7 best carbon accounting software platforms in 2026

Carbon accounting software has become a mission-critical component of modern business operations as regulatory requirements, climate disclosure obligations, and stakeholder scrutiny intensify. As greenhouse gas emissions reporting continues its transition from voluntary sustainability efforts to regulated corporate reporting, organizations need reliable, scalable tools to accurately measure, manage, and report carbon emissions across global operations and complex supply chains.

In 2026, carbon accounting software is no longer optional. Compliance with regulatory frameworks such as the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), alignment with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol), and increasing expectations from investors and employees alike mean that organizations must invest in robust, audit-ready carbon accounting solutions.

This guide explores the best carbon accounting software platforms in 2026, helping companies identify the right carbon accounting software based on data quality, emissions tracking, reporting capabilities, regulatory compliance, and long-term sustainability goals.

What is carbon accounting?

Carbon accounting, also known as greenhouse gas accounting, is the structured process of measuring, recording, and reporting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions generated by an organization’s activities. These emissions are typically reported in carbon dioxide equivalents (CO₂e) and form the basis of effective carbon management and sustainability reporting.

Most carbon accounting tools are built on internationally recognized carbon accounting standards, particularly the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, ensuring consistency in emission factors, indirect emissions treatment, and reporting processes across industries and regions.

Carbon accounting focuses on:

• Measuring greenhouse gas emissions accurately
• Ensuring reliable data, data validation, and transparency
• Supporting regulatory compliance and sustainability frameworks

Carbon management then uses this carbon accounting data to set emission reduction targets, manage unavoidable emissions, and guide decarbonisation strategies over time.

What is a corporate carbon footprint?

A corporate carbon footprint represents the total greenhouse gas emissions generated by a company’s business operations and value chain. This includes emissions from:

• Energy consumption
• Transportation and logistics
• Waste generation
• Purchased goods and services
• Supply chains and other indirect emissions

Accurate carbon footprint calculations rely on high-quality emissions data collected from multiple data sources. Carbon accounting software enables organizations to automate data collection, standardize reporting, and calculate emissions across all scopes in a centralized system—providing a reliable baseline for regulatory compliance, sustainability reporting, and Science-Based Targets (SBTi).

Understanding Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions

The GHG Protocol divides greenhouse gas emissions into three categories:

• Scope 1: Direct emissions from owned or controlled sources
• Scope 2: Indirect emissions from purchased electricity, heating, and cooling
• Scope 3: All other indirect emissions across the value chain, including suppliers, business travel, and product lifecycles

For most organizations, Scope 3 emissions represent the largest share of their carbon footprint. This makes advanced emissions tracking, supplier engagement, and automated data ingestion essential features of any carbon accounting platform.

Key challenges in carbon accounting

Fragmented data collection

Many organizations still rely on spreadsheets and disconnected systems. Carbon data is often reported in disparate ways, making comparisons difficult and undermining data quality.

Complex emissions calculations

Accurate greenhouse gas accounting requires correct emission factors, consistent methodologies, and reliable data ingestion across business units and geographies.

Regulatory pressure

Carbon accounting is essential for compliance with CSRD, the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), and other climate disclosure frameworks. Audit-ready, efficient reporting aligned with global standards is now mandatory.

Integration with financial data

Sustainability reporting increasingly intersects with financial data and governance. Carbon accounting software must integrate emissions data with financial systems to support regulatory frameworks and internal decision-making.

How carbon accounting software helps

Carbon accounting software should automate data collection, streamline emissions calculations, and improve accuracy compared to manual methods like spreadsheets.

It should enable users to:

• Collate carbon data from multiple data sources
• Measure and report greenhouse gas emissions across all scopes
• Track emissions data through dashboards and visual analytics
• Turn carbon data into actionable insights
• Set science-based emission reduction targets
• Plan and manage decarbonisation initiatives in one unified platform

Advanced platforms leverage AI algorithms to identify high-emission business units, materials, or activities, enabling targeted reduction efforts. Advanced progress tracking and analytics provide continuous monitoring of emissions and the net-zero journey with dashboards and visual insights.

Carbon accounting software vs ESG reporting software

Carbon accounting software focuses specifically on greenhouse gas emissions, emissions tracking, and carbon footprint calculations. ESG reporting software covers broader ESG data, often with only basic climate risk analytics.

Accurate carbon accounting is foundational for ESG reporting, but dedicated carbon accounting tools deliver deeper emissions management, higher data quality, and stronger regulatory compliance capabilities.

How much does carbon accounting software cost?

The cost of carbon accounting software varies based on organizational size, industry, data complexity, and required integrations.

• Typical pricing ranges from €3,000 to €80,000+ per year
• Larger organizations often incur higher costs due to complex supply chains and advanced reporting needs
• Pricing structures may include modular features, consulting services, and enterprise-wide data management

However, software cost is only part of the equation. Robust platforms offer extensive value beyond carbon tracking, including advanced analytics that help identify financially viable emission reduction opportunities. These features can generate long-term cost savings and enhance overall profitability.

How to choose the right carbon accounting software

Selecting the right carbon accounting software requires accurate vetting of features against evolving regulatory requirements and internal governance needs. Key criteria include:

• Alignment with CSRD, GHG Protocol, and other sustainability frameworks
• Automated data ingestion and emissions tracking
• Audit-ready sustainability reporting for third-party assurance
• Coverage of Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions
• High data quality, validation, and reliable emissions data
• Integration with sustainability management and financial systems
• Personalized advice and real-time support based on industry, region, and regulatory context

A worthy carbon accounting solution provides personalized assistance influenced by regional guidelines, industry standards, and organizational maturity.

1. Sweep – Best overall carbon accounting platform

Sweep is a comprehensive carbon management platform designed for organizations of all sizes. In 2026, Sweep expanded its global presence by opening a new office in Denver, Colorado, strengthening its support for North American customers.

Strengths: 

• Trust at every step: Built for robust GHG emissions management, Sweep handles large datasets, ensures data security, and provides dynamic analysis capabilities to help companies make an impact on their sustainability journeys.
• Flexibility: Sweep offers extensive customization options, adapting to organizational needs with ease. It has an extensive library of emission factors. Organizational supply chains are easily modelled using an intuitive format known as ‘Sweep trees.’
• Supplier engagement: Sweep enables science based target setting and empowers sustainability and procurement teams to work together to build climate programs that clearly track progress towards your reduction goals.
• Sustainability reporting capabilities: Sweep provides businesses with extensive reporting capabilities, aligned with industry standards, like the GHG Protocol and Bilan Carbone.
• Upload once, use everywhere: Sweep enables you to use your carbon data once and use it to report in line with all key sustainability frameworks (CSRD, GRI, ISSB, TCFD, CDP and others).

Most suited to: 

Sweep’s ESG management software is well suited to organizations of all sizes, with a graduated model to suit varying company sizes, and different levels of data maturity and complexity.

Sweep supports enterprises, with robust solutions for tracking Scope 3 emissions from across the entire value chain. It also works with financial organizations to track and manage the carbon footprint generated by their portfolios. 

Note: 

The platform has recently launched a Starter package for growing businesses looking to reduce their carbon footprint. 

Clients include: 

L’Oréal, CH Robinson, Q Cells, Crocs

2. Watershed

Watershed is a carbon accounting platform with offices in San Francisco, Calif., New York, NY, and London, UK. 

Strengths: 

Comprehensive sustainability tools: Watershed offers a comprehensive suite of sustainability tools, including carbon, water, and waste accounting modules fully integrated with reporting and carbon reduction opportunities. 

Expertise-embedded solutions: Watershed leverages expertise from leading climate scientists and policy experts, embedded into its platform to ensure accuracy and relevance in emissions measurement, reporting, risk management and carbon reduction strategies.

Recent acquisition of VitalMetrics: With the acquisition of VitalMetrics, Watershed enhances its capabilities by incorporating a greenhouse gas emissions database, enabling automatic ingestion of public data and customized surveys to suppliers. 

Most suited to:

Watershed’s ESG management software is best suited for medium and large businesses across finance, consumer goods, and supply chain sectors.

Clients include: 

FedEx, BlackRock, Douglas, Spotify and Walmart. 

3. Microsoft Sustainability Cloud

4. Salesforce Net Zero Cloud

Salesforce Net Zero Cloud is an enterprise-grade carbon accounting and sustainability platform built on the Salesforce ecosystem. It is designed to help organizations track, analyze, and reduce their carbon footprint, while aligning ESG goals with business strategy.

Strengths:

• Seamless integration with business systems: Built natively on the Salesforce platform, the platform integrates smoothly with existing CRM and ERP systems, making it easier for companies to embed sustainability data into everyday operations and financial reporting.
• In-depth insights: The suite combines climate, and environmental data with advanced analytics to enable organizations to anticipate and effectively mitigate environmental risks. This includes the projection of future carbon emissions.
• Comprehensive carbon accounting software: IBM’s Carbon Performance Engine’s GHG Emissions API enables companies to manage emissions across all three scopes quickly and easily.

Clients include: 

CVS Health, Mastercard, Telus, JetBlue.

5. Persefoni

Persefoni is a leading ESG management software. The company has offices in the US, Canada, UK, Germany, Japan and Singapore. 

Strengths: 

Carbon-related investing: The software specializes in improving carbon-related investing for the financial industry by facilitating integration with the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF) framework. 

Generative AI capabilities: Persefoni incorporates generative AI capabilities for interpreting data, detecting anomalies, and mapping procurement activity to various emissions factors, providing advanced analytical insights and automation to reduce emissions further.

Supply chain transparency tools: Persefoni’s software includes tools for pulling carbon emissions data from publicly listed companies, simplifying supply chain transparency with larger partners and enabling better environmental impact assessment.

Most suited to: 

Persefoni is most suited to financial organizations of all sizes, although it is increasingly offering climate solutions for business. 

Clients include:

Bain and company, Citi, Dropbox, Evergy and Burlington. 

6. Normative

Normative is a comprehensive carbon accounting platform, designed to help companies meet net zero emissions. It has offices in Stockholm, Copenhagen and London.  

Strengths: 

Comprehensive carbon management platform: Normative’s Carbon Accounting and Carbon Network software offer a unified SaaS solution for capturing, modeling, and reporting carbon data, fostering collaboration to drive progress towards sustainability commitments.

Scope 3 visibility: Normative’s software provides enhanced visibility into notoriously difficult-to-track Scope 3 emissions for more precise environmental impact management.

Support for small suppliers: Normative provides a free carbon calculator for smaller suppliers and underpins the SME Climate Hub Business Carbon Calculator, aiding in emission reduction planning and progress tracking.

Most suited to: 

Normative’s platform is best suited for large enterprises with complex supply chains seeking comprehensive carbon accounting solutions and collaboration tools.

Note: 

The platform is currently limited when it comes to tracking ESG data more holistically, with the focus being predominantly on carbon emissions. 

Clients include: 

Hertz, Nordea, Topps Tiles, Flying Tiger Copenhagen and Hitachi. 

7. Greenly

Greenly, is a carbon accounting software based in France, specializing in helping companies of all sizes reduce their carbon emissions.

Tailored carbon accounting solutions: By leveraging data analytics and third-party expertise, Greenly creates personalized solutions for customers seeking to measure and address their company’s carbon footprint.

Data-driven approach: Greenly integrates data analysis with real-life climate expertise to develop customized carbon emission reduction plans for businesses, making it an ideal choice for companies looking for tailored solutions to mitigate their environmental impact.

Reduced effort: Greenly’s goal is to help companies reduce their carbon footprint through strategic activities. The platform considerably reduces the effort required to carry out a carbon assessment.

Most suited to:

Greenly is most suited to companies financial institutions of all sizes seeking personalized solutions to reduce their carbon emissions.

Note: 

The platform is currently limited when it comes to tracking ESG data more holistically, with the focus being predominantly on carbon emissions. 

Clients include: 

HSBC, Hello Fresh, Tier, Axa and Givenchy. 

7. Greenly

Greenly, is a carbon accounting software based in France, specializing in helping companies of all sizes reduce their carbon emissions.

Tailored carbon accounting solutions: By leveraging data analytics and third-party expertise, Greenly creates personalized solutions for customers seeking to measure and address their company’s carbon footprint.

Data-driven approach: Greenly integrates data analysis with real-life climate expertise to develop customized carbon emission reduction plans for businesses, making it an ideal choice for companies looking for tailored solutions to mitigate their environmental impact.

Reduced effort: Greenly’s goal is to help companies reduce their carbon footprint through strategic activities. The platform considerably reduces the effort required to carry out a carbon assessment.

Most suited to:

Greenly is most suited to companies financial institutions of all sizes seeking personalized solutions to reduce their carbon emissions.

Note: 

The platform is currently limited when it comes to tracking ESG data more holistically, with the focus being predominantly on carbon emissions. 

Clients include: 

HSBC, Hello Fresh, Tier, Axa and Givenchy. 

We hope that our analysis has helped you in your search for the right carbon accounting software for your organization.

It’s worth remembering that using a robust carbon accounting solution can help you ensure regulatory compliance, manage your climate risks, and drive long term business growth.

Want to find out more about how Sweep can help?

Reach out to us today.