The Cool Farm Tool was developed by the University of Aberdeen, commissioned by Unilever. The tool quantifies agricultural carbon footprint and suggests practical ways of reducing it. It calculates the greenhouse gas balance of farming, including emissions from fields, inputs, livestock, land use and land use change and primary processing. The latest version of the tool also considers biodiversity and water management.

Currently a range of large multinational food companies, united in the Cool Farm Alliance, uses the tool to assess sustainability achievements in agriculture and food production. Agrinvest uses the Cool Farm Tool to analyze farms and the sustainability of farming systems.