you tick is stored or sent.
The platforms
41 supply-chain platforms, in their own words
Every vendor this site files under supply chain, alphabetically, which ranks nothing, each linked to its own site and to its profile here.
The registry covers 73 vendors across all categories, read 11 October 2026 and 30 September–1 October 2026.
41 vendors · supply chain
“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”
“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.
“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”
“Collect, analyze, and report sustainability, financial, and risk KPIs with 10+ software modules – individually or in line with official standards”
“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”.
IntegrityNext describes itself as a “supply chain sustainability intelligence & orchestration 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”
Microsoft Sustainability Manager
“Track and reduce your environmental impact using data and AI”
“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”
“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”.
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”
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”
SINAI describes “audit-grade Scope 1–3 accounting, automated compliance reporting, complete supply chain visibility” and decarbonisation planning for global enterprises.
“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”
“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”
“Worldfavor is a supply chain due diligence platform founded in Stockholm in 2016”
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.
41 platforms, own wordsExplore
41 platforms, own words
Filed under supply chain
41 vendors in this site’s registry.
41 platforms, own words
Scope 3 claims
39 of them describe Scope 3 work on their own pages.
41 platforms, own words
Alphabetical
The order ranks nothing.
41 platforms, own words
Their own words
What each vendor says about itself, read 11 October 2026 and 30 September–1 October 2026.
An order of work
Where should a supplier programme start? Five steps, in order
- 01 / Estimate01
Build the spend-based baseline
Every supplier, from the ledger, with Defra multipliers named and dated. - 02 / Rank02
Find the suppliers that matter
The few behind most of the estimated emissions in categories 1 and 2. - 03 / Ask03
- 04 / Replace04
Swap estimates for supplier figures
Keep the estimate in the history and record the judgement. - 05 / Disclose05
Supplier data turns Scope 3 from a reflection of what you spend into a reflection of what your suppliers do.
Frequently asked
Supply chain emissions software, answered
What is supply chain emissions software?
Software that asks suppliers for their greenhouse gas data, collects the answers, and uses them in place of estimates in the buyer’s Scope 3 inventory.
It usually adds supplier portals or questionnaires, matching of suppliers to spend, and a record of how much of each category now rests on supplier data.
How is it different from Scope 3 emissions software?
Scope 3 software calculates all fifteen value-chain categories, each with its own method.
Supply chain emissions software is the supplier-facing part of that work, concentrated on purchased goods and services and capital goods, where a supplier’s own figure can replace an estimate.
Most platforms sell both, so the test is what each does for your suppliers.
What is supplier emissions software?
Another name for the same layer: the tools that collect a supplier’s own footprint or a product-level emission factor and attach it to what you buy from them.
What is supply chain carbon accounting software?
Carbon accounting that reaches into the value chain: the same activity-times-factor arithmetic as any carbon accounting, with supplier-specific factors where suppliers provide them and spend-based or average-data factors where they do not.
Do UK rules require supplier data for Scope 3?
No rule requires it outright.
UK SRS S2 ¶B47 asks an entity to prioritise primary data “with all else being equal”, ¶B48 counts supplier-specific emission factors as primary data, and ¶B57 presumes Scope 3 can be estimated reliably using secondary data and industry averages.
What it does require is that you say how much of the figure comes from specific activities and how much is verified (¶B56).
Is spend-based Scope 3 acceptable?
Yes, as a method declared as such.
Defra publishes spend-based multipliers by product group, and the GHG Protocol’s technical guidance says companies need not always use the most specific method first.
Supplier data is the way to move a category off spend-based estimates over time.
Can my suppliers refuse an emissions request?
Sometimes.
Under the EU value chain cap, a company reporting under the CSRD may require of a supplier with 1,000 employees or fewer only the datapoints in Annex II of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1560, which include Scope 1 and location-based Scope 2 but not Scope 3.
A UK buyer’s own request is a commercial matter, so a clear, short request answered without charge tends to get the answers.
How many suppliers are asked for emissions data?
CDP says its supply-chain programme sent requests to nearly 45,000 companies in 2025.
Those requests come from buyers; many more arrive by questionnaire and portal outside CDP.
When do listed companies need Scope 3?
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, with a one-year Scope 3 relief from initial application.
Does PPN 006 need supplier data?
PPN 006 asks bidders for major government contracts for Scope 3 categories 4, 5, 6, 7 and 9 in their Carbon Reduction Plan.
A supplier that already holds its own footprint in a tool can answer a buyer’s PPN 006-shaped questions quickly.
Should supplier figures be verified?
UK SRS S2 ¶B53 asks an entity to prioritise verified data, and ¶B56 asks how much of the Scope 3 figure uses verified inputs.
A tool that records verification on each supplier input can compute that share; ISO 14064-3 is a common standard for a supplier’s verification.
Has this site tested any supply chain emissions software?
No. This page is built from the GHG Protocol, UK SRS S2, the FCA’s rules, PPN 006 and the EU value chain cap, each cited to its provision.
Vendors are listed alphabetically from the registry in their own words, read 11 October 2026 and 30 September–1 October 2026.
Sources
Primary sources
Every rule on this page traces to the provision listed here.
Vendor descriptions are each vendor’s own words, linked to its own page.
Checked against 17 sources fromGHG Protocol (WRI, WBCSD)GHG ProtocolDepartment for Business and TradeFinancial Conduct AuthorityDepartment for Environment, Food & Rural AffairsDepartment for Energy Security and Net Zero
- GHG Protocol (WRI, WBCSD)Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard (2011) — Table 5.4 and Chapter 11
The fifteen categories; for each category, the percentage of emissions calculated using data obtained from suppliers.
- GHG ProtocolTechnical Guidance for Calculating Scope 3 Emissions
Supplier-specific, hybrid, average-data and spend-based methods, most to least specific. Guidance, not requirements.
- GHG Protocol (WRI, WBCSD)A Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard
Completeness, consistency, transparency and accuracy.
- Department for Business and TradeUK SRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures — ¶¶B32, B40, B42, B47, B48, B53, B56, B57
The Scope 3 measurement framework: primary data prioritised, supplier-specific factors, the share measured from specific activities and verified inputs.
- Department for Business and TradeUK Sustainability Reporting Standards S1 and S2
Published 25 February 2026.
- Financial Conduct AuthorityPS26/19 — final rules on UK SRS reporting by listed companies
Comply or explain for UKLR 6, 14, 15, 16 and 22, periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027.
- Financial Conduct AuthorityPS26/19 (PDF), ¶3.14 and Appendix 1
The one-year Scope 3 relief from initial application.
- Department for Environment, Food & Rural AffairsUK’s carbon footprint (spend-based multipliers)
The emission factors by product group used for spend-based estimates.
- Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroGovernment conversion factors for company reporting
One factor set per activity year.
- EUR-LexCommission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1560, Annexes I and II
The voluntary standard; Annex II is the value chain cap.
- EUR-LexDirective (EU) 2026/470 (Omnibus I)
The CSRD amendments that created the value chain cap.
- European CommissionAdditional explanatory information regarding the value chain cap (6 May 2026)
What a reporting company may require of a protected supplier.
- CDPSustainable Supply Chains: How Disclosure Data Drives Progress (18 March 2026)
Supply-chain requests to nearly 45,000 companies in 2025.
- Cabinet OfficePPN 006: taking account of Carbon Reduction Plans
Carbon Reduction Plans for major government contracts.
- Cabinet OfficePPN 006 Technical Standard
Scope 3 categories 4, 5, 6, 7 and 9.
- ISOISO 14064-3: validation and verification of GHG statements
The standard many supplier verifications are carried out to.
- IAASBISSA 5000 — General requirements for sustainability assurance
The assurance standard a buyer’s own Scope 3 may later meet.
Continue reading