Carbon Maps is a startup that aims to help the food industry track the environmental impact of each of their products. This information can then be used to create eco ratings, which can serve as a selling point for companies that are able to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability.
The platform that Carbon Maps is building is a software-as-a-service solution that enables companies to evaluate the environmental impact of their products. While there are several carbon accounting startups that provide similar services, Carbon Maps stands out by focusing exclusively on the food industry. Rather than calculating a company’s carbon emissions as a whole, the platform evaluates the environmental impact of individual products.
Patrick Asdaghi, Cofounder, said, “I wanted to make an impact, so I started moving up the supply chain and looking at agriculture.” and added “We don’t want to create the ratings. We want to create the tools that help with calculations — a sort of SAP,” and concluded with “You can’t have a true climate strategy if you don’t have some collaboration across the chain,”
The co-founders of Carbon Maps, Patrick Asdaghi, Jérémie Wainstain, and Estelle Huynh, have already had success in the food industry. Asdaghi’s previous startup, FoodChéri, which specializes in healthy food delivery, was acquired by Sodexo a few years ago. Breega and Samaipata, two venture capital firms that previously invested in FoodChéri, have also invested in Carbon Maps.
While few brands currently display eco scores on their labels, Carbon Maps believes that this is likely to change as consumers become more aware of environmental issues and demand more sustainable products. The European Union is also working on a standard called the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF), which will allow countries to create their own scoring systems based on European criteria. Carbon Maps hopes to be well-positioned to benefit from these changes.
Currently, Carbon Maps is working with two companies on pilot programs to test its platform. The startup aims to cover every vertical in the food industry and uses data from standardized sources like GHG Protocol, IPCC, ISO 14040, and 14044 to create models that calculate the impact of each criterion. By targeting food brands, Carbon Maps hopes to eventually get everyone across the supply chain to use its platform, making it an essential tool for sustainable food production.
