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Spotted: One of the key takeaways from COP26 is that, beyond governments, everyone has a role to play if we are to achieve net-zero. But if you’re a business leader, how can you track your carbon emissions in order to make more informed climate-positive decisions – especially if you’re a smaller company? In the past, most solutions have been consultancy-based, costing tens of thousands of pounds. Now, carbon accounting software company Spherics has developed a solution that automates the process, making carbon-counting more affordable.

The Spherics platform works by deriving information from financial accounts. It starts by using reliable emission conversion factors to translate data on spending into emissions data. These conversion factors are published by governments and are robust, yet they represent a UK average. What is particularly exciting about the Spherics technology, is that it is iterative. As users input data, the system builds a much more precise picture of what the conversion factor should be for each type of business. This means that users effectively improve the accuracy of their own carbon footprint. Moreover, the whole system gets smarter as the number of users grows.

Eventually, Spherics hopes to gather enough quality user data to have unrivalled visibility of trends and patterns in emissions. This will give them the ability to tailor recommendations for decarbonisation.

The inspiration for Spherics was a recognition that many small businesses and non-profit organisations lack the resources to effectively track their footprint, making it very difficult to develop effective sustainability initiatives. Founder of Spherics, George Sandilands, told Springwise, “We started Spherics to respond to the climate and ecological emergency. An estimated 200 species a day are becoming extinct, extreme weather events are escalating on an unprecedented scale. Business as usual is killing life on our planet. Small businesses are responsible for a significant proportion of global emissions, but lack the resources, tools and solutions to reduce or remove these emissions. We’re here to change that”.

Carbon-counting technology is a hot trend, and Springwise has recently spotted several similar innovations. These include a carbon ‘accounting engine’, and a platform that provides data infrastructure for climate-positive applications.

Written by: Matthew Hempstead

Editor’s note: James Bidwell, Chair of Springwise, is an investor in Spherics but his views are not represented in this article.