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DitchCarbon vs Watershed: choosing your Scope 3 platform
Updated 2 September 2026. This comparison is for teams weighing a specialist supplier emissions data platform against an all-in-one climate platform. It is factual by design: both products are credible, and the right choice depends on which problem you are solving.
What is Watershed?
Watershed is an all-in-one climate platform covering Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3, with disclosure reporting for frameworks such as CSRD and a carbon removal marketplace alongside the accounting. It is bought by organisations that want their whole footprint measured, managed and reported in one governed system. If you are evaluating it, Watershed's own documentation is the right source for its current capabilities.
What is DitchCarbon?
DitchCarbon provides verified emissions data for over 2 million organisations, built on primary emissions data wherever it exists, so procurement, sustainability and finance teams can measure and act on supply chain and portfolio emissions from one source. It is a specialist Scope 3 carbon accounting platform: the emphasis is the counterparty data itself, with a source and change history on every figure and coverage gaps shown, not hidden.
How do the two differ?
The honest distinction is the problem each is bought for. Watershed organises accounting and disclosure across the whole footprint. DitchCarbon is bought for what the Category 1 number is made of, supplier by supplier, and for keeping that defensible as companies publish and restate.
| Feature | DitchCarbon | Watershed |
|---|---|---|
| Primary focus | Scope 3 supplier emissions data, especially Purchased Goods and Services (Category 1) | All-in-one climate platform for Scopes 1, 2, and 3 |
| Core strength | Counterparty coverage with a source and change history on every figure | Broad regulatory reporting (e.g. CSRD) and carbon removal marketplace |
| Data methodology | Disclosed, supplier-specific figures first, with generic factors visible where nothing is published | Hybrid model, often starting with spend-based estimates before moving to activity or supplier data |
| Ideal user | Sustainability and procurement teams working on supply chain emissions and supplier engagement | Organisations needing a single platform for enterprise-wide climate compliance and reporting |
When is Watershed the right choice?
When the job is the whole footprint in one system: Scope 1, 2 and 3 accounting, disclosure outputs across frameworks, and features like the removal marketplace under one roof. It also fits organisations comfortable starting Scope 3 on spend-based estimates and refining over time, which is a legitimate first pass under the GHG Protocol.
When is DitchCarbon the right choice?
When the data is the problem. If Category 1 dominates your footprint and the number behind it is spend times a sector average, or an auditor is asking where the figures came from, the gap is not workflow. DitchCarbon starts from what suppliers have already published, so the disclosed part of a list is matched and scored before anyone is asked anything, and requests go out prepopulated with what each organisation has already published.
Can you use both?
Yes, and organisations do. In that pairing DitchCarbon is the supplier data layer and Watershed organises the accounting and disclosure built on it. The two solve different problems, so running both is common rather than awkward. The wider version of this decision, specialist data layer against all-in-one suite, is set out on our specialist vs suite page.
See the comparison on your own list
The fastest test is your own file: send a sample of your supplier list to the coverage check and see how much of it already carries a matched, scored figure.
Run the test on your own list.
Tell us what you're assessing and we'll show you the coverage we already hold, before you commit to anything.
