Our āMeet the Partnersā series interviews the experts helping consumer goods businesses around the world get a handle on their heat. Each interview aims to provide you with insight into their work, what you can expect from partnering with them, and tips to help your business thrive.
A decade ago, corporate carbon accounting was far from the norm. Today, weāre living in a different world. With the effects of climate change becoming increasingly clear, customers are demanding action, and so are investors. It can be a tough ask for businesses, especially those with limited resources, to meet these demands. Internal teams are unlikely to contain the relevant expertise needed, so finding a carbon accounting partner is a big and often essential first step.Ā
Our Meet the Partners series interviews the experts helping consumer goods businesses around the world get a handle on their heat. Each interview will provide you with insight into what makes them different, a glimpse into their work, and tips to help your business thrive.
This week, we're featuring a company on our MEASURE Database - Zevero
Zevero is a decarbonisation platform to help companies measure, report on and most importantly reduce their emissions.
Zeveroās Mission?
Build the tools and resources companies need to make carbon emissions a core KPI alongside revenue, customers and costs.Ā
We caught up with George Wade, co-founder, to get to grips with how Zevero can help businesses, and how businesses can help themselves.
Weād love to have an overview of what Zevero offers...
šĀ First thingās first, how does Zevero support consumer goods companies in their climate journey?
We begin with a kick off meeting with the key goal of understanding what each company wants to gain from working with us and what the end result theyāre looking for. We then take care of everything from the data collection to the climate strategy, working alongside their team to make sure everything is clear and well understood.
Our primary focus is on corporate carbon footprints but we have also worked with a number of companies to map their product carbon footprint.Ā
Weāve worked with everyone from companies that just donāt know where to start, all the way to those who have already started the process but see the value in using our platform and support to make climate action easier.Ā
Our ultimate goal is to reduce the emissions of every company we work with as well as empowering and educating their team about climate action.
šĀ Do you have a specialist focus? What makes you different from other carbon accounting offerings?
Our specialist focus is on the drinks industry, primarily we work with a lot of craft brewing companies like DEYA and Gipsy Hill. Breweries make great clients, tasty ones, thatās for sure.Ā
Iād say where we separate ourselves is our detailed approach to collecting data on supply chain emissions. We see ourselves as a decarbonisation platform, not just a tick box accounting software. So if a company is interested in taking climate action with the power of software and consultants to help them reduce emissions, weāre the right people to speak to.
šĀ How much do your services cost?
While the cost varies from company to company, we are typically looking at Ā£4k upwards. Typically, it depends on the number of employees, facilities and the scope of work. Fees do include backdated emissions, our platform for 12 months and unlimited support for decarbonisation and communication, so itās always great value. You can find more on our website.
šĀ How long does a typical project take with you? Are there any examples of projects you can give?
Typically, weāll go from signing a contract to finalising the first year emissions in 4-6 weeks, but this can vary. The quickest turnaround weāve had from signing a contract to having a report and finalised emissions is just over a week, but that was a simple services company.Ā
Other projects that are more extensive and detailed could be 2-3 months. That often includes product footprinting or lifecycle assessments, for example our work at DEYA Brewing.
šĀ Can you give more detail on the additional services you provide?
Reducing emissions is really about the engagement of a whole business. Alongside our software, we do talks, workshops and site visits which are always great fun. For those who are not within a train or cycle ride, weāll run online talks and workshops for clients helping them understand carbon accounting and climate change.Ā
In addition, we created a āClimate Hubā with resources on demand to help companies understand carbon emissions and how to reduce them.Ā
Whatever a company needs to accelerate climate action, appease stakeholders or provide more information for customers, weāre always on hand to help.
Letās dig into the details...
šĀ If a smaller business came to you with a relatively vague goal ('we want to make our business more sustainable') and a tight budget, how could you help them?
I think the first step would be to understand what their budget is and whether they should be spending the money to map their footprint, or instead use that for action.Ā
Letās take a drinks brand for example, weād be able to identify the key breakdowns in their emissions quite quickly. Iād suggest that they start small, make sure all their packaging is recyclable at home, is recycled where possible and ensure that they know where theyāre buying everything from.Ā
There are so many ways to start being sustainable, and without talking ourselves out of work, for a number of smaller companies, spending a couple of thousand to measure your emissions but then having no budget to reduce them doesnāt make sense. Our core focus is on making decarbonisation possible, our tool and our experts make that possible.
Weāre always happy to help with smaller projects and lower fees and weāve also got a list of everything you should be doing, let us know if youād like a copy!
šĀ Our MEASURE database aims to help companies take the crucial first step of measuring their emissions. When a brand comes to you with the goal of measuring their emissions, what are your first steps?
From the beginning, we start to understand where a customer is on their journey but as a typical rule of thumb, the process looks like this:Ā
Meet the team and explain the process with a training session and workshop.
Start collecting carbon data. This is not as complex as you might think, 90% of the data will be with your e-commerce provider and accounting software.
Start mapping your emissions and building out your dashboard on our platform.
Get a clear picture of where your emissions come from and identify reductions.
After the initial measurement, we start to automate the process of monitoring your emissions. Our platform is built to help you reduce your emissions, weāll work with you to help implement your climate programme. Itās the most important part after all.
āāIs that just as applicable to large and small brands?
The process for larger brands is more or less the same. There are often more hurdles to jump through, more complexity and more stakeholders, but the initial process of discovery, data and education is just the same. Starting the process of measuring your emissions as a small or large brand is empowering and at this point itās something you canāt afford to ignore.Ā
šĀ Can you give an example of a consumer goods brand that youāve worked with, and any further details on that project?
We can look at DEYA, theyāre a great case study for a smaller company looking ahead and realising that as they grow, theyāll need to reduce their impact. Initially, we worked with DEYA in 2020 to start their journey into sustainability, since then, theyāve put a carbon label on over 5 million cans of great beer, worked with their suppliers to better understand their impact and find ways to collaborate to reduce their emissions. Theyāre also measuring their emissions on a monthly basis using our platform, which is fantastic for us and for them.Ā
Not only has it driven change within the company, creating a culture employees are proud of, but it's also led to conversations with their customers and improved their relationship with their beer drinkers. It feels great knowing that the money they spend working with us can actually lead to lower impact and a stronger business. A climate and small business win!
Now for some adviceā¦
š What common misconceptions do consumer goods brands have before they start measuring their emissions? Are there any common surprises?
Iād say a lot has changed over the last few years. People have become really well educated on sustainability, often questioning data and ideas to avoid pitfalls of greenwashing. However, I would say a more common misconception is that they underestimate the fact that 80% of emissions will come from supply chains.
Perhaps people also think that calculating emissions and taking impact is harder than it needs to be. With a good partner, itās a fairly simple process that can be integrated into your everyday business. Thatās what we find with our product at least.Ā
āāšĀ What areas of becoming more sustainable are particularly tricky for smaller consumer goods businesses?
For small consumer goods businesses it can be a little harder because there is a limit to what is controlled and influenced by them. For example, if youāre in a shared office, you have no control over what tariff youāre on or whether your building is energy efficient. Similarly, itās not that easy to tell a major packaging provider to reduce their emissions.Ā
However, being small has advantages, youāre nimble and you can make changes much easier than larger brands. Use change to your advantage, there are so many suppliers doing great things that you can work with, often at a very similar price point.
šĀ What are a few simple steps that any organisation can do to reduce their impact?
Starting small is possible. Iād suggest that if youāre a consumer goods company, under a product footprint, anywhere from 25-50% of your emissions will be from packaging. Make sure you have great coverage on where all of your materials come from and opt for sustainably sourced products and ones that are at home recyclable for consumers.Ā
Other steps include making sure any offices, warehouse or manufacturing facilities that you control are using renewable energy, thatās often a simple switch that could save you money. Most serviced offices also use renewable energy now, so always make that part of your plans when you grow.Ā
The key thing going forward should be to start understanding your entire impact. That way you can identify hotspots of where you can cut emissions. Thatās where the fun begins!
šĀ Any final thoughts, or words of advice for brands?
Get started now before itās too late. I know the people that read Following The Footprints already care about climate, but if your team or your employers are not already setting targets and working to take action you should make it a key goal going into 2023.Ā
Weāre always happy to help, give free advice or generally be a part of a great community, so reach out if youād like some help!
What next?
š Check out Zeveroās website, LinkedIn and Twitter.
š Looking for a MEASURE partner? Reach out to the Zevero team to explore working with them!