Dive Brief:
- Watershed, a sustainability software startup, has launched a free version of its global emissions database, the Comprehensive Environmental Data Archive, to help companies “address critical gaps in emissions reporting data to inform more impactful climate action.”
- The startup — which helps companies measure, report and reduce their carbon footprint — unveiled Open CEDA last week and said the database covers 148 countries, 400 industries and 95% of the global gross domestic product.
- Open CEDA considers 60,000 emissions factors when evaluating a company’s footprint, provides annual updates on a company’s decarbonization progress and measures emissions in compliance with the GHG protocol, per its website.
Dive Insight:
Watershed’s platform takes data directly from companies’ systems to create an “audit-ready” carbon footprint report and supports businesses in understanding their climate disclosure obligations.
The sustainability startup currently manages around 1 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent across its portfolio, according to its website, which is almost double the volume it was managing last year. Watershed had reported managing around 479 million tonnes of carbon equivalent in February 2024. The company has a 2030 goal of collaborating with its customers to reduce or remove 500 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent from the atmosphere, which accounts for nearly 1% of annual global emissions.
Watershed’s current client list includes BlackRock, Bain Capital, Carlyle, KKR, Visa, Walmart, FedEx, Etsy, Paramount and others.
“Simply put, better data leads to better decisions,” Watershed Co-Founder Christian Anderson said in a May 22 release. “By opening up CEDA to the public, we hope to give organizations of all sizes a more accurate foundation from which to make critical choices about their sustainability action.”
Watershed said it will continue to offer clients a paid version of CEDA as well. The version includes additional features, such as breakdown of emissions categorized by scopes 1, 2 and 3, and a comprehensive analysis that helps companies understand differences in emission factors, among other offerings.
The company said Open CEDA is recommended for “organizations or companies measuring for the first time,” whereas CEDA is recommended for “more advanced sustainability programs and service providers,” per its website.
Last year, Watershed secured $100 million during a Series C funding round, which it said would allow it to continue developing climate programs for clients and redouble its investments in Europe. The financing was led by San Francisco-based investment firm Greenoaks and raised the company’s valuation to $1.8 billion at the time.
