If the world is to reach net zero, and avoid climate disaster, it needs to make every product sustainable, and that means every purchase. But to do that you need a lot more transparency, so that means more data on suppliers to improve sourcing and benchmarking companies. While companies are often doing their best, the problem with issues like CO2 emissions lies in the supply chain.
Danish startup Responsibly reckons it has the answers in providing retailers, builders and others with a supply network a scorecard against this supply chain of providers. Thus, a company can check if any level of its supply chain is involved in deforestation, water pollution, as well as human rights violations or gender pay gap issues.
It’s now raised a $2 million pre-seed investment round led by Flash Ventures. Also participating is Pirate Impact (the family office of Fabian & Ferry Heilemann) and Michael Wax, founder and CEO of Planetly Benedikt Franke.
The startup will now soft-launch the first version of its platform, which will look at the supplier data of more than 10,000 suppliers for pilot customers.
Responsibly’s co-founder and CEO Thomas Buch Andersson said: “If we can make it as easy for purchasers to evaluate how their suppliers compare on a planetary agenda, as it is to compare them on price, then we think we can unlock the huge force for change that’s sitting in the world’s procurement departments.”
Johann Nordhus Westarp, founding partner at Flash Ventures said: “The timing is perfect, and companies will fundamentally change the way they procure in the next couple of years. Price- or value-driven procurement will give way to impact-driven procurement. Companies are acting somewhat blindly today, treading-water to solve the ‘problem of the day’. Responsibly helps them finally get visibility into their procurement footprints and make forward-thinking decisions for all the right reasons.”
According to CDP, some 40% of global GHG emissions are driven or influenced companies through their purchases and the products they sell. Meanwhile, Gartner found that 23% of supply chain leaders expect to have a digital ecosystem by 2025, up from only 1% today.
Speaking to me over a call Buch Andersson said: “The space for responsible sourcing has really evolved quite a lot over the past 20 years. We are building a layer on top of all of the different data providers to essentially allow the procurement team to flexibly read any information, interpret it and then use it for sourcing decision making.”
Responsibly competes with EcoVadis and Integrity Next.