In an era marked by urgent environmental concerns and evolving ESG regulations, businesses are under significant pressure to measure and mitigate the environmental impact of their supply chains, particularly the intricate scope 3 emissions that account for over 90% of a company's carbon footprint.
The pressure to address scope 3 emissions trickles down to the software and systems utilized by enterprises to manage their operations. As an enterprise solutions provider, Kinaxis is experiencing a growing demand for integrated carbon management features: “Currently, emissions data is very static,” says John Nafis, Product Manager at Kinaxis, “it's collected and maybe put into a report for future analysis, but it remains isolated and isn’t integrated with any actionable processes. The only way you can really make that data useful is to rely on the software industry. The data needs to be linked to a specific activity, not just stored in a PDF that's overlooked. Without practical application, this information fails to encourage any real action."
To address this need, Kinaxis has developed and integrated a new Sustainable Supply Chain solution into its Maestro platform, allowing users to access relevant carbon insights through Maestro and gain detailed knowledge of their supply chain's carbon footprint across scope 1, 2, and 3.
Challenge: Companies need reliable scope 3 insights at scale
Kinaxis set two main objectives: Firstly, to allow users to visualize their carbon footprint throughout the entire value chain, and secondly, to enable the integration of carbon as an essential KPI in supply chain decisions.
Nafis explains, “we wanted to provide a concurrent planning solution that connects the end-to-end supply chain and allows our customers to see how changes in forecast, demand or supply disruption could impact CO2. It's not just modeling for reduction strategies, but seeing how changes in the supply chain activities could impact carbon.”
To provide carbon estimates suitable for decision-making, the Kinaxis team knew they needed to ensure their emission calculation solution was both accurate and scalable. Their primary challenges included:
- Data Accessibility: Ensuring access to reliable, up-to-date, and compliant emission factor data.
- Complex Emissions Calculations: Tackling the intricacies of scope 3 emission calculations on a global scale.
- Expertise and Credibility: Building the necessary carbon accounting expertise internally to deliver compliant and trusted emission guidance.
“We see ourselves as supply chain experts. But it would take us a long time to build up [sustainability] expertise, and to develop credibility in the market would take even longer,” said Nafis.
Solution: Climatiq embeds accurate CO2 metrics for freight transport, shipment flows, and purchased goods and services
Climatiq's API integrates seamlessly with Maestro, embedding critical emissions data directly into the supply chain planning process for improved orchestration.
“There were other databases and services out there that offer similar capabilities, but none of them had the API connectivity that we were looking for,” reflects Nafis, “we want our customers to be able to quickly simulate changes in their supply chain and see the impact. We don’t want that to be an overnight process. We want it to be happening in human time. Now, we can just call a specific API from Climatiq.”
Through its climate science team and Scientific Advisory Board, Climatiq also provides the necessary expertise, ensuring accuracy and reliability to meet the needs of global ESG reporting requirements. Nafis highlights the natural fit of the partnership, stating, "Climatiq has a team of skilled climate scientists who have been in this space for a long time. As a company, Climatiq has garnered a lot of respect”.
The integration with Climatiq enables Kinaxis customers to:
- Visualize Impact: Gain comprehensive visibility into scope 3 emissions across freight transport, shipment flows, and purchased goods and services – breaking down insights across categories and product groups.
- Eliminate Silos: Make informed, carbon-aware decisions within existing workflows, ensuring that sustainability is a core consideration in every choice.
- Model Sustainable Scenarios: Utilize powerful simulation tools to project and compare the CO2e impact of various supply chain scenarios, identifying hotspots and reduction opportunities.
Kinaxis users can now easily and accurately weigh environmental factors alongside economic and service indicators to optimally balance their triple bottom line – fostering a new level of environmental transparency across supply chains.
Results: Trusted scope 3 insights delivered at speed and scale
The Kinaxis team rolled out their Sustainable Supply Chain solution after a brief development period, finding the setup with Climatiq to be swift and straightforward: “The API made it easy for our developer to work with the Climatiq team and make a very quick connection,” says Nafis, “not only did Climatiq help accelerate our time to market, but their expertise in climate science helped us understand how to best interpret the results.”
As this partnership continues to evolve, the potential for transformative impact grows. Businesses equipped with Kinaxis's Sustainable Supply Chain solution, powered by Climatiq's expertise, are well-positioned to lead the charge in reducing global scope 3 emissions – one decision at a time.
