DitchCarbon vs Persefoni: Choosing the Right Scope 3 Platform

Selecting a platform to manage your organisation’s Scope 3 emissions is more than a software decision. It is a strategic one.

The right platform depends on where your most significant emissions sit and what you plan to do about them. For many businesses, the biggest challenge is the supply chain: the emissions embedded in purchased goods, services, and capital goods. For others, especially financial institutions, the priority is the emissions tied to investments, loans, and portfolios.

This comparison looks at two leading platforms through that lens.

DitchCarbon is built to provide deep visibility into supplier and supply chain emissions, helping procurement and sustainability teams turn data into action. Persefoni offers an enterprise-grade carbon accounting platform designed for broad emissions reporting, disclosure, and compliance, with particular strength in financed emissions.

The core question is simple: do you need a platform built primarily for Scope 3 action, or one built primarily for carbon accounting and disclosure?

At a glance: DitchCarbon vs Persefoni

Primary focus
DitchCarbon focuses on supplier-level Scope 3 data and supply chain decarbonisation. Persefoni focuses on enterprise-wide carbon accounting and compliance.

Ideal user
DitchCarbon is built for procurement and sustainability teams focused on supplier engagement and emissions reduction. Persefoni is built for finance, ESG, and sustainability teams focused on audit-ready reporting.

Key strength
DitchCarbon’s key strength is collecting, verifying, and using supplier-specific data at scale. Persefoni’s key strength is calculating and reporting emissions across scopes and categories.

Scope 3 strength
DitchCarbon has a deep focus on Category 1 and Category 2: Purchased Goods & Services and Capital Goods. Persefoni offers broad coverage across all 15 Scope 3 categories, with particular strength in Category 15: Financed Emissions.

Data approach
DitchCarbon is supplier-first, prioritising primary and verified supplier data. Persefoni is activity-first, often starting with spend and operational data mapped to emission factors.

Workflow
DitchCarbon embeds emissions data into procurement and sourcing decisions. Persefoni integrates with finance, ERP, and ESG reporting workflows.

Best for
DitchCarbon is best for teams that want to reduce supply chain emissions, not just report them. Persefoni is best for enterprises that need a carbon accounting system of record.

Scope 3 coverage: supply chain depth vs portfolio breadth

Both platforms can support Scope 3 work, but they are optimised for different challenges.

DitchCarbon: built for supply chain decarbonisation

DitchCarbon is purpose-built for the Scope 3 categories most influenced by procurement, especially Category 1: Purchased Goods and Services, and Category 2: Capital Goods.

These are often the largest and most complex emissions sources for companies that make, move, buy, or sell physical products.

DitchCarbon’s focus is on moving beyond high-level estimates and generic averages. The platform helps teams collect and verify supplier-specific data, identify hotspots, and use that information in procurement decisions.

Its approach includes scalable supplier engagement, supplier-level emissions visibility, verified supplier and public disclosure data, quality scoring and provenance for emissions data, supplier-specific recommendations, and procurement workflow integration.

For DitchCarbon, calculation is the starting point. The goal is to help companies act on Scope 3 data and reduce emissions across the supply chain.

Persefoni: built for enterprise carbon accounting

Persefoni is designed as a broad carbon accounting platform for enterprise reporting and compliance. It supports Scopes 1, 2, and 3, and is particularly relevant for organisations that need a central system of record for emissions data.

Its strength is breadth. Persefoni can support reporting across all 15 Scope 3 categories and is especially strong in Category 15: Financed Emissions.

This makes it a strong fit for financial institutions, private equity, large enterprises with complex reporting needs, and teams preparing disclosures for frameworks such as CSRD, SEC, or TCFD.

Persefoni’s workflow is designed to help sustainability and finance teams aggregate data, calculate emissions, and produce auditable reports for regulators, investors, and internal stakeholders.

Data methodology: supplier-specific vs spend-based

The credibility of Scope 3 data depends heavily on methodology.

DitchCarbon: primary and verified supplier data first

DitchCarbon’s methodology starts from the supplier.

The platform prioritises actual supplier-level data wherever possible. It combines supplier disclosures, public data, AI-assisted extraction, and direct engagement workflows to build a clearer picture of emissions across the supply chain.

A typical data hierarchy looks like this:

First, DitchCarbon prioritises supplier-reported primary data.

Second, it uses verified public disclosures, such as CDP or sustainability reports.

Third, it uses high-quality averages where supplier-specific data is not yet available.

The emphasis is on replacing assumptions with better data over time.

Each data point can include provenance, quality scoring, and supporting evidence. This makes the data more useful not only for reporting, but also for supplier engagement and reduction planning.

Persefoni: compliant, scalable carbon accounting

Persefoni is designed to calculate emissions across large and complex organisations. For Scope 3 Category 1, this often starts with spend-based calculations.

By connecting procurement, ERP, or financial data, the platform can apply emission factors to spend and activity data to produce a broad emissions footprint. This is useful for building an initial baseline and preparing disclosures.

This approach has clear strengths. It enables fast coverage across many categories, scalable reporting for large enterprises, consistency across business units, and alignment with compliance and audit workflows.

However, spend-based calculations are usually less precise than supplier-specific data. They can show where emissions may be concentrated, but they are less useful for targeted supplier-level reduction unless refined with primary or activity-based data.

Workflow and integrations: action vs accounting

The biggest practical difference between DitchCarbon and Persefoni is where the data is meant to be used.

DitchCarbon: emissions data inside procurement decisions

DitchCarbon is built around the idea that decarbonisation happens before the purchase order.

The platform helps procurement teams bring emissions data into sourcing, supplier evaluation, and supplier engagement. Buyers can use supplier scorecards, emissions benchmarks, and action lists alongside traditional procurement metrics such as cost, quality, and risk.

This turns Scope 3 from a reporting exercise into an operational workflow.

DitchCarbon is best suited to teams that want to prioritise suppliers for engagement, identify emissions hotspots, compare suppliers on climate performance, support climate-aware purchasing decisions, and create measurable reduction plans.

Persefoni: emissions data for finance-grade reporting

Persefoni’s workflow is built around carbon accounting, disclosure, and compliance.

It integrates with finance systems, ERPs, and ESG data sources to automate emissions calculations and reporting. The platform acts as a centralised hub for managing emissions data across an enterprise.

This is valuable for teams that need to calculate a company-wide footprint, report across Scopes 1, 2, and 3, prepare audit-ready disclosures, respond to investor and regulatory requirements, and manage emissions data across complex organisational structures.

DitchCarbon vs Persefoni: key difference

The simplest distinction is this:

Persefoni helps companies account for carbon across the enterprise. DitchCarbon helps companies act on supplier emissions in the supply chain.

That does not mean one platform is universally better than the other. They are built for different jobs.

Persefoni is stronger when the priority is broad, finance-grade carbon accounting.

DitchCarbon is stronger when the priority is supplier-level visibility, procurement action, and measurable Scope 3 reduction.

When to choose DitchCarbon

Choose DitchCarbon if your biggest emissions challenge is in your supply chain.

It is a strong fit if Category 1 and Category 2 are major priorities, if you need supplier-specific data rather than spend-based estimates, and if your procurement team needs to use emissions data in buying decisions.

DitchCarbon is also the better choice if you want to engage suppliers at scale, move from reporting to reduction, and have clear provenance and evidence behind supplier emissions data.

In short, DitchCarbon is the stronger fit for companies that want to decarbonise their physical supply chain through supplier collaboration and smarter procurement decisions.

When to choose Persefoni

Choose Persefoni if you need an enterprise-wide carbon accounting platform.

It is a strong fit if your main goal is audit-ready disclosure and compliance, if you need to report across Scopes 1, 2, and 3, or if your organisation has complex finance, ESG, or ERP data.

Persefoni is also a strong option for financial institutions focused on Category 15 financed emissions, or for teams that need a system of record for corporate carbon accounting.

In short, Persefoni is the stronger fit for organisations that need comprehensive emissions accounting and reporting across the whole enterprise.

The verdict

The right choice depends on your Scope 3 strategy.

If your priority is enterprise-wide carbon accounting, regulatory disclosure, and financed emissions, Persefoni offers a comprehensive platform built for reporting and compliance.

If your priority is supply chain decarbonisation, supplier engagement, and procurement-led climate action, DitchCarbon provides the specialised data and workflows needed to move from calculation to reduction.

For companies whose Scope 3 challenge sits mainly in purchased goods, services, and suppliers, DitchCarbon is the better fit. It is built for the moment when emissions data needs to survive scrutiny from sustainability, procurement, finance, and leadership — and then turn into action.

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