Introduction
In 2025, ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) reporting has shifted from being a “nice-to-have” into a regulatory, financial, and reputational imperative. According to recent data, 90% of S&P 500 companies now publish ESG reports, with a strong trend toward ensuring data integrity and alignment with evolving frameworks like CSRD, ISSB, GRI, and TCFD.
As sustainability leads, you are increasingly challenged not only to report ESG disclosures but to collect reliable data, manage it across business functions and suppliers, and convert that into actionable insights. ESG reporting software or sustainability platforms are tools that help streamline data collection, enable audit readiness, and support informed decision-making.
In this post, we define ESG and ESG software, outline why this kind of tool is now essential, and then review the 10 top software platforms you should consider in 2025. Each will be evaluated in terms of its strengths, use cases, and differentiators. Finally, we’ll guide you on how to choose the best platform and end with how Credibl can help you.
What Is ESG?
ESG stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance. It’s a framework for measuring how companies perform in three broad areas:
- Environmental: Climate change, emissions, energy use, waste, water, biodiversity, pollution.
- Social: Employee welfare, human rights, diversity, supply chain labour practices, community impact.
- Governance: Board composition, ethics, compliance, transparency, risk management.
Originally driven by investors, ESG has become central to business strategy: risk management, regulatory compliance, license to operate, and stakeholder trust depend on performance across these dimensions.
What Is ESG Software?
ESG software (aka sustainability platform, ESG reporting software, ESG data collection platform) refers to digital tools that help organisations:
- Collect and consolidate ESG / sustainability data across internal functions (operations, HR, supply chain, finance) and often external stakeholders (suppliers, partners).
- Normalize data to consistent standards, apply emission factor databases, social indices, etc.
- Monitor progress vs targets, run scenario analyses, benchmark against peers.
- Generate reports aligned with frameworks (GRI, ISSB, CSRD, TCFD, etc.), often with audit trails or built-in compliance features.
- Provide dashboards, visualizations, and alerts to non-technical and technical stakeholders.
Such tools reduce manual effort, improve transparency, reduce the risk of inconsistency or greenwashing, and free up time for strategic work rather than data wrangling.
Why Is ESG Reporting Software Necessary?
Some key reasons:
- Regulatory pressure increasing: More jurisdictions (EU, UK, India, etc.) require ESG / sustainability / non-financial reporting. Failing to comply can lead to fines, reputational risk, and loss of access to capital.
- Stakeholder expectations rising: Investors, customers, and employees increasingly expect credible ESG disclosures. Reports that lack data integrity or comparability harm trust.
- Complexity & scale of data: ESG data comes from many sources: internal departments, suppliers, and external benchmarks. Without software, it’s often scattered in spreadsheets with varying quality.
- Risk management & strategy: ESG issues (e.g. climate risk, labour risk, governance risk) can become material financially. Software facilitates scenario modelling, early warning, and strategic alignment.
- Efficiency & audit readiness: Manual reporting is slow, error-prone. Edward’s economy from organising documents, verifying sources, cross-checking frameworks etc., is huge. Software helps automate and standardize, enabling timely, audit-ready reporting.
Top 10 ESG Reporting Software Platforms in 2025
- Credibl
Credibl is an AI-powered ESG and climate risk platform designed for modern sustainability leaders. Its standout capability is the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate ESG data collection, validate supplier inputs, and close data gaps using global databases. This makes reporting up to 90% faster and 85% more transparent, ensuring finance-grade accuracy in disclosures. Credibl unifies Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions tracking, supplier engagement, and AI-driven scenario modelling (physical and transition risks) in one platform.Sustainability teams can run predictive analyses—such as future carbon pricing or regulatory impacts—while dashboards highlight emissions hotspots and supplier risks in real time. By combining intelligent automation, advanced analytics, and compliance-ready reporting, Credibl helps organisations not just comply with ESG regulations but also build resilience and strategic foresight. For companies looking to embed AI into their ESG and sustainability workflows, Credibl offers a differentiated edge. - Novisto
Novisto offers an all-in-one sustainability management software that helps enterprises collect, manage, and report ESG data. It focuses on reducing manual effort through workflow automation, audit trails, and finance-grade controls. Their platform supports evolving regulatory frameworks like CSRD, enabling companies to benchmark against peers and produce narrative-driven ESG disclosures. Novisto has recently raised funding (Series C) to expand its capabilities across Europe and further enhance reporting readiness for large organisations. - Pulsora
Pulsora is a purpose-built sustainability management platform that consolidates ESG data workflows—data collection, analysis, reporting—into one place. It offers over a dozen frameworks for compliance, integrates carbon accounting (Scopes 1-3), supports dashboards, and claims strong audit-readiness. Companies with distributed operations or complex supply chains benefit from its centralization of sustainability metrics. - SAP Sustainability Control Tower
SAP’s platform serves enterprises already invested in SAP’s ERP / Business Data Cloud ecosystem. It focuses on centralizing sustainability data from SAP and non-SAP sources, enabling AI-enabled ESG report generation, metric management, and actionable insights. Its strength lies in integration with business processes (finance, supply chain) and the ability to extend content and custom metrics as regulatory requirements evolve. - RepRisk
RepRisk provides ESG risk analytics and data-driven alerting, focusing on reputation, business conduct, and external ESG risks drawn from many data sources. It is not a full reporting suite in the sense of internally collected metrics, but very strong for risk monitoring, supplier due diligence, and external exposure. Useful for supplementing other ESG workflows where external risk intelligence matters. - Audit Board
Audit Board delivers a cloud-based platform that integrates audit, risk, ESG, and InfoSec management, positioning itself as a connected risk platform. Its ESG module centralises data collection and controls management, enabling companies to link sustainability with broader governance and compliance efforts. The platform supports climate-related risk analysis and assurance, while its AI-powered tools simplify reporting with automated metric descriptions and topic mapping. With built-in framework alignment (CSRD, SASB), Audit Board is ideal for enterprises seeking to embed ESG reporting within their overall risk and compliance workflows. - Novata
Novata is an ESG software platform purpose-built for the private markets, helping investors and private companies simplify sustainability reporting. It provides secure data collection tools tailored for private equity and portfolio firms, along with advanced analytics and benchmarking to turn ESG data into actionable insights. The platform includes comprehensive carbon accounting aligned with GHG Protocol and PCAF standards, ensuring reliable emissions measurement. - Arbor Eco
Arbor provides a comparative overview of ESG tools, but also operates its own software/toolset for carbon footprint tracking, sustainability performance management, and compliance. Their platform tends to emphasise ease of use, transparency, and model comparisons, to help smaller or mid-sized firms scale up their ESG reporting. - ASUENE ESG
ASUENE offers ESG rating, data management, and sustainability workflow tools; it is reported to serve many clients globally with features for data collection, risk assessment, metric tracking, and benchmarking. Good option for organizations seeking a balance between external rating alignment and internal reporting workflows. - Diligent
Diligent provides a SaaS platform that extends ESG management into the wider governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) space. Leveraging its strong background in corporate governance, Diligent’s ESG solution centralises sustainability data while ensuring consistent and credible messaging. The platform includes a carbon calculator, Scope 3 survey tools, and alignment with major frameworks such as SASB, GRI, TCFD, and CDP.
How to Choose the Best ESG Platform for Your Organisation
When evaluating platforms, use these criteria:
| Criterion | Why It Matters |
| Scope & Data Completeness (Scopes 1-3, supply chain, social & governance metrics) | Ensures you cover all relevant ESG risks and opportunities; missing data undermines credibility. |
| Framework & Compliance Support | Must align with the standards/regulations that matter to you (CSRD, ASRS, ISSB, BRSR, TCFD, etc.). |
| Data Quality & Auditability | Features like audit trails, approval workflows, verification, supplier data validation preserve trust. |
| Integration & Automation | Integrate with existing systems (ERP, procurement, HR, operations) to avoid manual duplication and errors. |
| User Experience & Dashboarding | Good dashboards, visualization, alerts help non-ESG experts engage; ease of onboarding matters. |
| Vendor Reputation & Support | Check if the vendor is stable, has references in your industry, updates regularly. |
| Scalability & Total Cost | As ESG demands grow (more disclosures, more data), ensure platform scales; understand pricing (licensing, services). |
Conclusion
In a landscape where ESG reporting is no longer optional, choosing the right ESG reporting software is one of the most strategic decisions a sustainability lead can make. The 10 platforms reviewed above each offer different strengths—some are robust for risk intelligence or external benchmarking (e.g. MSCI, RepRisk), others shine in data collection and workflow automation (e.g. Pulsora, Ecodesk), and SAP’s offerings are compelling if you already use SAP systems.
If you want a platform that combines rigorous ESG data collection, strong reporting features, supplier & supply-chain integration, and climate risk modelling, Credibl stands out. Credibl helps organisations move beyond compliance to strategic ESG management: shaping discourse with clear data, aligning with frameworks, engaging suppliers, and enabling insights for board-level decision making.
Ready to see Credibl in action? Book a demo today to experience how Credibl can streamline your ESG data workflows, sharpen your reporting, and turn sustainability into measurable value for your organisation.
FAQs
Q1: What is the difference between ESG reporting software and ESG rating or benchmarking tools?
ESG reporting software is typically used internally to collect, manage, and report an organisation’s own ESG data (emissions, social metrics, governance, supplier, etc.), while rating/benchmarking tools provide external evaluations, peer comparisons, or risk scores. The former supports compliance and internal strategy; the latter facilitates investor-oriented disclosure and enhances reputation.
Q2: Is ESG software only for large enterprises or also suitable for SMEs?
Both. Many platforms now offer modular or tiered pricing, or lighter versions suitable for SMEs. Smaller organisations may prioritise ease of use, basic frameworks, and fewer data sources at first. As their ESG maturity grows, they can scale to more complex functions.
Q3: How do platforms handle data from suppliers who don’t have sophisticated ESG systems?
Most platforms offer features like supplier questionnaires, guided data collection, use of emission factor databases, spend-based estimates, and gradual improvement. The key is to document assumptions, measure uncertainty, and build supplier capacity over time.
Q4: How much time does it usually take to implement an ESG reporting platform end-to-end?
It depends on current internal systems, data maturity, size of organisation, number of suppliers and complexity of ESG metrics. A simple implementation (data collection, dashboards, basic reporting) may take 2-3 months, while full adoption (supply-chain data, scenario modelling, audit trails, integrating with multiple systems) can take 6-12 months or more.
Q5: How do I ensure my ESG reports are compliant and defensible against regulatory scrutiny or audit?
Ensure your platform supports relevant global & regional frameworks (e.g. ISSB, CSRD, ASRS, TCFD); has audit trails, approval workflows, versioning; uses verified or transparent emission factor sources; provides documentation of assumptions; includes data quality checks and external verification if needed.
