Carbon Accounting Market Report 2026: Software Domain Captures 73% of Revenue

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Carbon Accounting in 2026: A Rising Necessity

The global carbon accounting market is projected to reach USD 78.75 billion by 2030, expanding at a 27.33% CAGR. This acceleration reflects mounting regulatory mandates, investor scrutiny, and enterprise net-zero commitments.

Cloud-based deployment dominated the carbon accounting software market in 2024, accounting for 73.3% of global revenue, driven by scalability, real-time reporting, and integration with ERP and financial systems.

Regionally, North America captured 36.6% of global revenue in 2024, while Asia-Pacific is forecast to grow at a 30.7% CAGR through 2030, making it the fastest-expanding regional market.

Beyond software growth, regulatory momentum is intensifying demand. The EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) will require ~50 000 companies to disclose standardized sustainability data.

Meanwhile, the U.S. SEC climate disclosure rule and expanding IFRS/ISSB reporting frameworks are further institutionalizing emissions accounting across capital markets.

Carbon Accounting Overview: Market Growing at ~27% CAGR

The carbon accounting market is valued at approximately USD 23.53 billion in 2025 and is projected to grow to USD 78.75 billion by 2030, expanding at a 27.33% CAGR.

In parallel, our platform data indicates that the carbon accounting industry recorded a 13.93% yearly growth rate, signaling strong expansion driven by new company formation and accelerating adoption of emissions measurement and reporting practices.

Grand View Research reports that in terms of deployment, the cloud segment dominated the carbon accounting software market in 2024, capturing 73.3% of global revenue.

On a regional scale, as per Modor Intelligence, North America accounted for the largest share of revenue at 36.6% in 2024, while Asia-Pacific is emerging as the fastest-growing region, recording a 30.7% CAGR through 2030.

To add to this, our platform data reveals that leading country hubs for carbon accounting innovation include the US, UK, India, Germany, and Australia.

Also, the sector is home to around 380 startups from a wider pool of 1100+ companies. From a workforce perspective, the sector’s 30 700+ employee strength underlines its growing role as a specialized software and services market.

Innovation activity remains visible through IP signals. The market records over 1500 patents from 1300+ applicants, with 17.98% yearly patent growth. China (1339) and the USA (41) are the leading issuers.

Top 5 Carbon Accounting Startups to Watch

Carbonly advances AI-Powered Carbon Tracking

Irish startup Carbonly develops an AI-powered carbon tracking platform that measures, analyzes, and reports Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions for businesses.

It connects to ERP systems, utilities, travel tools, procurement platforms, and spreadsheets to collect activity data, then applies current emission factors and standardized methodologies to calculate organizational and value-chain footprints.

The platform presents results through interactive dashboards, automated reports, and CSRD-aligned disclosures. Its AI models identify reduction opportunities across energy use, travel, waste, and supply chains.

Additionally, Carbonly enables one-click emissions sharing with enterprise partners to support supply-chain transparency and compliance workflows.

Pepal enables Cloud-based Sustainability Management

Australian startup Pepal offers a cloud-based sustainability management platform that enables organizations and their value chains to measure, share, and manage emissions data collaboratively.

It captures primary data through third-party integrations and inputs, then processes this information continuously to calculate Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 emissions in alignment with the GHG Protocol.

The platform supports automated reporting for internal use and external disclosures, while connecting suppliers of different sizes to a shared environment for tracking value-chain emissions over time.

It also models reduction scenarios, allocates achieved improvements to requesting entities, and supports offset management for residual emissions.

Moreover, Pepal includes benchmarking based on an industry emissions database to compare performance across peers.

DitchCarbon provides an ESG Reporting Platform

UK-based startup DitchCarbon offers an ESG reporting platform that centralizes environmental, social, and governance metrics to support standardized sustainability disclosures.

It ingests data from core business systems through integrations with ERP, payroll, utilities, asset management, and carbon accounting tools. It then normalizes this data into a framework aligned with global reporting standards.

The platform automates calculation of key performance indicators, tracks emissions and resource use, and generates reports for frameworks such as GRI, SASB, TCFD, and CSRD.

DitchCarbpn also offers dashboards, visualizations, and audit trails that enhance stakeholder transparency and avoid governance oversight.

CarbonSuite designs an Auto-Pilot for Carbon Accounting

Canadian startup CarbonSuite develops an auto-pilot carbon accounting platform embedded directly within the NetSuite ERP to record, report, and manage greenhouse gas emissions.

It captures Scope 1, 2, and 3 activity data from financial transactions such as vendor bills and expense reports and creates a linked carbon ledger that mirrors financial ledger entries for traceability.

The platform applies vetted emission factors from public and proprietary databases through mapping of vendors, items, and accounts. An AI data scanner extracts activity details from invoices to reduce manual data entry.

It also tracks energy, water, and waste metrics in a sustainability ledger that remains synchronized with financial records.

CarbonSuite generates audit-grade disclosures aligned with frameworks, including GHG Protocol, CSRD, CDP, and ISSB. It also supports period close workflows with built-in validation and change logs.

Sustainium simplifies End-to-End Emissions Tracking

US-based startup Sustainium designs an end-to-end emissions tracking platform that records, calculates, and reports Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas emissions across multi-site and multi-country operations.

It aggregates data from integrated sources and inputs, applies methodologies aligned with the GHG Protocol and ISO 14064, and uses a curated emissions factor database with transparent audit trails to ensure calculation consistency.

The platform supports activity-based, spend-based, and hybrid approaches, enables automated data synchronization, and applies AI to validate emission factors and flag anomalous patterns in datasets.

It presents results through configurable dashboards, real-time analytics, and segment-level trend analysis, while generating stakeholder- and regulation-specific reports with controlled audit-party access.

Innovations that Matter: Carbon Finance, CSRD Reporting & More

Within the broader carbon accounting landscape, three trends stand out based on firmographic data – company counts, employment, and growth rates:

1. Carbon Finance

• Annual trend growth rate: 8.62%
• 300+ companies identified
• Over 8400 employees worldwide

Carbon finance links emissions measurement with financial decision-making by enabling carbon-linked instruments, internal pricing approaches, and risk-informed capital allocation. The combination of strong growth and a dedicated workforce indicates accelerating demand for tools that connect sustainability metrics with core financial workflows.

2. Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) Reporting

• Annual trend growth rate: 7.96%
• 340+ companies identified
• Over 53 800 employees worldwide

CSRD reporting focuses on disclosure-ready sustainability reporting processes that standardize emissions and ESG data capture, validation, and governance. The significantly larger employee base points to operational intensity across data collection, auditability, and enterprise reporting workflows.

3. Carbon Handprint

• Annual trend growth rate: 7.15%
• 20+ companies identified
• Over 220 employees worldwide

Carbon handprint solutions quantify positive climate impact enabled by products, services, or operational changes, complementing traditional footprint reporting. While the company base is smaller, the growth rate suggests increasing interest in tools that translate emissions work into measurable avoided or reduced-impact outcomes.

Funding Scenario in Carbon Accounting Market

Our platform data indicates sustained capital inflow into the carbon accounting sector, with an average investment of USD 7.2 million per funding round. To date, more than 1100 rounds have closed, backed by over 1500 active investors, collectively funding 310+ companies across the ecosystem.

Notably, investment activity is becoming increasingly concentrated. The top carbon accounting investors alone account for more than USD 4.35 billion in combined capital deployment, reflecting strong backing from banking institutions and strategic financial players focused on scaling sustainability, compliance, and reporting capabilities.

US-based carbon accounting and energy management platform Gravity secured approximately USD 13 million in a Series A round led by Ansa Capital and WEX’s venture arm, underscoring growing interest in integrated carbon and energy management solutions. Similarly, Optera raised USD 12 million in Series A funding to expand its enterprise-grade emissions tracking capabilities.

At the growth stage, Greenly closed a USD 52 million Series B round to scale its carbon measurement and reporting platform internationally, while Normative raised EUR 31 million in a Series B round led by climate-focused investors to strengthen its data-driven carbon accounting infrastructure.

Key Action Points for Carbon Accounting Stakeholders

• For investors: Focus on carbon finance and reporting infrastructure, where company growth and workforce signals indicate sustained market pull and scaling potential.
• For enterprises: Strengthen data foundations and reporting workflows by partnering with platforms that improve auditability, automation, and multi-entity consolidation across emissions data.
• For policymakers and ecosystem builders: Use the concentration of activity in the US, UK, India, Germany, and Australia, as well as hubs like London and Singapore, to guide partnerships, pilots, and standards-alignment initiatives.

Data Behind the Report

This report draws on proprietary data from the AI-powered StartUs Insights Discovery Platform, which tracks 9 million companies, 20K+ technologies and trends, and 150M patents, news articles, and market reports.

It analyzes the evolution of carbon accounting over the past five years using trend intelligence insights, covering key metrics such as total companies, industry growth and news coverage, market maturity and patent activity, global search trends, funding dynamics, leading countries, and emerging subtrends.

The analysis is complemented by trusted external sources to provide broader market context and forecasts, delivering a comprehensive and reliable overview of the carbon accounting landscape.