Carter Sustainability Consulting

Services

Strategy, governance and delivery across carbon and ESG.

Carter Sustainability Consulting works from strategy through to implementation: setting direction, governing the underlying data, and delivering the calculations, reviews and reporting processes behind it.

01

Carbon accounting & GHG inventories

Scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon accounting

Carter Sustainability Consulting can support clients in developing, calculating or improving corporate greenhouse-gas inventories.

Assignments may involve building an inventory from the ground up, or improving an existing process that has grown inconsistent over time.

Services include

  • Scope 1 emissions
  • Scope 2 emissions
  • Scope 3 emissions
  • Corporate carbon footprints
  • Organisational boundaries
  • Operational boundaries
  • Emissions-source identification
  • Activity-data collection
  • Spend-based calculations
  • Activity-based calculations
  • Supplier-specific calculations
  • Emission-factor selection
  • Emissions-factor mapping
  • Calculation methodologies
  • Baseline development
  • Re-baselining
  • Data validation
  • Methodology documentation
  • Reporting processes
  • GHG Protocol alignment
  • Assurance preparation
Discuss your GHG inventory
02

Scope 3 & supply chain carbon

Solving the difficult part of corporate carbon accounting

Scope 3 usually accounts for most of a corporate footprint and almost all of the difficulty. The information sits in procurement systems, expenditure records and supplier correspondence rather than in a meter reading.

Scope 3 rarely involves perfect data. The objective is to build a transparent methodology that is appropriate to the information available and can improve over time.

Services include

  • Scope 3 screening
  • Category assessments
  • Procurement-data analysis
  • Spend-based calculations
  • Activity-based calculations
  • Hybrid methodologies
  • Supplier-specific data
  • Supplier emissions
  • Supplier classification
  • NAICS / SIC / spend classification where appropriate
  • Emissions-factor mapping
  • Data-quality scoring
  • Estimation methodologies
  • Category boundaries
  • Supplier engagement
  • Primary-data improvement
  • Methodology documentation
  • Transition away from purely spend-based approaches
Improve your Scope 3 methodology
03

GHG inventory review

Independent review of Scope 1, 2 and 3 inventories

Carter Sustainability Consulting can independently review corporate GHG inventories to establish whether reported figures are supported by the underlying methodology, data and evidence.

Review areas may include

  • Scope 1 calculations
  • Scope 2 calculations
  • Scope 3 calculations
  • Organisational boundaries
  • Operational boundaries
  • Source data
  • Emission factors
  • Conversion factors
  • Calculations
  • Methodologies
  • Classifications
  • Assumptions
  • Estimates
  • Completeness
  • Data quality
  • Evidence
  • Reporting documentation
  • Methodology documentation

The objective is to identify errors, inconsistencies, unsupported assumptions, methodological weaknesses, missing emissions sources, data-quality concerns, documentation gaps and areas requiring further investigation.

Typical outputs

GHG Inventory Review Report
Structured findings across methodology, calculations and evidence.
Findings register
Prioritised issues with the basis for each finding.
Calculation review
Testing of the calculation chain from activity data to reported tCO2e.
Methodology review
Assessment of approach, boundaries and consistency.
Data-quality assessment
Where figures are well supported and where they are estimated.
Remediation recommendations
Practical actions to close the gaps identified.
Review my GHG inventory
04

GHG assurance readiness

Prepare your GHG inventory for formal verification

Companies often discover significant data, evidence or methodology issues only once the external assurance process has already started, when time is short and corrections are expensive.

Carter Sustainability Consulting can independently review an inventory before submission to organisations such as SGS, DNV, Bureau Veritas or another appointed verification or assurance provider.

Find the problems before the verifier does.

Services may include

  • Inventory review
  • Source-data traceability
  • Calculation checking
  • Emission-factor review
  • Evidence review
  • Boundary review
  • Methodology review
  • Reconciliation
  • Sampling preparation
  • Supporting-document preparation
  • Identification of likely verifier queries
  • Identification of data-quality gaps
  • Methodology documentation
  • Remediation support
  • Assistance responding to verifier questions

The goal is to reduce avoidable queries, calculation corrections, evidence gaps, rework and reporting delays. This service is preparation and independent review; it is not accredited third-party verification.

Prepare for GHG assurance
05

Independent GHG assurance

Independent GHG assurance

Carter Sustainability Consulting may undertake appropriately scoped independent GHG review and assurance engagements where the client's intended use and the applicable requirements permit this.

Such work may include

  • Independent testing of GHG information
  • Calculation verification
  • Source-data testing
  • Methodology assessment
  • Evidence review
  • Boundary assessment
  • Emission-factor review
  • Consistency testing
  • Analytical procedures
  • Data-quality assessment
  • Documented findings
  • Independent conclusions

Where appropriate to the engagement, the output may include an Independent GHG Assurance Statement. The exact scope, criteria, nature of assurance, materiality, limitations and conclusion are defined for each engagement. Carter Sustainability Consulting is not represented as a UKAS-accredited verification body, and an independent statement does not replace accredited verification where a regulatory, certification or contractual framework requires an accredited or approved verifier.

Discuss an assurance requirement
06

Carbon due diligence

Independent carbon analysis for investors and lenders

Carter Sustainability Consulting can review a target company's carbon and climate information on behalf of investors, lenders, private equity, private credit, asset managers, corporate acquirers, infrastructure investors and transaction teams.

What is reliable, what is uncertain, what is missing and what matters to the transaction.

Assessments may cover

  • Scope 1 emissions
  • Scope 2 emissions
  • Scope 3 emissions
  • GHG methodologies
  • Organisational boundaries
  • Calculation methodology
  • Source data
  • Emission factors
  • Data quality
  • Data completeness
  • Sustainability disclosures
  • Carbon claims
  • Historical emissions
  • Targets
  • Net-zero claims
  • Transition plans
  • Climate-related risks
  • Scope 3 exposure
  • Supplier emissions
  • Material emissions sources
  • Use of estimates
  • Evidence quality
  • Reporting gaps

Typical outputs

Carbon Due Diligence Report
Structured analysis of carbon information, methodology, risks, evidence and material findings.
Red-Flag Review
Concise assessment of material carbon or climate issues requiring further investigation.
GHG Inventory Assessment
Technical review of the target company's reported Scope 1, 2 and 3 inventory.
Carbon Data Quality Assessment
Assessment of whether reported emissions can be traced back to appropriate underlying data.
Post-Investment Improvement Plan
Priority actions for improving sustainability information following investment or acquisition.
Discuss a carbon due diligence review
07

ESG due diligence

ESG due diligence for lenders and investors

Alongside the carbon specialism, Carter Sustainability Consulting can review material environmental, social and governance information relevant to a transaction.

The service is specialist sustainability and ESG technical analysis contributing to a broader transaction due-diligence process. It is not legal, financial or regulated investment advice.

Possible areas include

  • Sustainability strategy
  • Environmental performance
  • Climate-related risks
  • Carbon emissions
  • Energy
  • Waste
  • Water
  • Environmental policies
  • Targets
  • Governance
  • Sustainability reporting
  • ESG KPIs
  • Data quality
  • Policies and procedures
  • Public claims
  • Evidence supporting disclosed information
  • Material sustainability risks
  • Reporting weaknesses
  • Transition planning
Discuss ESG due diligence
08

ESG & sustainability data

Turn sustainability data into something you can trust

Sustainability reporting depends on information that was never designed for it. The work is usually less about new systems and more about mapping, reconciling and controlling what already exists.

Services include

  • ESG data architecture
  • Data collection
  • Data mapping
  • Data reconciliation
  • Validation
  • Data-quality assessment
  • Sustainability KPIs
  • Carbon datasets
  • Classification
  • Analytical review
  • Dashboards
  • Data controls
  • Reporting workflows
  • Audit trails
  • Assurance preparation
  • Methodology documentation
  • Management information

Carter Sustainability Consulting can work between sustainability teams, finance, procurement, technology, data teams and senior management to improve how sustainability information moves through an organisation.

Discuss a data challenge
09

Data governance

Build sustainability data that is controlled, traceable and usable

Carter Sustainability Consulting can help organisations improve the governance of carbon, ESG and sustainability data.

Many organisations can calculate sustainability metrics but lack clear ownership, control and traceability over the underlying information. Figures are produced, but nobody can say with confidence where they came from, who is accountable for them or what changed between one reporting cycle and the next.

Good sustainability reporting depends on knowing where the data came from, who owns it, how it was changed and why it can be trusted.

Services may include

  • Sustainability data governance frameworks
  • Data ownership
  • Roles and responsibilities
  • Data stewardship
  • Source-system mapping
  • Data lineage
  • Reporting controls
  • Data-quality rules
  • Validation processes
  • Approval workflows
  • Master-data issues
  • Classification standards
  • Calculation governance
  • Methodology governance
  • Change control
  • Evidence retention
  • Audit trails
  • Documentation standards
  • Reporting calendars
  • Governance across finance, procurement, sustainability and technology teams

Typical outputs

Data-governance framework
Structure, principles and controls for carbon, ESG and sustainability information.
Responsibility matrix
Clear ownership and accountability across sustainability, finance, procurement and technology.
Source-to-report data map
How each reported figure traces back through systems to its source.
Data-quality control framework
Validation rules, checks and thresholds applied through the reporting cycle.
Reporting process map
The end-to-end process, handovers, approvals and reporting calendar.
Governance recommendations
Practical changes to ownership, control and oversight.
Methodology-control documentation
How methodologies are defined, approved and changed over time.
Remediation roadmap
Prioritised actions to close governance and control gaps.
Improve sustainability data governance
10

Sustainability strategy & transformation

Turn sustainability objectives into a practical delivery plan

This is strategy consulting grounded in implementation, data and operating reality rather than generic sustainability vision-setting.

The focus is not simply producing a strategy document. The work connects ambition, data, operating model and delivery so that the direction chosen can actually be executed by the organisation that has to run it.

A strategy is only useful if the organisation can actually implement it.

Services may include

  • Sustainability strategy
  • ESG strategy
  • Net-zero strategy
  • Carbon-reduction strategy
  • Operating-model design
  • Sustainability transformation
  • Target-setting support
  • Strategic option assessment
  • Programme design
  • Roadmap development
  • Prioritisation
  • Business-case development
  • Governance design
  • Organisational roles and responsibilities
  • Sustainability technology strategy
  • Data strategy
  • Reporting strategy
  • Process redesign
  • Implementation planning
  • Programme mobilisation
  • Transformation-office support

Typical outputs

Strategic assessment
Where the organisation stands against its ambition and obligations.
Current-state review
Data, processes, systems, capability and accountability as they are today.
Target operating model
How sustainability work should be organised, owned and run.
Options analysis
Credible routes forward with cost, effort and risk made explicit.
Prioritised roadmap
Sequenced initiatives with dependencies and delivery milestones.
Implementation plan
Who does what, when, and what is required to start.
Governance structure
Decision rights, forums and reporting lines for the programme.
Data strategy
How sustainability data will be sourced, structured and controlled.
Technology recommendations
Practical assessment of platforms, tooling and automation.
Programme plan
Workstreams, resourcing and delivery tracking.
Executive decision materials
Clear papers that let leadership decide and move.

Sustainability transformation

Carter Sustainability Consulting can support organisations where sustainability work spans multiple functions and no single team owns the outcome.

This is useful for organisations that already know what they want to achieve but need experienced support turning it into an executable programme.

  • Sustainability
  • Finance
  • Procurement
  • Operations
  • Data
  • Technology
  • Risk
  • Reporting

Services may include

  • Workstream coordination
  • Programme governance
  • Transformation planning
  • Stakeholder alignment
  • Dependency management
  • Issue resolution
  • Executive reporting
  • Decision support
  • Process redesign
  • Implementation tracking
Discuss a strategy requirement
11

AI & sustainability automation

Use AI where it genuinely improves the process

This is not generic AI consulting. It is the application of automation and machine assistance to specific carbon, ESG and sustainability-data tasks that are currently manual, repetitive or inconsistent.

Not every sustainability process needs AI. The objective is to identify where automation genuinely reduces manual work, improves consistency or produces a better output.

Capabilities may include

  • AI-assisted sustainability workflows
  • OCR
  • Document extraction
  • Invoice extraction
  • Automated data structuring
  • AI-assisted classification
  • Supplier classification
  • Emissions-factor matching
  • Data cleansing
  • Analytical agents
  • Repetitive process automation
  • Quality-control workflows
  • Automated report preparation
  • Sustainability data processing
  • AI feasibility assessments
  • Sustainability-software evaluation
Explore an AI use case
12

Advisory & project support

Specialist sustainability capacity when you need it

Engagements can be structured around a defined deliverable or a period of specialist capacity, depending on what the organisation actually needs.

Engagement structures include

  • Defined projects
  • Short-term consulting
  • Fractional sustainability support
  • Interim support
  • Methodology development
  • Technical review
  • Project recovery
  • Reporting support
  • Sustainability-data transformation
  • Specialist analysis
  • Consultancy subcontracting
  • Independent review
  • Technology projects

Available for UK and international engagements, including remote project delivery.

Discuss your requirement

Need specialist sustainability support?

Tell me what you're trying to solve. Carter Sustainability Consulting can assess the problem, identify where specialist support would add value and propose a practical way forward.

Discuss a project