- il y a 2 jours
The Rise of Digital Solutions in Sustainability
Catégorie
🤖
TechnologieTranscription
00:00Okay, so now for our second act in our EDF segment, so with the pressures that exist for companies to
00:10accurately disclose their emissions, set science-based net-zero targets and strategically decarbonize, sorry I don't have my glasses, having
00:23the right technology is essential.
00:27So here to talk more is Persephone, they're supported by EDF, Viva Technology 2002 exclusive sustainability partner, so ladies and
00:37gentlemen, Persephone.
00:48Thank you. It's great to be here today.
00:51Our booth at Persephone is right over there and the wonderful thing is we've seen so many people on this
00:59stage.
00:59I think I decided yesterday that when I saw the guy playing chess against six different players, that that was
01:07going to be a tough act to follow.
01:08So it's wonderful to be here.
01:11I am Keith Denham.
01:12I am the executive vice president responsible for global markets at Persephone.
01:17And Persephone, we are a climate management and accounting platform.
01:21And, you know, the interesting thing is we're over here in this low-carbon park.
01:27But it's interesting because when I look around, really, the whole floor, be it the technology companies in Meta and
01:35SAP or the big French companies, LVMH and L'Oreal, our sponsor EDF, the mobility people, every single company is
01:47really talking about sustainability.
01:49And so even though this is a technology conference, everyone is talking about sustainability.
01:55And so our company was founded almost three years ago.
02:00And the reality was that we wanted to tackle the problem of accurately and transparently reporting carbon emissions that companies
02:12have.
02:12And so when you think about the challenges that exist related to that space, companies have been reporting for years.
02:20Many companies have been reporting for years.
02:22But to do it accurately, transparently, and in a way that the regulators, the investors, the public, like all of
02:32you, has trust and faith in those calculations, we have a long way to go.
02:37And the reason we have a long way to go is because carbon accounting is difficult.
02:42When you start to think about the data issues that exist, there are three scopes of data, 15 categories within
02:49scope three, 750 pages of greenhouse gas protocol calculations.
02:54When you start to think of even a medium-sized company, sometimes that can be millions of data elements that
03:00exist that they have to get from across their suppliers.
03:03There's a big data problem.
03:04The contextual knowledge that's required is incredible.
03:08When we start to think about those people that are truly greenhouse gas protocol experts in an environment where reporting
03:15is going to go from public companies reporting annually to companies having to really report their emissions like any other
03:22strategic initiative.
03:23They're going to do it monthly.
03:24They're going to do it weekly, at least quarterly.
03:26The knowledge that exists just doesn't – or the knowledge that we need just doesn't exist.
03:31And the other piece is, as we discussed, carbon accounting is complex.
03:35And so what we decided to do at Persephone was we looked at all of this and said, the world
03:42can no longer rely on spreadsheets, homegrown systems, experts that are so in limited supply.
03:51There needs to be an ERP of carbon accounting.
03:55And that's what we set out to build at Persephone.
03:58How we looked at that, we really had three principles in mind.
04:01The first was the platform had to be comprehensive.
04:05It had to have scope one, scope two, scope three, all 15 categories.
04:08That's 750 pages of greenhouse gas protocol calculations embedded within the platform.
04:15So when an investor in a company like ADAF comes and says, we need our carbon footprint measured on your
04:23platform, when you start to think about the complexity of the calculations, the reality is it's an incredible, powerful, and
04:31comprehensive engine.
04:32The second key point was it needed to be flexible.
04:34When we started to think through, you know, sort of how companies operate today, many of the big companies here
04:41and just walk around, they aren't one operating model.
04:44So our platform had to scale across industries.
04:47And so while ADAF is a sponsor, we have some of the largest banks, we have some of the largest
04:51industrial companies as customers around the world.
04:54And so that's necessary going forward because the operating models that are going to be needed to measure any company
05:00that has any diversity in their operating footprint is going to need to be comprehensive across industries.
05:06And probably the most important principle with it related to the platform had to be auditability and transparency.
05:12You as the public, investors in general, regulators needed to be in a place where they could look at every
05:19single transaction that was reported from a carbon footprint standpoint, understand the origin of that data, what the calculation was
05:28used,
05:28and be in a position where greenwashing was challenged related to the auditability that was out there.
05:35So Persephone has been on the market for over a year and a half in terms of product.
05:40We've rocketed in terms of growth related to not just a U.S.-based company, clearly here within Europe, but also
05:47within Japan.
05:47And we're opening a Singapore office to support Southeast Asia very, very quickly.
05:50So it's been a pleasure introducing Persephone to you guys today.
05:55I love the question on the previous related to how can young people get involved because, you know, we're doing
06:00things like giving the Persephone platform to classrooms,
06:04introducing young people to what carbon accounting is all about.
06:08And some of our best employees that we have are more of the 20-somethings than those that are maybe
06:13a little bit older.
06:13So thank you.
06:14Questions?
06:16These are questions because we've got eight minutes left.
06:18And it's a very key topic.
06:20It's very important.
06:22As you say, we are here to talk.
06:23I mean, it is a tech expo, but actually sustainability is where we are at.
06:28And getting carbon out of the atmosphere is our biggest challenge, right?
06:32Yeah.
06:33You know, I think in many ways we look at this and say capitalism got us into this problem and
06:39capitalism is going to get us out of this problem as well.
06:41And I think that it really is something else.
06:44Our chief sustainability officer, Tim Mohin, was at the World Economic Forum in Davos last month and really had the
06:52same observation that I just made related to here at Viva Tech,
06:57everyone talking about sustainability even though it's a technology conference.
07:01When you go to Davos today, it's no longer simply talking about finance.
07:05It's no longer talking about economics.
07:07Even when discussion ranged to the war and other things, really sustainability was at the core related to what our
07:14issues are and where we need to go.
07:16So, it's really not a niche industry.
07:18It's really a topic that affects all companies going forward.
07:22Okay.
07:22So, let's just like, let me try to distill what it is then.
07:27So, it's basically a platform which is helping companies to measure their carbon use and to reduce their carbon use.
07:34So, what do you do?
07:36How do you then provide, I don't know, the results or the information of that?
07:42And who do you provide it to or is it like a rubber stamp or how does it work?
07:46Yeah.
07:46So, how the platform works and how a company measures its carbon footprint, there's thousands of different types of data
07:54ranging from data that's financial data that comes out of your financial system,
07:58energy data that comes from your energy companies, data related to travel expenses.
08:04So, my company is tracking my flight here from Boston and exactly the destination, exactly the arrival point.
08:12Those, each and every one of those pieces of data comes into our platform and we maintain emission factor sets
08:19from all over the world.
08:21So that, for instance, let's take my flight, you know, from Boston to Paris.
08:26That distance in miles or kilometers.
08:29That's an overnight flight for you, right?
08:30Yeah, that's right.
08:30That's right.
08:31In the back, in the back, to be clear.
08:32I don't know that that matters in terms of emissions, but regardless.
08:37Well, you're playing against the wind, so yeah, you're actually using more.
08:39That's right.
08:40That's right.
08:40But basically what we do is we have all of the emission factor sets by geography that can apply the
08:49right factor to that piece of data.
08:51So, let's say it's, I'm making this up, 8,000 kilometers or something like that from a flight standpoint.
08:578,000 kilometers, business travel, commercial air.
09:00We have the emission factor.
09:02That gets multiplied to the 8,000 kilometers and out pops a piece of carbon equivalent.
09:08Okay.
09:08That then gets added to the millions of other pieces of carbon equivalent to create a carbon footprint.
09:13It then gets reported to regulators, to investors, to the public as we go forward.
09:19Okay.
09:19So, basically, this information is available to investors, to customers or potential customers, potential clients, and then they get to
09:26choose ultimately who they work with.
09:28Because if they don't like to look at that carbon footprint, they're going to go elsewhere, right?
09:31That's right.
09:32Okay.
09:32Okay.
09:33So, basically, by helping people to reduce their use.
09:37But, of course, this is not enough, right?
09:39Because we also need ways to get the carbon out of the atmosphere.
09:42So, there's obviously, this is working in tandem with other solutions.
09:45Yeah, that's right.
09:45We started off as a carbon management and accounting platform.
09:48But recent functionality is benchmarking capability to understand how you're doing compared to others within your industries, how you're doing
09:54compared to others in your geographies.
09:55It's a net zero target, our climate trajectory modeling module that we call it, that helps companies set a net
10:01zero target so that they can work month by month, quarter by quarter, to really drive that reduction that you're
10:07talking about as we go forward.
10:08And significant other decarbonization-related functionality is coming out in the coming months.
10:14Okay.
10:15So, it's Persephone.
10:16Is that right?
10:17Persephone.
10:17Goddice of nature.
10:18I call it Persephone.
10:19All right.
10:19So, you guys are based in Boston.
10:20Is that right?
10:21No.
10:21Actually, we're based in Arizona.
10:22Okay.
10:23But now, teams here in Europe, we have a Japan team and opening a Singapore office here in a couple
10:29months.
10:29Okay.
10:30And how long have you guys been around for?
10:33Yeah, we were founded about two and a half years ago.
10:35Product came out about a year and a half ago, and it's really skyrocketed.
10:40We had the biggest raise in climate tech history in November, and we're looking forward to really experiencing the support
10:47of great partners like EDF, capital markets, et cetera, because there's a real problem that technology needs to help solve.
10:53Okay.
10:54All right.
10:55Let me see if we can stick the questions out to the audience.
10:58Anyone have any questions for this gentleman on the platform?
11:07Oh, they're very shy this morning.
11:10No questions?
11:11They said that I would have to sing and dance.
11:14You have to sing and dance?
11:14If there's no questions, I'm really looking for questions.
11:18You should look for questions, too.
11:21Yeah, we have a question over here.
11:23Thank you, thank you, Margot.
11:26Yeah, great.
11:27Yeah, because otherwise, he's really going to sing and dance.
11:29All right, so.
11:30So let's save us.
11:33Hello.
11:34Just one quick question.
11:36How long does it take for a project like this to collect all the data and to get the results?
11:43Because I think the collection of the data is quite complex.
11:46You said there are a lot of data.
11:48So I was wondering how long.
11:49Great question.
11:50In case it wasn't heard, it was how long does it take to collect all the data?
11:56We generally are doing this between 8 and 14 weeks.
12:00So even though people call us the ERP of carbon accounting, it's a shorter implementation and exercise.
12:07I will caveat, though, that because today, companies are measuring at, I'll call it a limited level of detail or
12:16a minimal level of detail.
12:17But what companies want to do on an ongoing basis is get more and more data from the supply chain,
12:23more from their suppliers.
12:24And so what will happen year after year is that companies will get more detailed data.
12:30We will have the calculations to enable them to move forward with it.
12:34And so today, 8 to 14 weeks to get this year's emissions reported and measured.
12:42But there's a lot of work to do for years to come.
12:45So, thanks.
12:46Stick it to the mic.
12:47Sorry.
12:47So it can be incremental, meaning that you have like a first level with 8, between 8 to 14 weeks
12:55to have a first assessment.
12:56And then you can collect more data to get a more accurate assessment.
13:01Is it like this?
13:02That's right.
13:03And so one of the things that's interesting about carbon accounting in greenhouse gas protocol is that it'll let a
13:09company measure at a very high level.
13:11So going back to that example earlier, let's say my plane ticket here costs 1,000 euros.
13:17A company can basically just take spend data and attach that to an emission factor set.
13:22That's the easiest way to report, but it's a very, very rough estimate as you move forward.
13:28Think of a company that measures based on spend data.
13:31What they'll want to do is move to getting, as I said, the distance and move to distance data.
13:36And then in the future, commercial airlines will actually give us all an amount of fuel that was actually burned
13:43per flight.
13:44And so when you think about the evolution of where companies are going, that's just commercial air travel.
13:49But when you think about the supply chain and all the categories, energy usage, companies are going to do the
13:54same thing,
13:55measuring at higher levels today and then getting more and more detailed as they go forward year after year.
14:03That's the end of your question.
14:05Answer.
14:06I suppose just going to ask a question for the next picture.
14:08There's no time.
14:09All right.
14:09Thank you very much.
14:10Remind me your name again.
14:11Keith.
14:12So this is Keith from Persephone.
14:15Persephone.
14:15Okay.
14:16Thank you very much.
14:17Where can we find you if you want to ask you questions?
14:19We are literally right over this back riser.
14:21So on the EDF low carbon park.
14:23So thank you again.
14:24Thank you.
Commentaires