Companies commit to net-zero emissions targets, but on the other hand are clueless when it comes to decarbonizing their supply chains. Yet it is clear that up to 80% of total corporate greenhouse gas emissions come from scope 3 of the GHG protocol. Therefore, it is only a few years sustainability becomes a major cost block within the balance sheet through the pricing of CO₂ emissions.

…or the new competitive advantage of sustainability

Today, a lot of money is already being invested in offsetting and used as a marketing tool in the direction of customers. But this is not sustainable. It is sustainable to reduce emissions rather than compensation them. Within a short time, the corporate, product or project carbon footprint becomes a decisive competitive advantage or disadvantage. Many companies, such as manufacturing companies or even B2C or FMCG companies, are realizing increasing pressure from customers or suppliers. The development of a holistic sustainability strategy along the value chain and the knowledge about the actual emissions in scope 1 and 2, but especially in scope 3 become urgent.

We as ADCONIA analyze your direct and indirect emissions as well as the emissions of the upstream and downstream supply chain (scope 3). Especially in scope 3 there is the biggest potential because emissions are 5 times higher than those from scope 1 and 2. Today there is still no transparency about the emissions along the supply chain in most purchasing departments. Suppliers and materials are known, but nothing more. Whereas in the past excel sheets were filled with approximate values for individual items, in the future a holistic model will be needed for purchasing.

Decarbonization is an investment

With our partner carbmee we have the possibility to perform and report an automated calculation of purchased materials and services based on high quality data. Decarbonization is a complex challenge for procurement organizations. Products are often produced abroad or sourced there, so collaboration with suppliers is not always easy. Digitalization and automation are needed.

Carbmee has developed innovative software in which CO2 emissions can be calculated and analyzed collaboratively with suppliers at the material or item level. „Carbon optimized procurement managers will be the heroes of successful decarbonization of companies,“ says Dr. Christian Heinrich, Managing Director of Carbmee. Specifically, the cloud-based software marries environmental databases with corporate data.

With this data accuracy, a decision-making aid is created that identifies emissions from scope 3 in a targeted manner and reduces them with suppliers according to the source in order to maintain or even increase customer loyalty. Therefore, decarbonization is already in the short and medium term less a cost factor than a value-creating investment that allocates tons of CO₂ equivalents according to their cause and thus transparently reduces them. This leads to saving CO₂ fees and at the same time to positive customer results by reaching the company`s CO₂ targets faster.

 

Manuela aus dem Moore
Alliance Managerin. ADCONIA GmbH