Three reasons why you should use Svalna to measure the carbon footprint of your organization
The Swedish start-up Svalna has developed a unique method that uses financial transaction data for calculating the greenhouse gas emissions of individual consumers, companies and organizations. The Svalna app, launched in 2019, is now used by approximately 17,000 Swedish private consumers. Building on insights from this B2C solution, we are now developing a groundbreaking B2B solution, that will make Svalna the only company in the world that offers an automated way of estimating the carbon footprints of companies and organizations based on financial transaction data.
Here are three reasons companies and organizations choose to work with us to measure their carbon footprint.
1. State-of-the-art assessment method
Svalna’s emission estimates include the emissions from the entire production chain, and take into account regional differences in production methods. The emission factors that Svalna use are based on data from environmentally-extended multi-regional input-output models, in line with global environmental accounting practice. Data from the same models are used to compile the National Greenhouse Gas Inventories that countries report to the UNFCCC under the Kyoto Protocol.
Input-output models describe inter-industry relationships within an economy and how outputs from one sector transform to inputs in other sectors. Environmentally-extended multi-regional input-output models represent the gold standard in environmental accounting, and data from these grand models can not only be used for estimating the greenhouse gas emissions of nations, but also of companies, organizations and individuals.
2. Straightforward data collection makes the solutions cost-efficient
Svalna’s B2B solution primarily uses data from the financial accounts of the organization. This makes data collection fast and easy, which saves time, as well as money. No complicated inventories need to be undertaken in order to gather the required data. That the solution builds on data easily available within the organization also means that it is easy to continually update and monitor the development over time, and in different areas of consumption (travel, energy etc.), and branches of the organization.
3. Valuable decision support that helps organizations reach emission-reduction targets
While many companies and organizations have agreed upon emission reduction targets, they often lack adequate tools to monitor and follow up the emissions. In order to help organizations overcome this problem, Svalna is currently developing a Carbon Intelligence System™ that will provide an overview of the current carbon footprint, and offer a scenario tool for decision support. The tool will be launched in early 2021. The idea is to make it easy to visualize the emission results, and understand how different actions (such as new policies regarding procurement or traveling) affects the carbon footprint, in order to help decision makers take suitable actions so that emission reduction targets can be reached.