PORTFOLIO

The European and Swiss climate strategy increase the regulatory pressure on companies. They are directly mandated or indirectly urged by business partners and customers to operate more sustainably and to be transparent about it. A reliable and comprehensive inventory of carbon emissions forms the basis for the development of a successful climate strategy, ultimately driving increased sustainability within a company. Current research in sustainability reporting of Swiss small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) shows that the challenges originate in the accessibility of the data, limited personnel resources and the lack of intragroup expertise, while the pressure from B2B customers and investors is increasing.
The Zelsius project aims to significantly facilitate the process of carbon emissions reporting for Swiss SMEs, by developing a carbon management platform that connects all relevant stakeholders in the ecosystem. For SMEs the platform enables the easy and fast quantification of their carbon emissions, resulting in the final output in the shape of a standardized report according to the relevant guidelines. The SMEs can then publish their data and reports on their platform profile in order to showcase their sustainability efforts. Larger companies that are required by law to report on their carbon emissions can search through the platform for a suitable supplier with low carbon emissions and investors receive decision guidance for their sustainable investments.
Overall, the Zelsius project pursues the goal of making Swiss SMEs and the Swiss economy more sustainable through user friendly and pragmatic carbon management.

In the first phase of the project, an appropriate carbon accounting framework, complying to the demanded standards from the EU or also to global standards, has to be developed together with a straightforward questionnaire that guides the user expediently through the data collection. These two components build the basis of the planned Zelsius software tool for carbon accounting. The minimal viable product will be tested with SMEs and improved based on their feedback.
In the second phase of the project, the profile functions for the platform will be developed, tested and improved.