Berlin-based startup The Climate Choice raises $2m funding round to decarbonize the supply chain

The Climate Choice, a climate intelligence software platform for decarbonizing industrial supply chains, announced $2 million in pre-seed funding. The round is led by Gutter Capital along with Possibilian Ventures, with participation from existing investors West Tech Ventures and Business Angels. The fresh capital will be used for further development and expansion of its Climate Intelligence Platform, which helps companies understand climate performance, comply with reporting requirements, and take actions to realize climate transformation in the supply chain.

According to the World Economic Forum, Scope 3 emissions, or CO2 in supply chains can make up as much as 90% of a company's carbon footprint and worldwide more than 50% of all emissions can be traced back to only 8 supply chains. However, companies are struggling to reduce these emissions. Even if they set climate targets, a pathway to decarbonization can be complex, time-consuming and untransparent. As a result, starting in 2024, the EU will begin phasing in expansive corporate sustainability reporting to 49,000 companies and the U.S. is following suit with the Securities and Exchange Commission proposing a Climate Disclosure Rule in 2022.

Dan Teran, Co-founder, Gutter Capital: "It is not enough to turn off the lights at HQ. Corporations need to take full accountability for their carbon emissions, and that means getting serious at Scope 3 emissions reporting and reduction. There are many startup companies focused on carbon accounting software at the corporate level. Without suppliers on board, the analysis is skin deep. The Climate Choice platform provides a fast and painless solution for corporate procurement teams to understand their suppliers carbon footprint and mitigation plans."

In November 2022, the European Commission awarded the Climate Intelligence Platform with the "Best Digital Solution" award, recognizing its "high-impact potential to the greening and digitalisation of European industry." In addition to this recognition, customers from around the world are already using the supply chain decarbonization software tool to automate time-consuming processes from data collection to monitoring and engagement, as well as to support suppliers on their decarbonization journey.

Enterprise customers include telecommunications service o2 Telefónica and HiPP, an organic baby food company. o2 Telefónica is using The Climate Choice software platform to collect climate-focused data from 1,000 suppliers and HiPP uses The Climate Choice to manage climate-risk and emissions data, which serves as the basis for collaborating with suppliers on reducing emissions in the value chain.

At the heart of The Climate Choice's solution is the digital management and secure sharing of climate-relevant corporate data. This topic is becoming increasingly important for companies with new climate disclosure requirements along with financial institutions increasingly including Scope 3 emissions in their guidance to borrowers. This means that even with strong targets on Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, and some elements of a credible climate transition plan in place, financing could be at risk as well.

According to the Oliver Wyman Stepping Up report from February of 2023, around half (49%) of European companies report having a climate transition plan in place to limit warming in alignment with the Paris Agreement. However, when it comes to the ambition and transparency of those plans, less than 5% of companies show the advancement transition readiness required to achieve the Paris Agreement's goals. With regulations on the horizon, The Climate Choice is setting companies up for a clear path to decarbonize their Scope 3 emissions and achieve their climate targets together with suppliers.

Yasha Tarani, Co-founder and CEO, The Climate Choice: "There is still a large disconnect between the aspirational climate targets and the reality of actions taken– and yet every company now requires a clear and effective approach for reducing their emissions. Data-informed, streamlined processes are key for monitoring, tracking and engaging suppliers in their decarbonization journey for any large supply chain. We're very excited to team up with Gutter Capital to develop our Climate Intelligence Platform delivering scalable and accessible decarbonization for corporate supply chains globally."

www.theclimatechoice.com