Qwetch calculates its carbon footprint with Sweep - Interview

To understand the impact generated by its activities and identify levers for improvement in its value chain, Qwetch uses Sweep software, a carbon accounting tool. Issues, challenges, feasibility... Here's how it works.

‍Cross-interviewwith Rachel Delacour, CEO & co-founder of Sweep and Benjamin Maito, CSR project manager at Qwetch.

What is Sweep?

Rachel Delacour: Sweep is a data reduction platform for carbon emissions and other ESG indicators. It enables companies to collect and analyze large volumes of company-generated data, both internally and across the value chain. It's SaaS (Software as a Service) software that enables companies to implement and manage their climate and ESG actions. What's more, our solution delivers reliable, transparent reporting that complies with the European Union's new Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).

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Why did you start this process with Sweep?

Benjamin Maito: Qwetch is a mission-driven company offering reusable food containers and Solid Drinks for healthy hydration with minimal environmental impact. Founded in 2010, the company is certified B Corp. Qwetch's value chain is complex, with many stakeholders involved in the manufacturing and logistics process for the creation and sale of our products. The company's Sustainable Development team identified the need to bring all these stakeholders together to work on the overall impact of its carbon footprint. One of the challenges we set ourselves was to determine thecarbon footprint of our customers. All this data requires meticulous statistical analysis to produce meaningful and exploitable results. Sweep enables us to do just that.

What is your roadmap and ambitions in terms of decarbonization?

Benjamin Maito: As a company with a mission, we are committed to a reduction strategy in line with the Paris agreements (1.5 degrees warming by 2100). To achieve this goal, we need to reduce our carbon footprint (overall) by 50% since our 1st carbon assessment in 2019. We have set ourselves the target of achieving this by 2030. Our value chain calculations via the Sweep platform enable us to prioritize our actions.

What levers for improvement in your value chain have you identified with Sweep software?

Benjamin Maito: Like many companies, our main lever is manufacturing. Our insulated water bottles are made from stainless steel, a material that emits a lot of pollutants. We therefore decided to switch the raw material for our products to 90% recycled stainless steel. The simulation carried out with Sweep and other external sources estimated that this change would enable us to reduce the carbon footprint of stainless steel raw materials by 58% per product.

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How do you assess companies' weaknesses and potential for reduction?

Rachel Delacour: Companies tend to focus on scopes 1 and 2, which are easier to "control". The first corresponds to the direct greenhouse gas emissions generated by the company (heating, emissions from company vehicles, etc.). The second refers to indirect, energy-related emissions (emissions created during the production process of a product). More difficult to assess, Scope 3 concerns the company's indirect emissions generated throughout its value chain (purchasing, services, suppliers, etc.). To assess it, it is necessary to collect information from suppliers and to connect one's own actions with theirs. Simply put: your carbon is my carbon. Your scope 1 and 2 is my scope 3 as a supplier. So we need to interconnect our understanding of the carbonation and decarbonation chains. Sweep makes this possible through data. It's the promise of technology and digital that enables us to have a tool that maps, estimates and simulates in order to act on business models.

What other solutions have been identified?

Benjamin Maito: In addition to recycled stainless steel, we are also working on a dishwasher-safe paint. Hand-washing accounts for 10.9% of our product's carbon footprint. We also need to manufacture our products in such a way as to limit energy consumption. This may involve re-evaluating the energy mix of production in our factories, or using recycled materials. We are also studying alternatives to road transport by reorganizing our operations to reduce the distances covered by truck.

Transporting consumers to the store accounts for 30% of your carbon footprint. Is home delivery an option?

Benjamin Maito: As far as home delivery is concerned, we've made an e-commerce vs. store comparison, and today it's ISO (equal). The main way to reduce costs is to select the reseller stores (we don't have our own stores) that are closest to consumers.

Have you taken any action within the company?

Benjamin Maito: For our premises, we switched to 100% green energy by changing electricity suppliers. We pay for 100% of our employees' public transport. We have also installed electric recharging stations. The CSE has introduced zero-waste meals and a vegetarian meal once a week.

How do you build a credible plan with Sweep?

Rachel Delacour: All the company's actions have a carbon equivalent. Nothing emits zero. The question is to know what kind of glasses to give companies so that they can understand all the information. Sweep contains all the business methodologies and industry benchmarks. These are very complex calculations. Our software enables them to collect and measure on a regular basis, so they can make informed decisions. But measuring your footprint isn't enough. The question is what you put in place afterwards. Many companies set themselves sustainable objectives, and our tool enables them not only to understand them, but also to manage them and their extra-financial aspects from A to Z.

How do you manage your actions?

Benjamin Maito - Qwetch: The Sweep software enables us to collect all our data automatically. Our own and those of our suppliers. Sweep then calculates our carbon footprint. This gives us a daily overview of our CO2 emissions. This granularity, essential to our strategy, gives our CSR team an overview of the breakdown of emissions by item (energy, waste, travel, etc.). We can then compare with other years and estimate whether or not we are on target. Sweep therefore enables us to monitor our reduction strategy precisely and at any given moment.

How do you ensure that the data collected is correct?

Rachel Delacour: Everything is declarative, so it's possible for errors to occur. What makes this declarative information qualitative is auditability. What's important is how the tool identifies inconsistencies. With Sweep, the client can navigate through the data and request greater granularity. Data centralization coupled with AI helps to understand and decipher.

Can data collection be an obstacle for your suppliers?

Benjamin Maito: We sign confidentiality contracts and the data collected is not disclosed. Our suppliers are very interested in this approach, because they're getting more and more requests to collect this data. The challenge for us is to make the data reliable. What's more, we're able to make suggestions to them for improvement. We collect their data, but we're also able to go the other way and give them a calculation of their emissions in return. It's interesting for them. As an example, we've worked with our supplier to install solar panels on the factory roofs in November 2023. When you save CO2, you save energy and therefore money. That's co-construction. But more broadly, the climate and the question of transition are subjects of co-construction.

A company's impact on the environment can ultimately hamper its business model. Are companies aware of this?

Rachel Delacour: CSRD integrates the concept of double materiality. This means understanding how your business impacts environmental or social issues, and how the environment and social issues impact your business in return. This is specific to Europe, but the directive will have an impact on many non-European companies operating in Europe. Many sectors can now be directly impacted by climate change. The increasing scarcity of resources and certain sources of supply are real threats. Companies need to be aware of this and keep their stakeholders informed. Today, we can see that for some companies, it really is a matter of survival.

To limit your impact, is manufacturing in France a feasible option?

Benjamin Maito: Would we like to manufacture in France? The answer is yes. Have we thought about it: the answer is still yes. Have we tried: yes. Can we do it: No. Isothermal technology is a know-how that has never existed in Europe. So we're not talking about relocation, but about creating an industry and importing know-how. What's more, our simulations have shown that producing in Europe (apart from France) would, given our value chain, be more CO2-polluting than producing in Asia.

How can the low-carbon economy adapt to the transition?

Rachel Delacour: Being aware of the issues and challenges at stake, and of our own strengths and weaknesses, enables us to make the transition. Companies that don't make these decisions now risk missing the turning point in the transition to a low-carbon economy, and ultimately disappearing. In the same way, many companies that failed to make the transition to a digital economy 15 years ago have disappeared. Some have managed to catch up. But at what price?

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