Unlocking the power of scope 3: How Root and Rainbow Collection make carbon measurement & reduction easier

Companies are on the hunt for better ways to measure and cut down their scope 3 carbon emissions. These are all the indirect carbon emissions that come from a company’s supply chain, like the production and transportation of materials, and the use or disposal of products. Measuring and reducing scope 3 emissions is a must if you’re setting credible, science-based net-zero goals.
If you’re a product-focused company, buckle up — scope 3 could make up as much as 90% of your total carbon footprint. That’s a big chunk, but here’s the good news: calculating emissions across your product range and value chain is becoming more doable than ever. Root and Rainbow Collection are collaborating on this, to make carbon measurement and reduction easier. Curious how? Let’s dive in.

Why are scope 3 emissions so important?

Solid scope 3 data is key – it empowers you to make informed decisions at product level and choose the right partners. It can also safeguard you against greenwashing and ensures alignment with science-based targets (SBTi). Measuring and reducing scope 3 emissions is essential to drive real, impactful change. But what are scope 3 emissions? Here’s a brief explanation of the different types of carbon emissions:

• Scope 1: Direct emissions from things like company-owned facilities and vehicles.
• Scope 2: Indirect emissions from the energy you buy, like electricity.
• Scope 3: Indirect emissions across your entire value chain—think raw materials, outsourced logistics, and what happens when your product’s life-cycle ends.

Now, imagine scope 1 and 2 as the tip of the iceberg. The bulk of your emissions are hidden below the surface in scope 3. With scope 3 emissions often accounting for up to 90% of a company’s carbon footprint, it’s where the real impact lies. However, many companies struggle with mapping their product footprints. How can you get going with this in a way that’s easy, accessible and scalable when you have a large product portfolio?

Automated LCAs for large product portfolios made easy

A solid way to analyze your products and measure scope 3 emissions is with Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). This method evaluates a product’s environmental impacts throughout its life cycle, from raw materials to disposal. Traditional LCAs are invaluable for companies but are typically inefficient, not scalable as they are only conducted on one product and are only accessible to LCA experts and academics. 

Root has developed a SaaS solution that makes LCAs scaleable (creating thousands of LCAs at once), fast, and accessible. Based on your purchase and sales data, plus (the start of) your bill of materials, Root’s software automatically maps your value chain and converts your product data into actionable insights you can use to drive impact in your business. Are you missing some material details? No problem! You can start with the products that make up the largest part of your footprint.

Root enables you to easily access your company’s and your entire product portfolio’s carbon footprint. Specifically, Root generates product footprints with those all-important scope 3 emissions. If you are one of Rainbow Collection’s customers, you can try it with Root’s exclusive annual subscription offer.  

Why does this matter?

As mentioned, sustainability teams urgently need access to accurate carbon footprints, including the crucial scope 3 data. This is how we can drive product innovation, accelerate net zero journeys and respond to stakeholder requests for product footprints. Plus, regulations like CSRD increasingly require comprehensive data on a company’s climate impact.

At Rainbow Collection, we often see that companies want to collect data, or already started to do so. But there’s a pitfall—data collection shouldn’t become a goal itself. It’s just the means to an end: reducing your footprint. We’re all about keeping it simple and action-driven so the focus can be on actually becoming more sustainable.

Effective strategies

When carbon calculations, especially scope 3, become more accurate and accessible, it opens the door to truly effective carbon reduction strategies. At Rainbow Collection, we use your carbon footprints – which you could calculate with Root – to pinpoint hotspots and build an actionable climate strategy. We call that our “Cut Your Carbon” approach, consisting of three practical steps:

1. Baseline
2. Hotspot matrix
3. Strategy & roadmap

We’ll guide you through implementing the strategy and roadmap, showing you exactly what to do, when to do it, and who should be involved. We’ll also assign clear owners and resources, ensuring that actions are planned with your available time and budget in mind.

Sustainability agencies like Rainbow Collection are essential in helping companies use LCA data effectively, turning insights into impactful, real-world carbon reduction strategies. Let’s make sustainability simpler and more actionable together!

Root x Rainbow Collection partnership summary

Root brings the tech and data expertise, while Rainbow Collection acts as your strategic coach. With Root, you’ll automate data collection and generate accurate company wide and product-level carbon footprints, including the crucial scope 3 emissions. Rainbow Collection helps you interpret that data, build a solid climate strategy, and make sure the reduction measures are actually implemented.

The real magic of this partnership? Combining reliable data with actionable insights so you can take effective climate action without it consuming too much of your time. Beyond crafting an effective carbon strategy—complete with hotspots, reduction measures, and a clear roadmap – you’ll also benefit from:

• Having accurate company-wide and product-level carbon footprints
• Setting realistic, data-driven science-based targets
• Using data to back up your green claims and avoid greenwashing
• Driving product innovation with product-level data. 
• Collecting data for CSRD (and other frameworks)

Other benefits are that your LCAs are ‘live’. The real-time updates ensure that you are continuously up-to-date, with more information and data being added. This means you will optimize your footprints step by step and calculations become really accurate over time.

Together, automated LCA platforms and sustainability agencies can unlock the hidden potential of scope 3 reduction, driving impactful climate action. – Lana Buunk, Impact Strategist at Rainbow Collection

How we work together:

By teaming up, Root and Rainbow Collection simplify the complex process of measuring and reducing carbon emissions. Root handles the technical side of things—automating data collection and generating carbon footprints—while Rainbow Collection translates that data into practical strategies and ensures the reduction measures are put in place. This partnership not only scales with your needs but also provides real-time updates as more data is gathered.

I’m excited to see this partnership in action – Rainbow Collection using carbon footprints, including the crucial scope 3 data, from Root’s platform to create robust, data-driven climate strategies. – Charlie Walter, Sustainability Manager at Root

For Rainbow Collection customers, Root is offering a one-time exclusive offer to measure their carbon footprints, including scope 3 emissions. 

Here are the details: 

• Annual subscription
• 2 months free!
• Start date 1st November 2024
• Free onboarding
• Expert LCA support on hand

The offer is available until 1st November 2024, and only five spots are available.

If you are one of our customers, reach out to Root’s Cofounder Gijs here to lean more about the annual subscription.

Are you interested to learn more about this partnership? Listen to our webinar recording where we explored the partnership here.

Let’s recap on the above. Scope 3 is really important and it’s getting easier to dive into it. But what are the first steps you can take yourself to start measuring & reducing scope 3?

1. Understand your emissions: Identify activities that fall under scope 1, 2, and 3 using the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.
2. Build your team: Gather a cross-departmental team (HR, procurement, supply chain, etc.) to help collect relevant data.
3. Collect and calculate: Start gathering scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions data, engaging with both internal and external stakeholders like suppliers.
4. Use LCA platforms like Root to automate and analyze your supply chain data.

Ready to get started?

If you’re a Rainbow Collection customer, get in touch with Gijs from Root to explore Root’s annual subscription. Or reach out to Lana from Rainbow Collection to learn more about Rainbow Collection’s “Cut Your Carbon” programme.