What are modules?
Modules are structured sections within Carbon Accounting which group related activities under specific categories, such as energy, waste, vehicles and employee commuting. Each module focuses on a specific emissions area and follows the Greenhouse Gas Protocol scopes and sub-scopes.
Modules allow Sage Earth Carbon Accounting to refine your carbon footprint beyond your accounting transactions, adding measurements of real-world business activities.
Before entering data into modules
To ensure accurate tracking, connect your accounting platform before entering any usage data into modules. Once connected, categorise your transactions within the platform.
Our Information you’ll need when entering data into modules article covers what information each module will ask for, to help you to prepare the necessary data needed.
Which modules appear in Carbon Accounting?
Users with a connected accounting platform skip the Purchased Services module, where spend data is imported automatically.
Users without an accounting connection see all modules, including Purchased Services.
Each module has a dedicated article which explains how to enter data in different scenarios.
Modules:
Why enter data into modules?
Entering data into modules ensures your carbon footprint is calculated accurately. Here’s why it matters:
Real business activities are tracked with specific measurements, allowing Sage Earth Carbon Accounting to apply an accurate emissions factor.
Measuring activities that cause emissions helps you identify which ones have the biggest impact, making it easier to take meaningful reduction actions.
Usage data (e.g., kWh of electricity) gives a more accurate footprint than spend data (£ spent), but only if it’s complete and correct.
How do I enter data into modules?
Select a period
Choose the financial year and quarter you want to work on. Quarters are grouped by financial year, and only those with an end date in the past are available (starting from 1 January 2022).
Enter data
Each module provides a form for:
Usage data (e.g., kWh, litres, weights)
Questions (e.g., number of remote employees)
Spend data (this is only available for users without an accounting connection)
The system validates entries and checks for missing details before saving.
Always enter usage data, even if spend data is already there, as this improves the accuracy of your footprint. When both spend and usage data exist for the same category and quarter, they are automatically linked, and usage overrides spend. This ensures your footprint reflects actual consumption rather than financial estimates.
Usage data in modules uses the categories in our taxonomy, which are also used when categorising transactions. For descriptions of categories available in Sage Earth Carbon Accounting, see our Categories available in the Sage Earth Carbon Accounting taxonomy article.
Once you’ve completed each module for every quarter of a financial year, you can set the year as a baseline year. This should be a year representative of your business’ normal operations, as it serves as a starting point for tracking your footprint’s progress over time.
You can edit data after saving, and if you mark data as unavailable, you can return later to add it once it becomes available.