Carbon calculators are essential for businesses looking to understand and reduce their environmental impact. However, not all tools suit every industry, and navigating the options can be challenging.
We’ve tested three leading carbon calculators:
across three fictional SMEs from different sectors:
- Professional Services
- Online Business (B2C)
- Food & Drink
Quick Recommendations:
- Professional Services: Start with Climate Hero for a simple overview, then scale up to Normative for more in-depth analysis.
- Online Businesses (B2C): Compare Your Footprint is the most comprehensive choice, handling everything from logistics to digital infrastructure.
- Food & Beverage: Compare Your Footprint excels in detailed tracking, especially for transportation and refrigeration emissions.
1. Professional Services – Office Based
Company Example: Green Accounting, a small firm with six employees. Green Accounting wants to identify its carbon emissions to understand where improvements can be made.
They’re looking for a tool that’s easy to use, but provides enough detail to set a strong baseline for future sustainability efforts:
| Calculator Name | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| Compare Your Footprint | Provides an in-depth baseline, helping Green Accounting to identify key areas for improvement. It’s comprehensive, covering everything from energy use to waste. | The detailed data entry required might be overwhelming for a small team with limited resources. However, they can opt for a simplified input to get a general overview. |
| Normative | Offers a streamlined, faster approach with a solid level of detail, particularly useful for professional services where indirect emissions (like Scope 3) are significant. | The tool is more tailored to larger businesses, but still serves as a good middle-ground for small firms aiming to understand their carbon footprint comprehensively. |
| Climate Hero | Ideal for beginners, this calculator offers a quick, intuitive overview of emissions. It’s great for Green Accounting to learn the basics of carbon management. | Lacks the depth required for setting specific, measurable targets. |
Winner – Climate Hero
For a small firm like Green Accounting just starting their sustainability journey, Climate Hero is a perfect entry point.
As they grow and need more detailed insights, they might transition to Normative or Compare Your Footprint for more comprehensive data, especially when tackling indirect emissions.
2. Online Business (B2C)- Managing Complex Operations
Refreshing Wash Products, a medium-sized subscription-based body care company with 22 employees, wants accurate carbon data to consider offsetting their emissions.
They require a tool that can handle complex operations, including cloud services and product distribution.
| Calculator Name | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| Compare Your Footprint | Excels in handling the diverse operations of a subscription service, from cloud storage to delivery logistics. It’s incredibly detailed, making it easier to pinpoint emissions across all activities. | The comprehensive nature of this calculator, means it requires more time and effort to input data, but the accuracy is worth it. |
| Normative | Provides a good balance, covering key areas like transport, packaging, and energy use. Useful for businesses with both digital and physical product elements. | Lacks the specificity of a “subscription services” category, making it a bit of a stretch for businesses like Refreshing Wash Products. |
| Climate Hero | Simple and user-friendly for basic emissions tracking. | Not suitable for businesses focused on product distribution, as it doesn’t account for delivery emissions—a major oversight for this sector. |
Winner – Compare Your Footprint
Compare Your Footprint is the best choice for Refreshing Wash Products and similar subscription services.
It’s ability to cover all aspects of the business, from digital infrastructure to waste management, ensures no emission source is overlooked, giving the best potential for a real competitive edge in sustainability innovation, reporting and marketing.
3. Food & Drink – Tackling Refrigeration and Transport
That Wine Store, a regional wine retailer with 18 employees and shop/warehouse space, wants to reduce its carbon footprint, focusing on transportation and refrigeration emissions.
They need a calculator that offers industry-specific insights and supports their goal of creating a gold-standard mitigation plan.
| Calculator Name | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| Compare Your Footprint | Comprehensive and tailored to the retail and food & beverage industry, covering everything from refrigeration leaks to transportation logistics. It meets high reporting standards, essential for credible sustainability claims. | The depth of detail requires thorough data entry, which can be time-consuming but ultimately beneficial for accurate reporting. |
| Normative | Includes useful features like accommodation emissions during business travel, important for companies in the wine industry that source products from various regions. | The lack of a specific “beverage industry” option means some details might not be as relevant, reducing the precision of industry comparisons. |
| Climate Hero | Useful for businesses that need a simple start in emissions tracking. | Not suitable for That Wine Store’s needs. It lacks detailed inputs for product-based companies, and offers limited insights into emissions from transportation and refrigeration. |
Winner – Compare Your Footprint
Compare Your Footprint stands out as the most effective tool for the food and beverage industry, particularly for a business like That Wine Store.
Its detailed coverage ensures that all relevant emissions are captured, providing a strong foundation for reducing and mitigating their carbon footprint.
Tailored Tools for Carbon Success
Your business’s needs will dictate which carbon calculator to use:
- Professional Services
For professional services like Green Accounting, Climate Hero offers a simple starting point, while Normative provides more depth as you scale. - Online Business (B2C)
Subscription services or other complex supply chains like Refreshing Wash Products benefit most from the detailed approach of Compare Your Footprint. - Food & Beverage
For the food and beverage sector, Compare Your Footprint also proves to be the best fit, given its industry-specific insights and comprehensive coverage.
Selecting the right tool ensures your business can not only understand, but also strategically reduce its carbon footprint, paving the way for a more sustainable future.
For more information, please contact Jayne Saywell one of our Business Advisors. Her knowledge, experience and ideas can help your company thrive in a wellbeing economy, and find joy in a sustainable future.
