01 FAQ
Standards & straight answers
Carbon accounting standards, and every other question before you sign up
Which carbon accounting standards matter?
The GHG Protocol is the measurement standard nearly everything builds on: the Corporate Standard defines
Scopes 1 and 2, the Corporate Value Chain Standard defines Scope 3. Disclosure regimes sit on top:
CSRD's ESRS E1 in the EU, ISSB's IFRS S2 internationally, CBAM for EU imports, and SB 253 in California.
02 Standards
GHG accounting standards
The standards, in one honest table
| Standard | What it is | Who it binds |
|---|---|---|
| GHG Protocol | The measurement rulebook: scopes, the 15 Scope 3 categories, methods. Voluntary itself, but referenced by nearly every regulation. | Everyone, indirectly |
| CSRD / ESRS E1 | The EU's sustainability reporting directive; E1 is the climate standard requiring Scope 1, 2 and material Scope 3 with methods and targets. | Large EU companies and listed SMEs, phased |
| ISSB / IFRS S2 | The international climate disclosure baseline, adopted jurisdiction by jurisdiction; requires Scope 3 with category breakdown. | Companies in adopting jurisdictions |
| CBAM | The EU carbon border mechanism: embedded emissions reporting on imported steel, aluminium, cement, fertilisers, hydrogen, electricity; certificates from 2026. | EU importers of covered goods |
| California SB 253 / 261 | Emissions disclosure (253) and climate-risk reporting (261) for large companies doing business in California, phased with assurance. | Companies above revenue thresholds in CA |
Regulatory summaries above are category facts, current as of mid-2026; thresholds and phase-ins move. Verify your entity's obligations with your advisor.
03 Straight answers
The pre-signup objections
Honest answers to the questions that matter
01 Is this live yet?
No, and we will not pretend otherwise. Carbonaccounting.ai is in early access: the demo is real and runs today, the full platform is being built. Early access is free to join and nothing is charged.
02 Is the demo's number audit-grade?
No. It is a spend-based screening estimate: right for finding hotspots and scoping a real inventory, not for filing an assured disclosure. The full product adds activity-based factors and the audit trail that assurance needs. That difference is exactly what the product exists to manage.
03 What standards does it follow?
The GHG Protocol Corporate Standard and the Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard for the boundary and the 15 categories; outputs are structured for CSRD ESRS E1, CBAM and ISSB IFRS S2, as planned report packs.
04 Do I have to replace my consultant?
No. Consultants use it to drop the data-wrangling hours and keep the advisory margin; there is a plan shaped for that. The honest division of labour is written up in services vs software.
05 Where does my data go? Is it safe?
Demo input is processed to classify it and returned to you; it is not stored, not sold, and not used to train anything. The paste box is capped and rate-limited. The full product is planned with EU data residency, encryption in transit and at rest, and a DPA. SOC 2 Type II is on the roadmap before general availability, and we will say so here the day it is real.
06 What does it cost?
Planned pricing is published on the pricing page: Ledger $390/mo, Compliance $1,290/mo, Assurance $3,900/mo, Enterprise custom, with yearly billing about 20% off. Nothing is charged during early access.
07 What happens after I give you my email?
You confirm it with a 6-digit code and land on the early-access list. We email you when your spot opens. If it turns out we cannot build something worth your time, we email you that too, and delete your address.
08 Who is behind this?
Carbonaccounting.ai is built by CarbonAccounting (CarbonAccounting.pl). That line is the only trust badge on this site, because it is the only one that is true. No invented logos, no invented testimonials, no invented user counts.
See your own footprint classified in about a minute.
Run the live demo on a sample or on your own spend lines. If it earns it, request early access.