How to choose software for calculating a company’s carbon footprint

A good carbon footprint software solution should cover Scope 1, 2 and 3 in accordance with the GHG Protocol, support internationally recognised calculation methodologies (Location-based and Market-based), and generate reports that are ready for sustainability reporting. Choosing the wrong solution means collecting data that may not be suitable for CSRD, SECR or other regulatory requirements. Here's what to consider before making your decision.

Why use dedicated software instead of Excel?

Many companies start calculating their carbon footprint using a spreadsheet. It's an understandable approach, but one that quickly reaches its limits. Emission factors are updated every year, the GHG Protocol includes dozens of emission categories, and managing data across multiple sites or business units soon becomes impractical.

A dedicated carbon footprint software automates the application of the latest emission factors for the relevant reporting year, organises data by scope and category, and generates structured reports that are ready to support sustainability reporting, including CSRD, VSME and GRI disclosures.

Un software dedicato automatizza l'applicazione dei fattori di emissione più aggiornati per l'anno di rendicontazione, organizza i dati per scope e categoria, e produce report strutturati direttamente utilizzabili per la reportistica di sostenibilità, inclusa la rendicontazione CSRD/VSME e gli standard GRI.

Criteria for choosing the right carbon footprint software

1. Full coverage of Scope 1, 2 and 3

The GHG Protocol, the internationally recognised standard for corporate greenhouse gas accounting, divides emissions into three categories:

• Scope 1: Direct emissions (e.g. fuel combustion from company-owned vehicles, fugitive emissions)
• Scope 2: Indirect emissions from purchased energy (e.g. electricity, district heating or cooling)
• Scope 3: All other indirect emissions across the value chain (e.g. purchased goods and services, freight transport, employee commuting, waste disposal, end-of-life treatment of sold products)

Scope 3 is often the largest source of emissions, but also the most challenging to measure. When evaluating a carbon footprint software solution, make sure it enables you to collect and categorise data across all Scope 3 categories, not just energy and transport.

Green Future Project's Carbon Footprint Software covers all three scopes, organising activity data into six intuitive categories: Energy, Transport, Water, Waste, Procurement and Other. This structure makes it easier for non-specialists to understand where emissions come from, while automatically mapping the data to the relevant GHG Protocol scopes within the Performance module.

2. Recognised calculation methodologies: Location-based and Market-based

For emissions from purchased electricity (Scope 2), the GHG Protocol defines two calculation methodologies:

• Location-based: Uses the average emissions factor of the electricity grid in the country where the electricity is consumed.
• Market-based: Uses emissions factors that reflect the specific electricity products or contractual instruments purchased (e.g. certified renewable electricity).

A suitable software must support both methodologies and allow for a direct comparison of the results, as many regulations and reporting standards require the disclosure of both values. Green Future Project's software allows users to view data using both the Location-based and Market-based calculation methodologies.

3. Flexible data collection

Companies collect operational data from a wide range of sources, including utility bills, expense reports, fleet records and supplier invoices. A good carbon footprint software solution should support at least two methods of data entry:

• Guided manual entry: useful for those just starting out or dealing with limited volumes of data. The user selects the type of source, enters the amount consumed, and the software automatically calculates the associated emissions, whilst also displaying the methodology used.
• Bulk upload: for those managing large volumes of data or multiple sites, the ability to import structured files drastically reduces data collection times and minimises transcription errors.

Green Future Project's Carbon Footprint Software supports both approaches, allowing users to choose between guided manual data entry and bulk uploads, depending on the volume and complexity of the data they need to manage.

4. Multi-entity and multi-site management

Companies with multiple sites, branches or business units need to calculate their carbon footprint both at the level of individual entities and at the consolidated group level. Make sure that the software allows you to:

• Create and manage multiple organisational entities (buildings, sites, divisions)
• View aggregated and disaggregated results
• Compare performance across different entities

5. Analysis of emissions from procurement (Scope 3, Category 1)

Emissions linked to the procurement of goods and services often account for the largest share of Scope 3 emissions. Advanced software must enable emissions to be analysed by supplier, product category and type of procurement (ranking them from highest to lowest emissions) in order to identify priorities for action within the supply chain.

6. Reduction targets and monitoring over time

Measuring emissions without setting reduction targets is an incomplete process. The software must allow users to set quantitative targets (e.g. a 30% reduction by 2030 compared with the 2022 baseline) and display the actual trend against the target, year on year. 

7. Automatic reporting ready for submission

The final report is the document that the company will use for internal communication, for clients’ ESG questionnaires, for CSRD/VSME reporting, or to respond to rating requests. The key questions one should ask when evaluating software are:

• Is the report generated automatically, or does it require manual compilation?
• Is it available in multiple languages (Italian and English)?
• Can it be downloaded in a standard format (PDF)?
• Does it include the calculation methodology for each piece of data entered?

Green Future Project’s Carbon Footprint Software automatically generates a detailed report of around 50 pages, available in Italian and English, with the methodological documentation included.

How the calculation process works: the main steps

A well-structured calculation process typically follows these steps:

1. Defining the scope (Start): select the entity for which the carbon footprint is to be calculated, the reporting year and, where applicable, the baseline year for comparison. The software automatically applies the most up-to-date emission factors for that year.
2. Data collection by subject area: Energy → Transport → Water → Waste → Procurement → Other. Each section brings together the relevant types of data, with the option to add methodological notes and comments that will be included in the final report.
3. Review and finalisation (Finish): before finalising the calculation, you can add explanatory comments to the various sections of the report, download the data in CSV format for internal checks, and access the results in the Performance section.
4. Analysis of results: in the Performance section, you can view emissions by scope, by thematic category and by methodology (Location vs Market-based), and compare multiple years or multiple entities on the same chart.

FAQ

Do you need specific technical expertise to use the software?
No. The thematic areas (Energy, Transport, Water, etc.) are designed to make it easier to understand the distribution of emissions, even for those who are not familiar with the GHG Protocol categories in detail. The mapping to the scopes is done automatically.

Is the software also suitable for companies with multiple sites?
Yes. It is possible to create multiple organisational entities and calculate the carbon footprint both for individual entities and at consolidated group level, with a direct comparison of the performance of the various sites.

Can I update the footprint every year without having to start from scratch?
Yes, using the ‘Duplicate’ function. Select the previous year’s footprint, update the reporting year and amend only the values that have changed. The system visually highlights the data that has already been updated compared with that which still needs to be checked.

Can the report generated be used for CSRD reporting?
The software generates a detailed report in accordance with the GHG Protocol or ISO 14064-1, which also forms the methodological basis required by the ESRS standards. For comprehensive CSRD reporting, it is advisable to supplement the carbon footprint calculation with a materiality assessment and a dual materiality analysis.

How are emissions from purchases (Scope 3, Category 1) calculated?
In the Procurement section, the user enters data relating to purchases of raw materials, services and goods. The software calculates the associated emissions and organises them by supplier, product category and type of purchase, with the option to view the top emitters (top 80%, 50%, 20%).

Would you like to calculate your company’s carbon footprint?

Green Future Project’s Carbon Footprint Software is accessible via the ESG Suite, alongside the other sustainability reporting modules: Utilities Optimisation Software, ESG Supply Chain Analytics, Climate Action Dashboard and Sustainability Reporting Software.