How Xero Helped Us Get Serious About Carbon Accounting

Tracking carbon emissions is one of those things that small businesses know they should do, but rarely have the tools — or the time — to actually get started on.

For Fresh Desk, measuring our carbon footprint has been a goal for a few years now. We've been using the Climate Action Toolbox to estimate our annual emissions, and in 2024 we came in at around five tonnes of CO₂e. That's a number we're proud of — and one we're committed to reducing further toward our target of 50% less by 2028.

But good intentions and a spreadsheet only get you so far. What we needed was proper carbon accounting software — the kind that connects to our financial data, tracks our emissions supply chain, and gives us something auditable to show customers.

That's where Xero came in. Again.

Xero has been a quiet but consistent supporter of Fresh Desk — they're also one of our customers, which makes the relationship particularly meaningful. Earlier this year, they connected us with Sumday, a carbon accounting platform that's now available free for 12 months to eligible Xero customers through the Xero App Store.

Sumday does for carbon what Xero does for finances: it makes the numbers manageable. You link your Xero data directly into Sumday, it helps you calculate and categorise your emissions, and it gives you the tools to share that data with customers and suppliers — which increasingly matters when you're pitching for government or corporate contracts.

For a small business like ours, that kind of infrastructure used to feel out of reach. Now it isn't.

We're grateful to the people at Xero who made this happen for us: Sebastian Salcedo, Martin Langos, Anne Kehlhofer, and Tamara Somers, Global Head of Sustainability & Impact. Thank you for continuing to find ways to bring small businesses with you on this journey.

If you're a Xero customer and you've been putting off carbon accounting, it's worth checking out the Sumday offer in the Xero App Store. It's a good place to start.