IMPRINT | Carbon mapping calculates the environmental impact of all food products and agricultural raw materials in a fast, reliable and actionable way. Interview with Patrick Asdagi, Co-Founder of Carbon Maps
What is the principle of carbon maps?
Patrick Asdagi: Jeremy Weinstein and Estelle Huynh and I created Carbon Maps at the end of last year to enable players in the food industry to assess the environmental impact of their products and identify areas for improvement. Works at all stages of the food chain.
Our profiles are very complementary – I am an engineer by training and serial entrepreneur, with a very solid experience in Your foodhaving created FoodChéri and Seazon (acquired by the Sodexo Group in 2021), when my co-founders are experts in data science and supply chain – and we are assisted in this task by our multidisciplinary scientific committee made up of experts in data, biodiversity or agriculture.
In concrete terms, the platform collects data from our industrial customers and their suppliers at all stages of the food chain, taking into account about twenty indicators such as greenhouse gas emissions of course, but also their water consumption, impact on biodiversity or even animal welfare … and analyzes it based on national public data ( IPCC reports, INRAe numbers, regional data, scientific literature, and commentary from the field.
Our ambition is also to help food manufacturers go beyond ‘simple’ measurement, by allowing them to simulate change scenarios, recipes or manufacturing steps and thus improve production and processing methods, to adopt truly customized climate strategies.
How did this idea arise?
Patrick Asdagi: Our food system is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity destruction, and deforestation. For five years, the environmental topic has become one of the main concerns of consumersThat requires more transparency from manufacturers and agri-food companies.
Moreover, there is currently a major controller destabilizing the agri-food industry. Starting January 1, 2024, the Climate and Resilience Act will encourage manufacturers to offer an ecological, “eco-grade” display on products that will inform consumers of the environmental impact of manufacturing the products. The moment is therefore crucial for the brands in this segment.
Patrick Asdagi: The platform collects data from our industrial customers and their suppliers at all stages of the food chain, taking into account about twenty indicators such as greenhouse gas emissions of course, but also their water consumption, impact on biodiversity or animal welfare.
What are the objectives of short-term carbon maps?
Patrick Asdagi: After an initial fundraising of €4 million, implemented in February 2023 with investment funds Breega and Samaipata, our goal is to recruit engineers to join our team of 20 employees and improve the platform. The idea is to further develop our own algorithms and build simulators in order to enable manufacturers to achieve paths of progress and know the cost associated with changing a recipe, for example.
Environmental accounting will become a must do Our ambition is to create the reference tool in the field. We also want to attack Europe very quickly – we can easily repeat our French models in other countries.
Finally, we hope to sign new customers soon, who will join the 10 manufacturers we are currently working with.
What is your business model?
Patrick Asdagi: Our solution is a SaaS platform (software as a service) with an annual subscription. This subscription allows manufacturers to simulate the impact on thousands of finished products or to help them model and assess the impact of an entire food chain. Our customers can too Their future EcoScore simulation, product by product, and simulating recipe improvements (eco-design). Finally, the platform will support them in their non-financial reporting obligations in Scope 3.
Why did you choose to become an entrepreneur?
Patrick Asdagi: I started my career with a distinguished mentor and entrepreneur, Jacques Ferrat, founder of Neuf Cegetel in telecoms (acquired by Vivendi) and Neoen, in renewable energies. Then after residing in the US on the Harvard campus, surrounded by entrepreneurs, the desire to become one myself certainly took shape.
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