Cutting Scope 3 Emissions with Software & the Zeigo Network
In another recent CleanTech Talk podcast, CleanTechnica spoke with Dave Rimkus, Associate Director of Supply Chain Renewables at Schneider Electric, and Vishnu Nair, Head of Operations for Zeigo Activate, about cutting Scope 3 emissions and decarbonizing corporations.
According to Deloitte’s Sustainability Action Report, 86% of companies reported challenges just measuring Scope 3 emissions, not to mention actually cutting them. So, how can software help to get more companies both measuring and cutting emissions?
“So, I wouldn’t say that supply chain decarbonization is ever easy. However, I do think software can make supply chain decarbonization easier. With any supply chain program, the end result that you’re looking for is reduced emissions, and that end result is directly connected to how well your suppliers engaged with your supply chain program. And this is where software plays that pivotal role. It’s oversimplifying it a little bit, but ultimately what you’re looking for is an engaged supplier, which then leads to the reduction that you need. In this regard, software, designed the right way, can definitely make a difference.”
But what does that actually mean? That means a communication platform that replaces emails and phone calls, but it means much more than that. “It can even make it easier to calculate the suppliers’s carbon data, receive guidance on what to do, and maybe in our case, our software even helps you connect with the solutions providers that can deploy those actions for you — so, even not knowing who to call wouldn’t be a problem with us,” Nair says.
That all sounds good and nice on the surface, but it’s still a little hard to picture some of this. It’s useful to be connected to companies that can help deploy cleantech and other climate solutions. But how useful is this kind of software really?
Rimkus has an answer. “When we take a look at some of the programs that we have today, it’s really — that visibility’s absolutely key, because a lot of clients come to us and say, ‘Hey, I know where my spend is, I know what regions or countries we’re in, I don’t really understand where they’re at on their supply chain journeys. Help me understand their maturity. Are they buying renewables today? Are they taking Scope 1 abatement actions in their own operations? So, within our programs today, we actually onboard these suppliers, through our supply chain programs. We are asking them high-level information about their maturity, where they’re at, where they’re located, what actions have they taken. We start pegging that maturity and we start understanding: Do they have targets? Where do they want to go? And what do they want to do within their decarbonization journey?
“And as we starting learning about these suppliers and having really that one-one-one interaction with quite a bit of them, we start identifying those hotspots, or segments where there might be a significant opportunity for these small and medium-sized companies to take action to decarbonize.”
So, yeah, there’s a lot going on behind the screen with this software solution to help corporations decarbonize, including down to the challenging Scope 3 emissions level.
In this episode, they also talked about how they’ve identified shared suppliers in certain sectors and helped them to decarbonize for various corporations looking to cut their Scope 3 emissions, and even how the Zeigo Network has helped some suppliers to team up for more purchasing power in order to be able to get electricity from shared renewable energy power plants. There’s much more in the podcast worth learning — give it a listen!
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