The Odoo ESG app is an Enterprise app that pulls data from Accounting, Fleet, Employees and Payroll to calculate a company's carbon footprint. It splits emissions into Scope 1, 2 and 3 by multiplying activity data by emission factors, shows sex parity and the pay gap, and tracks reduction initiatives. The Odoo 19.0, 19.4 and 20 documentation describes the same feature set.
This guide is for executives, sustainability teams and accountants deciding whether to use the app for ESG data. We read the official Odoo ESG documentation for saas-19.4, 20.0 and 19.0 and compared them line by line, then checked Odoo's app page, its edition comparison, and the emission factor page of Thailand's Greenhouse Gas Management Organization (TGO), all on 12 October 2026.
If you want the bigger picture of how Thai listed companies should organise ESG data first, read ESG with Odoo data for Thai listed companies. This article goes deeper into the app itself.
How does the Odoo ESG app calculate a carbon footprint?
The app calculates emissions in kgCO₂e by multiplying activity data by the emission factor assigned to it. The Odoo docs say the figures update in real time, so a team can see the effect of reduction actions right away instead of waiting for year end.
Activity data comes from three places.
- Accounting. Odoo collects data from journal entries posted to expense and asset accounts. The docs list four account types: Fixed assets, Expenses, Other expenses and Cost of revenue, and say only these are used, in line with the Bilan Carbone methodology.
- Fleet. Odoo calculates commuting emissions from data in the Fleet and Employees apps.
- Manual inputs. For activities the system does not track automatically. The docs give employee lunches and waste as examples.
Employee commuting
The calculation uses the number of days, the home-to-work distance for the round trip, the share of the week spent in the office, and the CO₂ emissions of the vehicle model. Three settings need to be filled in.
- Average office days per week, under ESG > Configuration > Settings in the Weekly Office Attendance field
- Emissions for each vehicle model, under Fleet > Configuration > Models in the CO₂ Emissions field
- Each employee's home-to-work distance, in the Employees app in the Home-Work Distance field
The start date and end date of an employee's vehicle are also used. The pivot table is under ESG > Collect > Employee Commuting, where Add Emissions and an emissions period move the figures into total emitted emissions.
Manual entries
Go to ESG > Collect > Emitted Emissions, click New, name the activity, pick a date, select an emission factor and enter a quantity. Once saved, the entry is included in the carbon footprint report.
How are Scope 1, 2 and 3 handled?
Every emission factor in the app is assigned to a scope under the GHG Protocol, so the results split by scope according to the factor matched to each entry.
- Scope 1, direct emissions, such as fuel burned on site or in company vehicles
- Scope 2, indirect emissions from purchased energy, such as electricity or heat
- Scope 3, all other indirect emissions across the value chain, such as purchased goods, travel and waste
Scopes can be nested. The docs give the example of Scope 3 broken down into Purchased Goods and then Electronics. If you have to report Scope 3 subcategories, this is where you set up that structure.
Where do emission factors come from, and how are they matched?
Emission factors can be imported from an external database and are matched to accounting entries by rules you set on product, partner or account.
The factor database
The docs tell you to import from a certified emission factors database under ESG > Configuration > Source Databases, by clicking Download on the ADEME database. Each emission factor carries:
- The scope it belongs to
- Uncertainty, the possible margin of error, which helps you judge how much confidence to place in reported figures
- A compute method, either physical quantities such as kg, litres or units, or monetary amounts spent
- Gas lines. The app includes the six main Kyoto Protocol gases, CO₂, CH₄, N₂O, HFCs, PFCs and SF₆, each with a predefined Global Warming Potential to convert it to CO₂ equivalent. More gases can be added under ESG > Configuration > Gases
Assignation rules
Assignation rules let the system pick the emission factor for an accounting entry on its own. You set them under ESG > Configuration > Emission Factors by opening a factor and adding lines in the Assignations tab with a product, partner, account or a combination. Every attribute on a line has to match for the rule to apply.
When several rules match, Odoo picks the most specific one: product first, then partner, then account. If that is still a tie, the rule with more attributes wins. The docs give the example of a factor tied to one computer model; when a vendor bill arrives for 150 units, the system multiplies the factor by 150 automatically.
Watch the units. The docs warn that the unit of measure next to the product's cost must match the emission factor's unit. If the field is hidden, enable Units of Measure & Packagings under Accounting > Configuration > Settings. Journal entries still missing a factor show up under Emissions to define on the Collect Emissions card of the dashboard.
Rules can also be applied to past data. Click Assign on a factor, choose an Application Period, and decide whether to replace existing assignations. For several factors at once, select them in list view and use Actions, then Assign Emission Factors.
What social metrics does the app cover?
The app shows sex parity and the pay gap from employee data. These are the only social metrics the docs describe.
Sex parity can be compared across technical and administrative roles, permanent and temporary contracts, office locations, or management and non-management positions. You first need to set each employee's gender in the Private Information tab of the Employees app.
The pay gap uses the wages on Payroll contracts for people in the same jobs. It takes the average male salary minus the average female salary, divides by the average male salary, and shows the result as a percentage. The measures are under ESG > Measure > Sex Parity / Pay Gap and can be grouped by leadership level, department, job position, contract type or country.
The docs say this data supports CSRD reporting under ESRS S1, which is a European Union framework. A Thai company reporting in the 56-1 One Report has to check for itself how well these metrics match what it must disclose.
Can it track reduction initiatives?
Yes, under ESG > Act > Initiatives, which uses all the features of the Project app. You can estimate CO₂ savings per task, track progress and assign people with deadlines.
The docs are clear that estimated reductions do not lower the carbon footprint right away. The real effect shows only once the reduction appears in operations, so plans do not replace measured figures.
