This audio is generated by AI, so pronunciation and expressions may not be fully accurate. The narration is only in English.
Founded in France in 2015, Everimpact uses technology and digital tools to help businesses, cities, and other organizations more fully understand their greenhouse gas emissions. Without accurate data, organizations risk under- or over-reporting their net emissions, hindering their ability to optimize decision-making for sustainability or access green finance.
Everimpact utilizes satellites and sensors to gather real-time data on greenhouse gas emissions and carbon flows, allowing its clients to track emissions across time and space in a way similar to weather monitoring.
"Everimpact is bringing the carbon identity card to the world," says Everimpact CEO and Founder Mathieu Carlier, noting that society already uses unique identification numbers for other systems that need to be tracked and controlled, such as taxes.
Everimpact began working with Japanese companies through an online accelerator for startups. They also met a former Japanese economy minister at the startup campus Station F in Paris. In 2024, Everimpact opened an office in Tokyo.
"In Japan, people are very conscious of the importance of preserving forest ecosystems and making Japan a sustainable place," he says. "I think Japan can see that future growth can come through its environment and through technology, and that combining the two can create business value."
Everimpact has already seen success in pilot projects with Japanese companies and stakeholders.
For example, the company monitored maritime emissions by installing sensors at ship exhaust stacks—with surprising results. "We demonstrated that the ships were emitting about 10% less than what was believed and estimated," Carlier says.
In another project, Everimpact assessed the net flow of carbon in a forest in Miyagi Prefecture. Its data provided a foundation for forest owners and other stakeholders to plan how to regenerate the degraded forest ecosystem. The project was the first of its kind outside the United States, Carlier says.
"This is an impactful project because it has several benefits: It creates financial incentives to preserve the forest, it reduces carbon in the atmosphere through sequestration, and it also creates jobs and new revenue for forest owners," he explains.
Last year, Everimpact applied for and received second place in the Tokyo Financial Award 2024 Financial Innovation Category.
As part of Tokyo's efforts to become an innovation and financial hub in Asia, the award recognizes innovative solutions and sustainable initiatives in the financial sector. Awardees are eventually selected from both the financial innovation and sustainability categories. Regarding the financial innovation category, it incorporates a support program, including mentoring and networking opportunities.
Receiving the Tokyo Financial Award has greatly benefited Everimpact. "The award was a great sign of trust. It has given us visibility with the press and with investors, as well as credibility, including in other countries," Carlier says, highlighting Tokyo's and Japan's reputation for quality and trustworthiness.
One key to innovation for sustainability is collaboration between corporations, banks, and startups—all present in the metropolis. "Tokyo has been very impressive and mature in terms of trying to build an ecosystem for green tech and fintech," Carlier notes.
Carlier sees Everimpact's mission as enabling informed, data-driven decisions on emissions.
One important benefit is increased trust. These days, it is critical for businesses and other organizations to meaningfully reduce their environmental impact—initiatives that look good but, in reality, do little for the planet risk being labeled as "greenwashing."
"Greenwashing can be both intentional and unintentional," Carlier explains. "We tend to think of greenwashing as pointing fingers at someone who is doing bad actions, but I think a big part is also because people do not have the tools and do not know where to start. There are lots of standards to follow and lots of data to collect. I think people are lost, and that is why some greenwashing happens."
Everimpact works from an angle of trust, alongside various types of customers and with a mindset of trying to improve any inaccurate emissions reporting they find. "We are trying to provide a trustworthy layer of data in order to avoid issues such as double counting emissions and fugitive emissions. Tracing carbon will reduce greenwashing and build trust into the system," Carlier says.
As Everimpact continues to scale its business and work with a growing number of partners, both in Japan and internationally, Carlier hopes his company will achieve its mission promoting the widespread use of a carbon identification system, which he sees as key to addressing the climate crisis. In Japan, he aims to increase the number of employees at Everimpact's Tokyo office and make it a base for the company to continue developing its business in Asia.
"It may seem simple sometimes, but we need to think about the planet and the environment. If we are not taking care of it, we will have problems. It is obvious, but we tend to forget as a society," Carlier concludes. "In 20 or 30 years' time, every ton emitted will have a much greater impact. We have to act now."
