Who is behind the Verderon platform?
Verderon is a solution co-created by Semantum Ltd (est. 2007) and GreenDelta GmbH (est. 2004), with Semantum responsible for platform developing and marketing, and GreenDelta responsible for interoperability between different LCA software.
Majority of Semantum staff have background from VTT - the Technical Research Centre of Finland, and more than one in three hold PhDs in industrial automation IT, process automation technology and mathematics. Semantum works with several Fortune500 companies in the fields of automation, simulations and digital twins, and is the developer of SuLCA Life Cyle Assessment software.
GreenDelta is an expert consultant in environmental and social Life Cycle Assessment and sustainability data, and the developer of OpenLCA software. Impressively, GreenDelta can provide service in German, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Arabic and Indonesian.
This software is part of an activity that has received funding from EIT Digital. EIT Digital is supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union.
Product level gets mentioned often, why is product level important?
Verderon does indeed provide all the results on product level in a way that accounts for all of Scope 1, 2 and 3 environmental footprints. This is in contrast against current common practice of following the emissions on the factory level or corporate level. This paradigm shift is a necessity to tackle the real actual environmental footprints that the buyer is responsible for, whether in B2B transaction or in final purchase by consumer.
Tracking factory level environmental footprints is of course highly important for local environment, but it leaves too much room for greenwashing. For example, if a production process has 10 phases and one phase is responsible for majority of footprints, the company can outsource the polluting phase. Suddenly the site footprints and company footprints look fantastic, and a huge drop can be celebrated in corporate communications, but absolutely no change in total footprint has happened in the end-product, or the World.
For these reasons, the European Union is moving its legislation of industry to demand more and more information to be given on product level. In the near future it will only be legal to say your product is environmentally friendly, if such a claim is backed with robust LCA, the very methodology behind Verderon. The rules will not only apply to companies registered in EU, but anyone wishing to access the market from other continents.
Would Verderon pose a threat to our IT security or business secrets?
Verderon is deployed as an installation inside the target company, on the client’s server, and results are shared only internally (unless otherwise desired by the client).
The parent company of Verderon, Semantum Ltd, has 15 years of experience of working with IT installations for several Fortune500 companies.
Your data is exactly as safe after Verderon, as it was before Verderon.
How is Verderon priced?
Currently each customer case is priced individually, as no two production facilities are alike.
Verderon requires a site-specific set-up project. Depending on client requests, this can be a small pilot set-up with 1-20 pre-determined I/O connections, or an immediate full-scale deployment.
Once the set-up has been successfully validated, Verderon operates as SaaS with a monthly fee per product (per LCA model).
The set-up projects are estimated and invoiced on hourly basis, with a pre-agreed maximum cap.
Does Verderon only report CO2 emissions?
Verderon is based on robust LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) that is defined in ISO standards 14040 and 14044 and adds up Scope 1, 2 and 3 environmental footprints. This creates an advantage over several other environmental footprint trackers, where Verderon does not only focus on CO2 or global warming effect, but can produce results in as many as 19 different impact categories. (*
Importantly, Verderon does not only measure CO2 emissions but the CO2 equivalent of all greenhouse gases combined. (eg. methane and nitrous oxide)
Other impact categories can include KPIs such as water depletion, water acidification, land use, human toxicity, microscopic particles released in the air, radioactivity, etc.
*) The LCA model used needs to be configured accordingly to yield these results
Will our LCA model automatically work together with Verderon
Not necessarily, but we can offer our expertise and assistance as part of the set-up project to modify your model. Dynamic calculations may require the LCA model to be adjusted, but our team’s World class process industry experts and LCA consultant partners are ready to help.
Currently Verderon can operate models made in SuLCA, developed by Semantum Ltd, or with models made on OpenLCA or SimaPro, with support from our LCA specialist partner GreenDelta GmbH.
Inquire for more, if you are operating with GaBi or Umberto software.
Does Verderon directly affect process control? Is there a feedback loop?
No. Verderon receives data from automation- and information systems, but there is no feedback loop that might jeopardize your current process operation.
Is Verderon based on AI?
No. Unlike many substitute products in the market, Verderon does not need to build better and better educated guesses. Verderon receives precise data directly from process controls systems’ measurements that can be as frequent as once per second.
The validity of inputs and outputs outperform AI solutions, especially when operating in upstream process industry. We sincerely doubt the ability of any AI solution to provide precise footprint results every day, with precise cause breakdowns.
Is Verderon based on tracking ERP or other accounting?
No. Unlike many substitute products in the market, Verderon does not build results from averages received from traditional accounting, storage values or invoices. These have serious caveats that compromise the results, such as a batch of purchased raw material getting split between different products in different ratios, material getting lost, damaged or even unreceived in exact amounts described in the invoice.
Verderon receives precise data directly from process controls systems’ measurements that can be as frequent as once per second and the inputs are always related to exactly the product being made. Verderon set up is always made with process delays taken into consideration.
The validity of inputs and outputs outperform ERP-based solutions, especially when operating in upstream process industry. And also in downstream (eg. assembly), it is highly valuable to see precise breakdowns for footprint sources for each day.
What type of business and product can benefit of Verderon?
The highest value of Verderon is enjoyed at industrial plants that produce energy, or raw materials, or products upstream in value chain.
Even more value is extracted when the production process is non-linear. However, a breakdown visualization of footprint components is also helpful in fine tuning a linear process and making developments visible to entire organization.
I have a small business, can Verderon help me?
Maybe, if your business consults plant or product designs for large industries. Our typical target companies operate large production factories.
When designing new industrial plants Verderon can be utilized in simulating the upcoming processes and inspecting what-if scenarios to determine optimal designs that minimize environmental footprints. We can eg. build a connection between Verderon and a modelling and dynamical simulation tool, such as Apros.
Is Verderon an LCA modelling and calculation software?
No. To operate, Verderon requires an LCA model that has been made with one of the commercially available sector agnostic LCA software, such as OpenLCA, SimaPro or Sulca.
Inquire for more if you are running GaBi. We have solutions for you too.
Will deploying Verderon require a significant investment of our resources?
Some, but quite small on a scale of operating an industrial plant. Verderon can not simply be downloaded from the cloud to become fully operational at a click of a mouse. Our team must be provided with a dedicated server and data leads which require (reasonable) IT resources. Also it can be expected, that your LCA analyst is required to work with us to modify the model. We can also help with these modifications and if you do not have an LCA analyst or a model we can together with our partners provide turn-key service.
Based on our experience, with our assistance the resource needs are some work days, at max a few weeks.
Can Verderon help me with EU compliance?
Yes. Robust LCA is becoming more and more critical in evolving EU legislation, as focus is shifting from simply monitoring production sites, to product-level with the total of Scopes 1, 2 & 3 examined. Areas of compliance that we can help you with, are:
- PEF, Product Environmental Footprint
- Taxonomy for Sustainable Investments
- Renewable Energy Directive II
Etc.
Does Verderon provide LCA consulting?
We are not an LCA consultant, but we follow the scene and work in very close ties with some of the leading LCA consultants of Germany and Finland, GreenDelta (the developer of OpenLCA software) and VTT (The Technical Research Center of Finland) and others.
Our company does not have an LCA software or an LCA model, can you help us?
Yes we can. Verderon platform provider Semantum is the developer of one of the sector agnostic LCA software – Sulca, and our partner GreenDelta is the developer of OpenLCA software.
We are happy to bring our World class partners to the table around modelling needs.