Tech Giants Are Building Carbon Footprint Software For Big Oil

A growing number of oil and gas companies are looking to measure and reduce their carbon emissions under increased pressure from shareholders to join the fight against climate change - and the result is that the tech industry is starting to get into the oil and gas game.

A growing number of technology companies – from well-established names to start-ups – are now launching carbon emissions tracking and accounting software, Reuters reports.

In June, Germany's SAP launched a carbon emissions accounting system to help firms manage and reduce their carbon footprint and accelerate the move to sustainable business practices.

"Our goal is to create transparency about carbon emissions all the way through the value chain, across industries, geographies, products, and services," Toby Croucher, head of Solution Management for Climate 21 and Sustainability at SAP, said in June.

Salesforce also has a carbon accounting offering to help companies in many industries track, analyze, and reduce their carbon emissions.

Venture-backed software-as-a-service (SaaS) company Persefoni, founded this year and based in Arizona, announced on Tuesday the launch of its carbon footprint management platform and the closing of US$3.5 million in seed round funding, led by Rice Investment Group, which invests in energy firms.

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"Persefoni has already witnessed incredible demand for a platform to do just that from some of the world's largest companies and institutional investors across every sector and geography," Kentaro Kawamori, CEO and Co-Founder of Persefoni, said in a statement.

Daniel Rice IV, Co-Founder and Partner at Rice Investment Group, said:

"As energy-focused investors, we are acutely aware of the growing demand from all stakeholders for standardized, quality information about companies' carbon footprints."

Some oil and gas companies in Europe have already committed to targets to significantly reduce their carbon emissions in the next decades. Some, including BP and Shell, aim to become net-zero energy businesses by 2050 or sooner. The largest U.S. oil firms, however, have not made any such pledges, but investor pressure on Exxon and Chevron to start accounting for climate risks is mounting.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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