Reflections from Verge 24

I write these thoughts on a Friday afternoon from the shores of the San Francisco Bay. On my left, the Golden Gate Bridge peaks through the fog, while on my right, Alcatraz Island looms in the water. It’s an ideal place and time to reflect on my week in San Jose, attending Verge 24, a conference exploring the topic of deploying climate tech at scale.

My goals were to understand the drivers behind the U.S.-based sustainability market, the specific needs created by those drivers and the technological landscape, how ecoinvent currently meets these needs, and what a possible shared future could look like.

Firstly, I sought to understand why businesses in the U.S. care about sustainability. U.S. climate regulations aren’t as strict as in the European Union. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dropped Scope 3 reporting, and most other sustainability regulations are specific to California and need time to come into effect.

Interestingly, the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which requires companies trading in the EU to report on the impact of corporate activities on the environment and society, is felt across the Atlantic and is frequently cited as a driver. This is because large enterprises tend to be active in both markets.

Other drivers include the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which grants tax credits for investments contributing to clean electricity and transport.

Some large tech corporations are also empowered by high margins and the conviction that we need to take care of this planet. These corporations set positive trends when they pay premiums for sustainable products.

Lastly, Verge 24 attendees cited end-consumer expectations as a driver for sustainable sourcing and production.

My second goal was to better understand what these companies are trying to achieve.

I discovered that the overwhelming majority of attending companies, keynotes, and panel discussions were focused on carbon. This is unsurprising and shows that other sustainability topics, such as biodiversity and social impact, have yet to take center stage at these kinds of events.

Repeatedly, I heard discussions about low-carbon technologies, carbon removal, and carbon accounting in various forms: Accounting & Reporting (A&R), Product Carbon Footprint (PCF), Corporate Carbon Footprint (CCF), etc. Excitingly, many of the individuals I spoke to on these matters were already users of the ecoinvent database.

I also asked about the challenges they currently face in achieving their carbon-related goals, and the most common response was a need for more primary data and more specific background data. AI solutions are currently not sophisticated enough to address this problem fully, so businesses and individuals are finding creative ways to solve this challenge for their unique cases. Some build models on top of our data to modify parameters on semiconductors and batteries, others ship their physical devices to specialized supply chain forensics, and many buy and combine multiple data sources. This is where a comprehensive database like ecoinvent will have a bigger impact in the future.

At ecoinvent, we are committed to providing high-quality, transparent background data worldwide to support data-driven sustainability decisions. Our database continues to grow to support our users and offer a comprehensive overview of environmental impact. This month, we released our latest update, ecoinvent version 3.11 which brings a wealth of new and updated datasets covering a broad range of sectors. Our database will continue to support our users across the globe.

— Nick Van Berckelaer, Head of Software Product Development