Event GHG Calculators - Side By Side Comparison

greenhouse gas emissions Apr 23, 2024

We know we can’t manage without measuring, and the past few years have seen a flourish of resources to help events measure their GHGs.

I thought it was time for a round-up of GHG calculators, tools and services, to check in on where the tools are aligned, and highlight the different approaches that might suit your type of event.

With all the new tools being built, we’re also seeing an equal number of interpretations and approaches to measurement, which makes things a bit confusing.

I reviewed nearly forty GHG tools, calculators and apps being marketed for events. After a lot of meetings and trials I whittled this down to fifteen calculators or services created specifically for events, and another swathe of attendee, sector or topic specific calculators.

The TLDR if you're short on time

Five comprehensive calculators were very close to doing everything we need, with categorisation and flexibility. (Trace, Climeet, Green Events Tool, Green Producers Club, ImpactALL)
Three basic calculators go into good detail but without the flexibility of the comprehensive tools (Julie's Bicycle CC tools, MyClimate, atmosfair)
Most options are designed to be international but inevitably have a skew towards their location of development.
None of the tools currently include 'Scope 4' avoided emissions, which is something that should definitely be on the horizon.
None of the tools have data quality identification or reporting built-in, which would be something to include in future developments.
Two sector specific tools available to participating organisations (MONITOR for European music festivals and UEFA for European football clubs).
Six sustainable event expert GHG measurement support services are recommended (Event Decision, Racing to Zero, GreenShoot Pacific (me!), Three Squares Inc, SEMS, Hope Solutions, Clear Current Consulting).
Six attendee-impact focussed calculators, apps, APIs or other tools are available (LowR, Purpose Net Zero, you.smart.thing, Sustainable Travel, Measurevent, Thrust Carbon).

Get the side-by-side comparison here

Find the Tools

Most of the links in this review click through to a deeper review held on my suppler database suppliers.greeneventbook.com. From there you can click through to the tools. We don't take any sales commission or referral fees from the organisations.

Want to Learn All about It?

Our course Climate Positive Events will help you to understand GHG measurement and offers lots of useful extra resources too, to get you a good foundation before you start.