Emissions accounting is something that was unheard of a few decades ago. But as the world becomes increasingly aware of the need to reduce carbon footprint, the concept has become fairly popular, with governments around the world encouraging companies to engage in carbon accounting. Carbon accounting, in turn, involves the translation of greenhouse gas emissions into an internationally recognized measurement of CO2 equivalents, thereby allowing for consistency, comparability, and transparency when measuring the impact of emissions.
Normative is the world’s first emissions accounting engine, and it has now raised €10 million in a round led by 2150 and ETF Partners. The round also included the participation of investors Lowercarbon Capital, ByFounders, and Luminar Ventures. With this, Normative has consolidated its position as the No. 1 carbon accounting SaaS company in Europe.
Founded in 2014 by Kristian Rönn to accelerate the transition to Net Zero, the Stockholm-based Normative say that it has set a new standard in scientific accuracy for emissions accounting, powered by its market-leading emissions database. With hundreds of customers, it has teamed up with leading climate change organizations including the UN, to deliver actionable sustainability intelligence.
Rönn said that ahead of COP26 (which is the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference), everyone (businesses in particular) should be courageous. Businesses should be pragmatic as well and realize that removing carbon inside their operations and their supply chains made good business sense. “The cost of carbon is a huge liability on your balance sheet and you need to act to ensure that your business will survive,” Rönn said, adding that business leaders have to grasp the historic opportunity now to measure and take action to reduce their carbon footprint.
Normative aims to standardize the inconsistent, expensive, and people-intensive process of carbon accounting – its software automates emission calculations and provides insights and guidance to companies on how to get to net zero.
This is something that is sorely needed since most companies are unable to track and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Normative provides software for the UK’s SME Climate Hub – which is a partner in the UN’s Race to Zero campaign aiming to drive change towards a decarbonized economy – and is also rolling out a free starter plan in collaboration with Google.org to provide businesses of all sizes with access to accurate carbon accounting tools.
