Use case

Moving carbon accounting off spreadsheets

What to require from a carbon platform when the current inventory is a workbook that only one person understands.

5 tools in this scenario · verified 2026-10-27

Spreadsheets get a company through its first two reporting cycles and then become a risk. The inventory lives in one file, the factors are hard-coded, the formulas change between versions and nobody can reproduce last year's number once the owner leaves. The move to a platform is usually triggered by an audit request, a buyer's questionnaire or a change of reporting standard rather than by a desire for software. That shape of migration decides which platform fits: the important capabilities are importing the existing inventory without loss, keeping a versioned record of factors and assumptions, and exporting something an auditor can follow. Platforms differ sharply on how they treat the past, whether they re-baseline historical years, and how much of the data entry is manual. A tool that is fast to start but keeps no calculation history will not fix the underlying problem. The criteria below are the ones that separate a re-platforming project from a portal that simply displays numbers.

What to evaluate

1
Import of the existing inventory
Check whether activity data, factors and organisational boundaries can be imported with their history, and whether the platform keeps the original values visible after recalculation.
2
Factor versioning and sources
Require dated factor sets with a cited source, and a record of which factor version produced each reported number. A single editable factor table recreates the spreadsheet problem.
3
Audit trail and restatement
Ask how a correction to a prior year is recorded, who approved it and what the report shows. Assurance-ready platforms keep a change log rather than overwriting the figure.
4
Scope 3 data collection model
Decide whether suppliers enter data directly, whether files are imported, or whether spend-based estimates stand in. Each choice changes the effort in year two and the quality claim you can make.
5
Exit and export
Confirm a full export of activity data, factors and reports in a machine-readable format. A platform that only exports PDFs returns the organisation to the same single-source risk later.

Tools for this scenario

All tools

Carbon Accounting

Persefoni

Carbon accounting and climate disclosure platform for enterprises and financial institutions.

Pricing: Freemium
Compliance: CSRD, ESRS, GHG Protocol, SB 253
Platforms: Web, API

Verified 2026-10-22Read the record

Carbon Accounting

Plan A

Carbon accounting, decarbonisation and ESG reporting platform for businesses.

Pricing: Custom quote
Compliance: GHG Protocol
Platforms: Web

Verified 2026-10-22Read the record

Carbon Accounting

Carbonhound

Carbon management software for measuring emissions and producing disclosure-ready reports.

Pricing: Subscription
Compliance: SB 253, CBAM, SBTi
Platforms: Web

Verified 2026-10-22Read the record

Carbon Accounting

Greenly

Carbon accounting and ESG platform for measuring, reporting and reducing emissions.

Pricing: Custom quote
Compliance: CSRD, GHG Protocol, SBTi
Platforms: Web, API

Verified 2026-10-22Read the record

Carbon Accounting

Zevero

Carbon accounting for growing businesses, with expert review built into each tier rather than sold as a separate project.

Pricing: Subscription
Compliance: GHG Protocol, ISO 14064
Platforms: Web, Cloud

Verified 2026-10-27Read the record

Sources

Last verified 2026-10-27. Figures on the linked tools are checked against the sources above; confirm pricing and compliance coverage before signing.