6 supplier decarbonisation platforms for enterprise supply chains, compared (2026)

Most Scope 3 programmes stall after the baseline. The number exists, but nobody can say which suppliers to call, what to ask them for, or whether their emissions are falling. This guide compares six supplier decarbonisation platforms on what they do after the baseline, across four stages: measure, engage, plan and track. For the wider market, see our comparison of the best Scope 3 software.

Vendor features checked against each vendor's public pages on 28 October 2026.

Can you run DitchCarbon alongside Watershed, Sweep or Persefoni?

Yes. Those three are systems of record for the full inventory and the disclosure. Run alongside one of them, DitchCarbon becomes the data layer feeding it, and the supplier work happens on top: the ranked reduction list, the plan for each supplier, and each supplier's forecast against its own target. Run on its own, DitchCarbon is the platform.

Either way it integrates into the procurement, ERP or sourcing system the team already runs, so the plan reaches the category manager in the tool they use, rather than in a parallel one.

What should a supplier decarbonisation platform do after the baseline?

It should tell you which suppliers carry your emissions, ask those suppliers only for what you need, hand you a reduction plan you can take into the meeting, and show whether each supplier is on course for its own target. Four stages, in that order.

1. Measure: find the suppliers that matter. Rank by embodied emissions, not spend. A small invoice in a carbon-intensive sector can outrank a large one in a light sector.
2. Engage: ask for what you need, and only where it changes the answer. Suppliers already on track can be left to carry on. The rest get a request built around what has already been published. Our supplier engagement page covers how.
3. Plan: arrive with the plan, not just the target. A goal for that supplier and category, actions drawn from a peer that already made the cut, and a clause you can put in the contract. See Scope 3 decarbonisation.
4. Track: compare each supplier's trend with its own target. Then roll it up to category and programme level, weighted by emissions so the suppliers that matter count most.

Which supplier decarbonisation platforms go furthest past the baseline?

Every platform below can rank suppliers or collect their data in some form. The split is at stage 3: what you hold when you walk into the supplier meeting. DitchCarbon hands you a written plan per supplier and category, built from a named peer that already made the cut, with a contract clause attached.

"Not described" means the vendor's public pages on supplier engagement, checked 28 October 2026, do not describe the feature. It does not mean the feature cannot exist.

How do the six platforms compare after the baseline?

1. DitchCarbon

DitchCarbon is a specialist Scope 3 carbon accounting platform built to get from the baseline to the reduction. It starts from verified emissions data for over 2 million organisations, built on primary emissions data wherever it exists: published GHG inventories, and service and product-level carbon footprints. Supplier-specific emissions at spend, activity and product level sit on top, and we calculate on product data, activity data and supplier-specific spend, and only when all else fails, industry-level spend.

Measure. Suppliers are ranked by embodied emissions rather than spend, and each sits on a four-step maturity ladder, so a large supplier that has published nothing is visible straight away.

Engage. Requests go only to the suppliers where better data would change the answer, prepopulated with what each has already published, so the supplier can disclose the more detailed primary data you need: energy use, activity data, a product carbon footprint. Suppliers already on a credible glide path are left to carry on. The method is the same for 100 suppliers as for 10,000, and it runs in production on supply chains of over 100,000 suppliers; a recent deployment reached 70% coverage of emissions with primary data within 2 weeks.

Plan. Every supplier and Scope 3 category is ranked by the share of your total footprint that acting on it would move, with the tonnes behind it and a named peer already reducing at that rate. Open one and the conversation is written: a goal, an action plan drawn from what that peer did, four questions to ask, and a contract clause with a date and a shortfall remedy, each peer action linked to its source document.

Track. Each supplier's trend is drawn against the trajectory its own target requires, at supplier level and rolled up to category or portfolio. Forecasts are projections rather than measurements, so a notice appears wherever the underlying disclosure is too patchy to trust. SBTi progress can be weighted by embodied emissions, spend or number of suppliers, because the answers differ.

Best for: large enterprises that want each supplier conversation planned before the first request goes out, and progress measured against each supplier's own target.

2. Watershed

Watershed Supply Chain ranks suppliers by emissions impact and climate maturity and sends data requests, target commitments and reduction plans through a guided portal, with supplier responses replacing industry averages in the footprint. Its page does not describe how a reduction plan is built or what it draws on. Run alongside Watershed, DitchCarbon supplies the peer-based plan for each supplier, with every peer action linked to the document it came from.

Best for: companies where a single platform is the only option, so the supplier programme has to run inside the same tool as the inventory.

3. Sweep

Sweep is a full-inventory carbon accounting platform with a supplier module: surveys and supplier portals, free accounts for surveyed suppliers, hotspot analysis by supplier and category, and joint reduction targets tracked supplier by supplier. It imports supplier data from CDP, EcoVadis, S&P and the SBTi. Run alongside Sweep, DitchCarbon supplies supplier figures calculated by the most accurate method available, and a plan for each supplier drawn from a named peer.

Best for: ESG teams that have standardised on one tool for company-wide data and want supplier surveys and joint targets run from the same place.

4. Normative

Normative collects supplier data through surveys, a shared Carbon Network, an EcoVadis integration and research by its own analysts on your most important suppliers. Its supply chain page refers to actionable reduction strategies but does not describe how targets or plans are set. Where analysts research suppliers one by one, DitchCarbon starts from what those suppliers have already published, so the ranked shortlist exists before any research begins. Normative and Greenly have announced they are joining forces.

Best for: companies where a single platform is the only option, and analyst research on a short list of key suppliers is enough.

5. EcoVadis Carbon Action Manager

EcoVadis Carbon Action Manager segments suppliers by carbon maturity, lets suppliers estimate their own Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions with a Carbon Estimator, and tracks tailored improvement plans across more than 35 metrics. A supplier's own estimate gives procurement a high-level view to guide engagement; it is not a calculated line in your inventory. DitchCarbon calculates each line by the most accurate method available and records which method was used.

Best for: procurement teams that already run EcoVadis ratings and want carbon maturity in the same scorecard.

6. Persefoni

Persefoni gives suppliers free Persefoni Pro accounts to measure their own footprint, with training and an AI assistant, and lists a Scope 3 Data Exchange for requesting supplier data as coming soon. Its supplier engagement page does not describe supplier prioritisation or reduction planning. Run alongside Persefoni, DitchCarbon supplies the ranked reduction list and a plan for each supplier.

Best for: finance-led companies where a single platform is the only option, and getting suppliers to start measuring comes first.

How do you choose which suppliers to decarbonise first?

Start with the suppliers that carry the most embodied emissions in the categories that matter, then split them by whether they are already on track. Those on a credible glide path need little from you. Those carrying the emissions with no target or no progress are where the conversation moves your number, and cutting the emissions in their electricity supply is often the first ask.

How do you test a supplier decarbonisation platform before you buy?

Give each vendor the same sample of your suppliers and ask for four things on screen.

1. The ranked list. Your sample ordered by how much of your footprint acting on each supplier would move, not by spend.
2. Who is already on track. Each supplier's trend against its own target, and which ones can be left to carry on.
3. The plan for the top three. A goal, the actions to ask for, and the evidence behind them.
4. The forecast, with its caveats. Where a supplier's disclosures are too patchy to project, the platform should say so.

Step 3 is where platforms separate. DitchCarbon opens each recommendation as a written plan drawn from a named peer that already made the reduction, with the peer's own reported actions linked to their source documents. For engagement tools specifically, see our comparison of Scope 3 supplier engagement software.