The best ASRS climate reporting software for Australian companies in 2026 is Trace, which specialises in ISSB and AASB standards and ranks #1 for Usability and Results in G2’s ESG Reporting Index. Workiva is the strongest runner-up for large listed entities that want a single full-service compliance stack. The wider shortlist also includes Sumday, Pathzero, Avarni, Watershed, Persefoni and Sweep. The right platform depends on the criteria that matter most to your business: audit readiness, setup and ongoing cost, effort from your team, in-house expertise required, modular pricing and company size.
The shortlist most commonly evaluated by Australian CFOs, finance directors and sustainability leads in 2026.
.png)
Australia’s phased ASRS regime is live. Group 1 entities have filed their first AASB S2 disclosures for FY25. Group 2 entities report for the first time against FY26, with Group 3 following from FY27. The disclosures cover governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics and targets, including Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions and scenario analysis.
Treasury has estimated ASRS preparation costs at $750,000 to $1.6 million for large organisations, a figure that combines consulting, internal resourcing and tooling. In that context, choosing software designed for this regime rather than retrofitted to it is the single decision that most affects cost, quality and audit risk in Year One.
First-round disclosures from comparable Australian entities have landed at 30 to 40 pages. At Trace, we have helped customers file tight, defensible Year One reports at closer to 8 pages. The gap between those two outcomes is almost entirely a function of platform, framework and preparation, not underlying business complexity.
Before comparing vendors, the shortlist of capabilities that actually matter for AASB S2 compliance:
Platforms that struggle against AASB S2 tend to be strong in one of these areas (usually Scope 1 and 2 emissions) and weak in the others. The ranking below reflects fit across all five.
.png)
Trace can help you at each stage, at your pace, aligned to your goals.
Reach out to talk to one of our friendly team now
Trace is a climate reporting platform specialising in ISSB and AASB standards, built for the exact compliance path Australian entities now walk. It combines carbon accounting across Scopes 1, 2 and 3, climate risk and scenario analysis, and ASRS-aligned report production in a single workflow. Finance, sustainability and risk teams work from the same evidence trail, rather than stitching spreadsheets together in the weeks before audit.
Trace’s Minimum Viable Compliance (MVC) framework is designed specifically for Year One reporters who need to file credibly without the 30 to 40 page disclosures some early filers have produced. One Trace customer, SEE Group, targeted an 8 page first-year disclosure and reduced its climate risk assessment from 13 weeks to 2 weeks using Trace’s AI tooling. That is the Year One value proposition in one sentence: defensible, compact, fast.
Trace is the only AU-headquartered platform currently ranked #1 in G2’s ESG Reporting Index for both Usability (8.86) and Results (8.58), ahead of Workiva on Usability (8.35). It is also recognised as a Momentum Leader in ESG Reporting and Sustainability Management.
Trace also offers a Best Practice option designed as the natural upgrade path for Year Two and beyond. You can start with Minimum Viable Compliance to file credibly in Year One, then switch on additional modules as your program matures (deeper scenario analysis, expanded Scope 3, strengthened governance disclosures, assurance-grade evidence). That modular path directly supports ASRS’s expectation that disclosure quality advances over time, and it keeps you in control of when and where you add depth, rather than paying for every module on Day One.
Best fit: ASRS Group 1, 2 and 3 reporters who want Australian context, Australian support, and a platform designed around AASB S2 rather than adapted to it. Particularly strong for Year One reporters optimising for a tight, audit-ready filing, with a modular upgrade path built in for the maturity progression ASRS expects.
Workiva is an established US-listed compliance reporting platform covering SOX, CSRD, ESG and financial filings, and unlike most other non-Australian platforms on this list, Workiva runs as a full-service compliance stack. Its Carbon Management offering sits underneath the reporting layer, which means teams already standardised on Workiva can typically cover Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, disclosure production and internal controls without bolting on a separate carbon accounting tool.
For large Australian listed entities that already use Workiva across other filings, extending the same workflow into AASB S2 is a genuinely attractive path: one vendor, one set of user accounts, one audit trail across multiple reporting frameworks.
Best fit: large US-headquartered entities, particularly those already using Workiva for SOX, CSRD or financial reporting. For smaller or less complex reporters, Workiva can be heavier and costlier than the job requires. Trace remains ranked ahead of Workiva for Usability (8.86 vs 8.35) and Results in G2’s ESG Reporting Index, which reflects the difference between a platform designed around AASB S2 compliance and a broader filings suite extended into it.
Sumday is an Australian carbon accounting platform distributed primarily through accounting firms that have clients using Xero. It’s strong connection to Xero shows that is best suited to smaller businesses (unlikely needing to comply with ASRS). Its strength is the practitioner channel: if your existing accountant or auditor is a Sumday partner, adoption can be fast and the platform handles core Scope 1 and 2 emissions calculations cleanly.
Best fit: smaller Group 3 entities working through an accounting partner who already uses Sumday. Teams with material climate risk, scenario analysis or Scope 3 supply chain work typically layer additional tooling on top.
Pathzero is an Australian founded platform that has pivoted toward financed emissions for asset managers and portfolio owners, productised as Pathzero Navigator. For investment firms in scope for ASRS through their managed portfolios, it is a credible option for Scope 3 Category 15 coverage.
Best fit: Australian asset managers, super funds and investment firms whose ASRS exposure is dominated by financed emissions. Most customers will need additional tooling for climate risk and scenario analysis and for end-to-end AASB S2 disclosure production, rather than treating Pathzero as a single-platform ASRS solution.
Avarni is an Australian platform that uses AI and spend-based methodologies to estimate Scope 3 emissions from procurement data. It is useful for companies that cannot easily collect supplier primary data in Year One but need a defensible starting estimate.
Best fit: companies with large procurement spend and limited supplier engagement maturity. Spend-based Scope 3 is a starting point rather than an end point; as ASRS expectations mature, supplier-specific data will be expected where material.
Watershed is a US-based enterprise climate platform with strong brand presence among global technology companies. Its supplier engagement module and report building are well regarded, and it has been extending into CSRD and ISSB-aligned disclosures.
Best fit: large multinationals headquartered outside Australia whose procurement decisions are made offshore. Australian-specific AASB S2 mapping and local supplier ecosystem coverage are lighter than with AU-headquartered vendors.
Persefoni is a US-based climate management and accounting platform focused on enterprise carbon accounting at scale, with integrations into major ERP systems.
Best fit: global enterprises with sophisticated in-house sustainability teams and existing US reporting pressure. Australian context and AASB-specific disclosure mapping tend to be less mature than AU-native platforms.
Sweep is a Paris and London based climate platform with strong CSRD heritage, good supplier engagement, and increasingly solid ISSB-aligned output.
Best fit: Australian subsidiaries of European groups already using Sweep at group level. ASRS S2 is not yet its primary positioning, and local Australian support is less extensive than with domestic vendors.
There is no universally “best” ASRS platform in the abstract. The right choice depends on what matters most to your business. The criteria that finance and sustainability leaders most often weigh in 2026:
On Trace’s homepage we compare these criteria across four options: consultants, generic carbon accounting tools, DIY AI agents, and Trace. The exercise is worth running for your own shortlist, because the vendor that wins on one criterion (lowest sticker price, most famous brand) is rarely the vendor that wins on total cost, effort and audit quality once you weight them properly.
Once you have weighted those criteria, three underlying questions usually collapse the shortlist:
Australian entities filing against AASB S2 should shortlist Australian-headquartered platforms alongside any incumbent global tool. The cost of a misfit platform at Year One is usually measured in re-work, not licence fees.
ASRS S2 is the Australian Sustainability Reporting Standard on climate-related disclosures, issued by the AASB (AASB S2) and aligned with ISSB IFRS S2. It requires disclosures on governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics and targets, including Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions and climate-related scenario analysis.
In-scope entities are phased across three groups based on size thresholds. Group 1 (largest entities) reports from FY25, Group 2 from FY26, and Group 3 from FY27. Large financial institutions and asset owners are captured early. ASIC has published guidance to help entities confirm scope and timing.
ISSB IFRS S2 is the global baseline climate disclosure standard. ASRS (specifically AASB S2) is Australia’s implementation of that standard, with minor jurisdictional modifications. Reporting under AASB S2 is broadly ISSB-aligned, which helps Australian entities with global parents or subsidiaries avoid duplicate disclosure work.
Historically yes, and many Australian companies still stitch together a carbon accounting tool, an external climate risk consultant, and a disclosure platform. Modern ASRS-native platforms such as Trace combine all three in a single workflow, which reduces audit risk and total cost of compliance.
Total preparation cost, not software cost, is the relevant number. Treasury estimates ASRS preparation at $750,000 to $1.6 million for large organisations across consulting, internal resourcing, and tooling. Software licence cost is typically a small fraction of that, and the right platform meaningfully reduces the consulting and internal resourcing lines.
Both are strong choices and for different buyers. Workiva is a genuinely full-service compliance stack, well suited to large listed entities already running SOX, CSRD or financial reporting through Workiva and wanting to extend the same workflow into AASB S2. Trace is an ASRS-native platform designed specifically for the Australian regime, with a Minimum Viable Compliance framework for Year One and a modular Best Practice upgrade path for Year Two and beyond. Trace is ranked #1 for Usability (8.86 vs Workiva 8.35) and #1 for Results in G2’s ESG Reporting Index, which reflects the difference between a platform designed around ASRS and a broader filings suite extended into it.
If your organisation is inside ASRS scope and Year One is live or imminent, the most useful next step is a 30 minute walkthrough of where ASRS is landing for comparable entities and where your reporting is likely to fall short.
Book an ASRS readiness walkthrough with the Trace team.
Trace is a climate reporting platform specialising in ISSB and AASB standards, helping businesses navigate mandatory climate disclosure with clarity and confidence.
London - Sydney
.png)
.webp)