Welcome to the Trellis roundup of new products and services for sustainability professionals, as chosen by our editorial team. Check out the new arrivals directly below, or click to jump to a specific category.
- Emissions reductions
- Reporting & target-setting
- Supply chains
- Carbon markets
- Circular economy
- Communications & Marketing
- Policy
Do you have a favorite new tool you think should be on the list? Or have feedback — good or bad — about something we’ve featured? Email editor@trellis.net with details.
New arrivals
Tips for sustainable procurement (Sept. 30)
How can companies build environmental and emissions requirements into standard purchasing practices? The United Nations Global Compact has published recommendations for how companies of all sizes can integrate metrics related to climate action, human rights, responsible sourcing and supply chain resilience into negotiations and contracts.
Find key environmental metrics for freshwater basins (Sept. 30)
A group of nonprofits has pooled resources to create a new interactive map that corporations will be able to use to research basic water flows, levels and quality information for global watersheds. The Freshwater Basin Threshold Tool, currently in beta, uses data and visualization technology from the World Wildlife Fund, the Center for Geospatial Solutions, the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and the Science Based Targets Network.
Check out thermal energy projects around the world (Sept. 30)
If your organization is evaluating new technologies for reducing the emissions associated with backup power or producing heat for industrial production, the Renewable Thermal Collaborative has published an interactive map highlighting more than 80 projects that use novel thermal options — 54 of them are operational as of publication. Whirlpool, for example, is using technology from Cache to capture thermal energy generated by wind power and apply it to processes at a plant in Greenville, Ohio.
A pioneering guide to carbon removal gets an update (Added Sept. 25, 2026)
Microsoft has open-sourced many learnings from the deals it’s struck for tens of millions of carbon removal credits, including through the annual publication of its Criteria for High-Quality Carbon Dioxide Removal guide, produced in collaboration with Relae (formerly Carbon Direct). The sixth edition updates several methodologies and considers delivery risk alongside quality.
Superpollutants: How to deploy the fastest lever available to slow warming (Sept. 25, 2026)
More than 200 field-tested mitigation options are available to tackle superpollutants such as methane and nitrous oxide, which together are responsible for roughly half of the warming observed today. Not sure where to start? A roadmap from the Beyond Alliance and Carbon Containment Lab explains how to deploy value-chain interventions, carbon credits and policy engagement.
1. Emissions reductions
Find a sustainability contractor for your company (Sept. 4, 2026)
Experts in Sustainability describes itself as a global network of trusted professionals with expertise in ESG, climate, the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and net zero — all of whom are available for contract work. The network launched in September and its roster of experts is relatively small, but potential new additions can apply at the site.
A free footprint calculator with more detail than most (Sept. 10, 2026)
There are multiple free-to-use carbon footprint calculators available, but the UK-based ESG Institute has created a service that goes deeper than many rival offerings. Users can enter a detailed breakdown of Scope 3 categories, and every emissions factor is linked to a named source from a list that is regularly updated.
What to look for when buying low-carbon fuels (July 2, 2026)
Advisory firm Carbon Direct has published a guide showcasing criteria that companies should consider when procuring biofuels to decarbonize transportation emissions. Among the recommendations: avoid potential social and environmental harms related to production, seek transparency along the entire production process, and account for “leakage” such as land-use change.
Visualize the climate impact of airplane contrails (May 28, 2026)
Contrails, the vapor paths created by airplanes, are responsible for 1-2 percent of human-caused global warming activities. They can be managed with changes to flight paths and altitudes, and Breakthrough Energy-based research organization Contrails.org has published a free tool that allows airlines and the broader aviation industry to forecast impacts and reduce them. The project was made possible through the Google.org fellowship program.
Measure how much energy and water your California real estate uses (May 28, 2026)
The U.S. Green Building Council’s California chapter has launched a free benchmarking dashboard that displays energy usage, water consumption and emissions data for more than 1.3 billion square feet of commercial and multifamily buildings in the state. The California Building Performance Pulse uses technology and databases from the federal Energy Star program collected by software firm Measurabl, which tracks information for more than 23 billion square feet of real estate in more than 90 countries.
Navigate the market for sustainability tools (April 24, 2026)
The Trellis team is not alone in trying to help you keep track of sustainability tools. German-based consultancy ESRS Services has compiled a list of ESG software that covers more than 300 providers. Register for a free account to filter by different criteria and surface candidate tools for your needs. (The site is in German, but your browser should offer an automated translation.)
This AI tool for net-zero research discloses its energy use (April 24, 2026)
ChatNetZero, an AI chatbot trained to handle questions about greenhouse gas emissions targets, can now tell you how much energy was used to generate its answers. The services links to the Net Zero Tracker, which keeps tabs on pledges by countries, more than 2,000 of the world’s largest companies and cities with populations of more than 500,000 people.
Calculate the emissions savings that flow from better inventory planning (March 25, 2026)
Overproduction in the fashion industry sends millions of unwanted shoes and garments to landfills, a behavior that will be penalized by European Union regulations that take effect in July 2026. Software firm Sangrove has developed a system that retailers and apparel companies can use to quantify the emissions that can be avoided by better planning.
Predict the emissions impact of new climate tech (Feb. 13, 2026)
Impact investors at the Prime Coalition have been using a tool known as CRANE — Carbon Reduction Assessment for New Enterprises — since 2020 to estimate the emissions savings associated with new climate tech. Now it’s available for others on Koi, a climate impact modeling platform. It’s free, but you’ll need to create an account on Koi.
Model the effect of the GHG Protocol’s hourly reporting proposal for clean energy (Jan. 27, 2026)
Plans to revise the leading methodology used to count emissions savings from renewable energy contracts have split energy buyers, with some objecting to the proposal to match power consumption on an hourly and regional basis. But wherever you stand, it’s prudent to prepare. Constellation Energy’s free calculator helps companies measure the potential impact of the revisions and model responses.
We missed the deforestation deadline. Now let’s get back on track (December 2025)
Demand for beef and other commodities derailed plans to end deforestation by 2025. Now, new guidance from the Accountability Framework initiative, a coalition of WWF, Rainforest Alliance, Ceres and other environmental organizations, is available for companies working to eliminate deforestation from supply chains. The Science Based Target initiative’s deforestation guidance, which is being revised, is designed to align with the framework.
Six steps to cut carbon and support climate action (October 2025)
Most emissions-reduction frameworks focus on large companies. Not so the Climate Contribution Hub, a free-to-use site from the German nonprofit NewClimate Institute that provides a six-step process businesses and civil society organizations can use to cut carbon footprints and take responsibility for ongoing emissions. Successful companies will not, however, receive a certification (maybe not what your marketing team wants to hear).
2. Reporting & Target-setting
Use AI to map procurement data to emissions factors (Aug. 26, 2026)
Drop your procurement data into Open-climate.ai and the artificial intelligence behind the system will map every line to an appropriate emissions factor. The resulting spreadsheet can then be added to your carbon accounting platform. Visit the Open-climate.ai website to request early access.
Bookmark this standards timeline cheat sheet (Aug. 25, 2026)
A unified corporate accounting standard from Greenhouse Gas Protocol. Net-zero target-setting frameworks from the Science Based Targets initiative and the International Organization for Standardization. New methodologies for nature and biodiversity commitments. Justin Zeh, a sustainability director with Comcast, built an independent tool that provides updates on these standards on a weekly basis.
Find the right inset for your Scope 3 emissions source (August 7, 2026)
ClimeCo’s Inset Engine uses Scope 3 or product-level data to identify emissions sources and match them to market-based instruments — a.k.a., insets or environmental attribute certificates — that can be counted as part of a company’s decarbonization efforts.
Find the right nature tech partner for your sustainability program (July 24, 2026)
Companies working on biodiversity, natural capital or nature-related disclosure often don’t know where to start — the nature tech landscape spans hundreds of vendors across measurement, modeling, monetization and materials. The Nature Tech Directory allows users to filter organizations by technology type, bioregion, funding stage and reporting frameworks. It’s community-maintained, so any organization can add its own listing.
Quantify the business value of a sustainability investment (July 23, 2026)
Sustainability Fusion, a new digital resource and framework, aims to help sustainability leaders translate the impact of capital investments on sustainability initiatives (e.g., an energy efficiency retrofit or new cooling systems) into metrics that resonate with corporate financial teams (e.g., increased revenue, or decreased costs and risk). The model, co-developed by Deloitte and nonprofit think tank Aspen Institute, was informed by a working group that included corporations, nonprofits and independent advisers.
Take stock of your company’s climate resilience (July 2, 2026)
Climate change is creating real physical risks including damage to facilities as well as supply chain disruptions. Think tank Center for Climate and Energy Solutions and advisory firm Systemiq have published two resources to help companies understand how their organizations could be affected: a self-assessment tool and a catalog of resources and standards to guide resilience-centric strategic plans.
Here’s how consumer product companies should think about AI (July 2, 2026)
Artificial intelligence and cloud computing technologies typically account for less than 1 percent of the average consumer goods company’s indirect emissions, but that will change over the next decade. The Consumer Goods Forum, an industry group with members including PepsiCo and Ahold Delhaize, has published an analysis of potential environmental impacts, including rising energy demand from data centers, increased water withdrawals, higher levels of electronic waste and more reliance on fossil fuel-powered generators.
Ask better questions about nature-related risks (July 2, 2026)
Natural resources including clean and abundant freshwater, rich biodiversity and healthy soil are critically important for most companies but aren’t always considered fully in risk and resilience assessments. This new guide from the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures and Accounting for Sustainability suggests questions that chief financial officers and planning teams should consider to avoid stranded assets, operational disruptions, higher production costs or increased insurance premiums.
Tackle deforestation risk in portfolio companies (May 28, 2026)
Financial institutions can assess and reduce deforestation risk in portfolio companies using a step-by-step guide developed by Accountability Framework initiative (AFi), a coalition of 20 environmental and human rights organizations focused on agriculture and forestry. The AFi Finance Tool consists of a set of criteria for evaluating companies’ progress on deforestation risks, together with a guide to help financial institutions engage on the topic.
Use AI to check for compliance with European disclosure rules (May 11, 2026)
Drop a sustainability report into this service and receive an evidence-mapped feedback on whether your company is in compliance with European Sustainability Reporting Standards. The tool comes from the Sustainable and Resilient Economy AI Lab at the University of Zurich. Skills4Impact, which offers sustainability learning experiences, has developed a related Claude skill for compliance mapping.
Use this template to draft a first climate action plan (April 15, 2026)
The Climate Action Planner offers more than 750 industry- and size-specific steps that smaller companies can take to address sustainability. Any business can create an emissions reduction strategy in about an hour based on responses to a series of questions. The tool is part of the SME Climate Hub, managed by We Mean Business Coalition and The Exponential Roadmap Initiative.
Watershed broadens its coverage of the S and G in ESG (April 3, 2026)
Leading environmental accounting platform Watershed has widened the range of metrics it covers. The platform has expanded since launch to encompass waste, water and land-use change alongside core emissions accounting offerings. Now its adding new metrics, including counts of corruption and safety incidents.
Track the emissions of AI-assisted coding sessions in real time (March 25, 2026)
Attempts to quantify the emissions generated by Claude, ChatGPT and rivals have been hampered by a lack of disclosure by the companies behind the services. Carbonlog is a free-to-use plugin from Cnaught, a carbon credit platform, that uses open-source studies of AI power consumption to estimate emissions generated by Anthropic’s Claude Code.
Predict your company’s nature and biodiversity risks (March 25, 2026)
NatureAlpha uses geospatial data and machine learning to create more than 150 metrics about biodiversity loss, deforestation, water stress and other nature-related risks that affect investment decisions. Geoverse Explorer, a free edition of the company’s tool, is now available.
Benchmark your CSRD report (March 10, 2026)
The Sustainability Reporting Navigator lists more than 1,000 reports submitted by companies that have to comply with the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. Users can filter the list by sector or country, use the site’s benchmarking tools to compare disclosures and read insights from the academic team behind the project.
Have an AI assistant complete sustainability surveys for you (Feb. 12, 2026)
Completing surveys from customers, investors and other groups can be a major timesink for sustainability teams. Ditchcarbon, a UK startup, has an AI system that will do the busywork for you. To get started, claim your profile on the Ditchcarbon site and upload documents containing the relevant data, such as annual sustainability reports.
CDP score could be better? This tool has tips on what to do. (Jan. 20, 2026)
The 2025 CDP scores are out — and some might wish they weren’t. The share of S&P500 companies achieving one of the top four scores fell again, according to data maintained by Net 0 Tracker. It’s now at 38 percent, down from 53 percent in 2021. The free CDP gap assessment from sustainability software company beSirius might help companies that slipped. It claims to show how responses map to scoring tiers, where points were missed and tips on how to improve next year.
Sharper data on emissions from consumer use of products (Dec. 9, 2025)
Scope 3 emissions are often the toughest to measure — and within that scope, emissions from product use can be particularly challenging. Retailers’ end-use estimates should get a little sharper thanks to an upgrade to the Direct-Use Product Emissions Database, a project of carbon management firm Optera and the Retail Industry Leaders Association. The resource contains data on emissions generated by consumer use of appliances, electronics and other products.
Run a double materiality assessment in minutes at no cost (November 2025)
Should we file this one under too-good-to-be-true? Upright, a Finnish tech company, is offering double materiality assessments, free and delivered within minutes after providing no more than a company URL.
A more holistic methodology for measuring net-zero efforts (November 2025)
Traditional carbon accounting tools focus on efforts to reduce emi
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