ClimatePartner is one of the biggest names in corporate climate action: 5,000+ customers, 500+ employees, offices across Europe and the US, and a mature CSRD and SBTi reporting machine. But it is an enterprise platform built around software plus consulting plus certified climate projects — a model with its roots in carbon offsetting, at a moment when EU rules are moving away from offset-based claims.
The Hedgehog Carbon Platform sits on a different seam. We are a carbon accounting platform for SMEs: reduction-first, no offsets to sell, every calculation traceable from data input to reported output, and tender-ready for both the Dutch CO2-Prestatieladder (Handbook 4.0) and the UK's PPN 006. You start with a free account, not a sales call.
How Hedgehog compares to ClimatePartner
Every row states the reason, not just a checkmark. ClimatePartner details are drawn from their own public documentation and independent sources, current as of August 2026 — see the sources at the bottom.
Why customers told us they switched:
Several of our current customers came to Hedgehog from ClimatePartner. Two reasons came up consistently, we report them here as customer feedback, clearly marked as such:
"We couldn't see what happened between our data input and the CO2-result." Switching customers told us they had no clear view of what happened between their data input and the calculated output. When we reviewed reports they shared with us, the selected assumptions, databases, and references were indeed not documented in those reports. Whether that reflects every ClimatePartner engagement, we cannot say, but it reflects the reports we saw.
With Hedgehog: traceability is the product. Every emission factor, database choice and assumption is documented in the platform and in your reports. When your auditor, your customer or your director asks "where does this number come from?", you open the calculation and show them.
Price. Switchers also named cost as a driver. We cannot compare like for like because ClimatePartner does not publish pricing⁵. Our entry price is €1,200 per year, and grows with user seats and business entities, find our pricing on this page.
The regulatory backdrop: offsetting claims are being phased out
This context is relevant for anyone choosing a carbon platform in 2026, so we state it factually.
ClimatePartner built its name partly on the "climate neutral" label. In June 2024, Germany's Federal Court of Justice (BGH) ruled in a case about a confectionery manufacturer that advertising a product as "climate neutral", with a label referencing ClimatePartner, was misleading unless the advertisement itself explains what the ambiguous term means. To their credit, ClimatePartner had already retired the "climate neutral" label the year before, replacing it with "ClimatePartner certified" and "Financial climate contribution."".⁸
The direction of travel is now set in EU law: from 27 September 2026, new European rules against misleading sustainability claims take effect, and "climate neutral thanks to offsetting" disappears as a product claim.⁹
Our view is simple, and it is why Hedgehog sells no offsets: compensation sits in a different part of the carbon cycle than fossil emissions. Measure honestly, reduce structurally, that is what the regulation rewards, and it is the only strategy that still works after September 2026.
How the Carbon Platform works
Three steps, no procurement cycle.
1. Create a free account. You work in the real platform from day one, with the reporting structures for the CO2-Prestatieladder and PPN 006 already in place.
2. Add your data or let invoices do the work. Scope 1 and 2 are set up quickly. For scope 3, we read invoices automatically where possible and build company-specific CO2eq databases from your own data and EPDs. Stuck? Ask our AI guide Peter, or bring in our GHG and LCA experts.
3. Report with full traceability. SKAO-aligned templates for the Prestatieladder tiers, PPN 006 Carbon Reduction Plan documentation for UK tenders, GHG templates for any other reporting framework, and every number traceable to its source.
We like the platform's design and practicality, as it is easy to manage. The employees' responsiveness and helpfulness are also highly appreciated. The possibility to get access to and manage our data in the platform creates a level of trust and transparency. The initial setup was very easy. — G2 review by verified user.
Create a free account, load your consumption data, and see your footprint — traceable to the last emission factor — today. No demo call required.
Sources
- ClimatePartner, "Carbon accounting software and consulting", climatepartner.com — software combined with expert consulting, "for businesses of all sizes".
- ClimatePartner, homepage and solutions pages, climatepartner.com — Hub with carbon accounting, SBTi/CSRD reports, certified climate projects and labels; Network Platform for supplier data (scope 3.1).
- ClimatePartner, "Best carbon accounting software", climatepartner.com — CSRD-compliant CCF reports, SBTi-aligned outputs, FLAG splits, ESRS E1.5/E1.6, audit-ready exports.
- ClimatePartner, PCF software pages, climatepartner.com — product carbon footprint calculation across product portfolios.
- OMR Reviews, ClimatePartner Hub profile — "The provider does not communicate any price information"; "There are not enough reviews yet to create a summary."
- ClimatePartner, "About us", climatepartner.com — founded 2006 in Munich; 5,000+ customers, 500+ employees across international offices.
- MTR Legal on the German Federal Court of Justice (BGH) ruling of 27 June 2024 — advertising "climate neutral" is misleading where the ad does not explain the ambiguous term; the case concerned a food manufacturer using a label referencing ClimatePartner.
- ClimatePartner statement on the BGH ruling, climatepartner.com, June 2024 — the "klimaneutral" label was discontinued and replaced by "ClimatePartner certified" and "Financial climate contribution".
- EU Directive 2024/825 (Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition) — offset-based "climate neutral" product claims banned; applicable from 27 September 2026.
- UK Government, PPN 006 "Taking account of Carbon Reduction Plans" (updated February 2025), gov.uk — CRP requirement for major government contracts (£5m+/yr); extended to NHS procurement from April 2024.
