Persefoni Annual Impact Report 2024

Updated: 
October 23, 2024

A Letter from Our Leadership

We founded this company with the belief that technology could play a pivotal role in addressing the challenges of climate change, and today, that belief is more validated than ever. As the climate crisis intensifies, the need for decisive action becomes more urgent. Governments are responding with necessary regulations and legislation aimed at increasing transparency and mitigating climate risks. For organizations of all sizes, this means rising to the challenge of conducting transparent, reliable, and accurate greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting. Persefoni is here to meet that need, providing the tools that empower businesses to navigate these critical requirements and take meaningful steps toward the transition to a lower carbon economy.

The past year has been a transformative one for our company. We launched Persefoni Pro, a powerful platform that empowers small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to measure their carbon footprints, regardless of their industry or level of expertise - all for free. In its first six months, Persefoni Pro welcomed over 3,000 users, including universities, local governments, NGOs, and businesses from around the world. This incredible response affirms our belief that accurate carbon accounting should be accessible to everyone, and we are proud to lead the way in democratizing this essential tool.

Our focus remains steadfast on three key sustainability pillars: (1) climate – empowering our clients to measure and manage their carbon footprint while actively managing our own; (2) our people – fostering an environment where top talent can excel; and (3) cybersecurity – ensuring a secure and trusted platform for our customers. While we acknowledge the importance of other sustainability areas, our priority is to concentrate on the issues most critical to our customers, employees, and the future of our company. By dedicating ourselves to these areas, we believe we can make a meaningful impact, support our stakeholders, and maintain our leadership as the market evolves.

In 2023, we calculated and disclosed our carbon footprint across Scopes 1, 2, and all relevant Scope 3 categories. We are voluntarily obtaining third-party assurance to enhance transparency and accountability. Additionally, we are actively developing comprehensive decarbonization strategies tailored to our organization's unique footprint which will be shared in the coming years as part of our long-term commitment to meaningful climate action. We also remain firmly committed to our people and our values. From fostering an inclusive work culture to ensuring the highest standards of cybersecurity, Persefoni’s foundation is built on trust, respect, and a shared vision of a more sustainable future. We continue to invest in creating a company where talent thrives and diversity is celebrated.

Looking ahead, we remain dedicated to providing exceptional support to our customers as they measure, report, and decarbonize. Since our founding in 2020, we’ve been scaling our sustainability program alongside our company's growth, continually striving to lead by example in the climate tech industry. Our commitment to sustainability is at the core of everything we do, and we’ll continue to evolve as both our company and the industry advance.

Kentaro Kawamori
CEO & Co-Founder
Kristina Wyatt
Deputy General Counsel & CSO
Anissa Vasquez
Sustainability Director

Materiality & ESG Focal Areas

In 2022, Persefoni completed an ESG materiality assessment to guide and focus our priority ESG issues. As part of the assessment, we completed interviews with Persefoni’s Executive Management Team and Sustainability Advisory Board (SAB), which we supplemented with inputs from other Persefoni stakeholder groups such as peers, investors, customers, and suppliers. In total, we evaluated over 30 potential topics, leading us to focus on the three areas described previously as those most critical to our customers, our people, and our company’s success:

Carbon Emissions & Climate

Human Capital Management

Cybersecurity & Data Protection

Carbon Emissions & Climate

The most significant climate impact we can have as an organization is achieved through the Persefoni Climate Management & Accounting Platform (CMAP). In addition to the core carbon accounting capabilities of the Persefoni CMAP, we’ve built several tools (with more in development) that enable our customers to better analyze and drive impact on their footprint, including:

Persefoni Pro

Part of Persefoni’s mission is to democratize carbon accounting for businesses of all sizes. We want to make measuring a carbon footprint as simple as possible for as many organizations as possible. In March of 2024, we launched Persefoni Pro - a first-of-its-kind platform which allows organizations to measure their greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol completely for free. As of August 2024, we have expanded our offering to include all fifteen Scope 3 categories. Coupled with Persefoni’s Data Exchange, our Advanced customers who want to decarbonize their supply chain can leverage Pro to request emissions from their suppliers. With the click of a button, suppliers can create a free Pro account and begin responding to their customer’s data requests. 

“Companies are inundated with, and it is vital that they are able to make informed, meaningful decisions based on data survey requests for data across the ESG ecosystem, all aimed at ‘engaging supply chains.’ Persefoni Pro shifts the focus from engagement to empowerment—equipping businesses in the supply chain with new technology to create real value, not just add another reporting burden.” Kentaro Kawamori, CEO & Co-founder

As of October 2024, Persefoni Pro has over 3,800 signups spanning every industry and hundreds of countries. We created Pro primarily as a tool for companies, but users also include universities, local governments, NGOs, and think tanks. 

Our Pro clients often are faced with a daunting task. They are unsure of how to get started disclosing their footprint to a major customer, investor, or regulator. Through Pro’s intuitive user interface, built through feedback from hundreds of Persefoni clients, Pro users have gone from zero carbon accounting knowledge to completing their total footprint within days. 

We believe that empowering SMEs with the tools to measure their carbon footprint independently will build their capacity to prepare for a world of regulated climate disclosure. SMEs have an important part to play in the fight against climate change and it is vital that they are able to make informed, meaningful decisions based on data that is specific to their company. We are excited to see Pro’s initial impact on the market and look forward to enabling more companies to begin their climate journey with Persefoni Pro.
Screenshot of the Persefoni Side By Side Comparison UI

Portfolio Analytics Suite

Designed to help financial institutions understand, report, and take action on the climate impact of investment activities. 
Screenshot of the Persefoni Net Zero Navigator UI

Net Zero Navigator

Built to customize and track a unique decarbonization strategy based on Bain’s industry-specific decarbonization actions informed by deep net zero expertise. With Net Zero Navigator, companies can find the highest impact actions to reach their reduction targets based on their industry and operations. Now companies can spend less time analyzing and more time implementing. Net Zero Navigator won InsuranceERM’s Global Climate Risk & Sustainability Awards 2024 as the Climate Regulatory & Reporting Solution of the Year.

We also invest significantly in supporting our customers using the Persefoni platform. Persefoni maintains a Customer Success team of climate experts to work directly with our customers on using the platform while also developing tools and resources to empower our customers to use the platform independently. In 2021, we performed an in-depth analysis of our customers’ ambitions and challenges as our roadmap to develop a Rapid Deployment Program to onboard and provide ongoing support to our customers. We have used feedback from that assessment to build ongoing support tools, including the Persefoni Help Center, Zendesk-enabled customer service experience, and 24/7 access for all customer personnel to our Persefoni Academy learning resources that address carbon accounting topics and the use of the Persefoni platform.

Collectively, we aim to combine high-quality climate expertise, an intuitive product, and leading customer support to enable our customers to calculate their emissions and report with confidence, no matter their progress on their climate journey. For customers who need additional support, Persefoni has established a Partner Network that can provide additional support, regardless of carbon program maturity, from data services to help them establish their initial footprint, build an ESG data stack, and develop and execute a decarbonization strategy.

Since 2021, we have leveraged our Sustainability Advisory Board (SAB) to advise us on creating best-in-class solutions that assist and guide enterprises and investors to manage their carbon accounting, disclosure, internal education, and ultimately, decarbonization efforts. Our SAB comprises leading industry experts helping shape the ESG and climate disclosure space and providing us with invaluable guidance on building our product - and company - in this rapidly evolving market.

While our largest climate impact is through our platform and enabling our customers, we also believe it is critical to lead by example by taking action to reduce our own carbon footprint and making commitments that demonstrate our dedication to supporting urgent and universal action on climate change.

Persefoni is proud to be a signatory to The Climate Pledge and Carbon Call. As signatories, we work to mitigate our own footprint, commit to a net zero by 2040 target, partner to support joint action to address critical climate challenges and participate in the development of a reliable and interoperable carbon accounting system for companies and the planet.

The Carbon Call and The Climate Pledge Logos

With these commitments, we are proud to share our 2024 carbon footprint, which includes all relevant material Scope 3 categories for our business. As a software business that operates primarily as a distributed workforce, our most significant carbon impacts are currently business travel, purchased goods and services, and capital goods.

We are currently in the process of securing limited assurance of our 2023 footprint from Apex Companies, LLC, and will update this page with our assurance document.

Persefoni 2023 Carbon Footprint

2,290.56
tCO2e

2022 Total Emissions

0
tCO2e

Scope 1

1.48
tCO2e

Scope 2

2,289.08
tCO2e

Scope 3

Scope 3 Emissions Breakdown
tCO2e
Category 1 Purchased goods and services
1,109.52
Category 2 Capital goods
1.99
Category 3 Fuel- and energy-related activities
0.49
Category 6 Business travel
1,110
Category 7 Employee commuting
65.01
Category 11 Use of Sold Products
2.98
Methodology details: Due to Persefoni not owning or controlling any direct emissions sources, Persefoni does not have any Scope 1 emissions. Persefoni’s Scope 2 emissions were generated from purchased electricity from our Tempe, Arizona office. We have assessed and are reporting all relevant material Scope 3 categories for our business. All non-reported Scope 3 categories are not relevant to our business at this time, with the exception of Category 5, waste generated in operations, which is relevant but immaterial. As we grow, we will continue to assess additional potentially relevant categories. Purchased goods and services, capital goods, and business travel are calculated using a spend-based approach, with the exception of spend with Amazon Web Services as part of Scope 3 Category 1, which has been calculated using a hybrid approach that includes emissions data provided by Amazon’s Customer Carbon Footprint Reporting tool. Category 3 Fuel and Energy Related Activities (Location-Based) was calculated using a location, average-data consumption-based approach. Persefoni operates as a primarily distributed workforce. As such, our employee commuting calculation includes a distance-based calculation for the small percentage of our employees that regularly work from our physical office spaces, as well as energy use attributable to work-from-home activity of our distributed workforce. To develop these figures, we surveyed Persefoni’s workforce to determine commute distances and modes of transportation for those who physically commute and the size of home offices for those who telecommute. Persefoni’s inventory has been developed using the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.

Cybersecurity & Data Privacy

From inception, we recognized the need to have security architected throughout the Persefoni CMAP and our supporting services. Our customers share a range of data to calculate their carbon footprint and expect their data in the Persefoni platform to be kept secure and private. To that end, we’ve invested heavily in our platform to enable our ability to provide investor-grade emissions data while incorporating robust, enterprise-grade security features and processes.

Through this investment, we’ve obtained multiple certifications related to the security, confidentiality, and privacy of our platform:

For more information, please visit our Certifications page.

In addition to these certifications, Persefoni has adopted the NIST Cybersecurity Framework as the foundation for development and maturing of our security organization, systems, processes, and procedures. We also monitor and routinely test the Persefoni CMAP for a range of vulnerabilities using various tools and external third-parties.

We review all vendors that process or store customer data before service initiation and at least annually thereafter to confirm their cybersecurity systems and processes are appropriate.

100% of Persefoni employees complete cybersecurity awareness training on areas such as phishing, malware, and password protection. This formal training is completed by each employee at least annually, and we also begin every tri-weekly company town hall meeting with a “cybersecurity moment” to further promote a culture of  awareness and diligence.

Human Capital Management

Persefoni was founded with the core values of sustainability, collaboration, impact, and equality. Through these shared values, we cherish and respect people and organizations of all backgrounds. Ours is a culture of innovation, creativity, diversity, and inclusion.

Beginning with recruitment and continuing with training, our benefits, and employee engagement programs, our operating principles compel us to maintain and develop that culture as we grow. Through that journey, we’re working to address issues we know to be meaningful to companies like ours, such as bringing more women into tech roles and operating as a distributed workforce, allowing us to build talent density regardless of location. We are proud of the programs we have implemented to support talent acquisition and retention, performance management, engagement, and the fostering of an inclusive, equitable, and diverse workforce.

Inclusive Recruitment & Hiring

All Persefoni job descriptions include our equal opportunity statement. We actively work to have our open roles placed on job boards that focus on diverse candidate pools to support the inclusion of diverse candidates in our interview panels. Our interviewing and hiring processes use a fact-based scorecard to evaluate candidates to help remove biases and promote equity in hiring decisions.

All hiring managers and leaders with direct reports are required to complete Interview Training. This training helps ensure that all hiring managers have a shared understanding of how to make balanced and equitable hiring decisions, create a positive candidate experience, and ultimately demonstrate our commitment to fair hiring practices.  

When a hiring decision is made, we use benchmarking to generate fair and equitable offers based on Persefoni’s compensation philosophy and compared to median salaries for other companies in the technology sector. Pay decisions are led by our dedicated Compensation Team, which conducts bi-annual pay equity reviews.

Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity (IDE) Working Group

Persefoni started an Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity working group only a year after the company was created. The cross-functional team continuously monitors conversations, questions, and feedback across Persefoni and develops programming to address the real-time needs of our employees. Additionally, the working group supports our Talent Acquisition team in researching, interviewing, and selecting partnerships and memberships that will help us reach diverse talent.

Pronouns at Persefoni

All Persefonites are asked to share their preferred pronouns during our onboarding process, which are included as part of their introduction to the company via our teammate announcement Slack channel and everyone’s individual profile in Slack. All Persefonites have access to guidance on gender identity and the use of pronouns and are encouraged to complete training on the Use of Gender Pronouns in the Workplace.

Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)

Persefoni established its first ERG in 2022 based on feedback and requests from its employee base. Persefoni's Pride ERG is focused on creating a safe, collaborative, and thoughtful space for the LGBTQ+ community and its allies and promoting inclusivity throughout the company. The Pride ERG is sponsored by a Persefoni Vice President.

Persefoni’s Holiday Schedule

In addition to federal and international holidays, Persefoni formally recognizes International Women’s Day and International Day Against Homophobia/Transphobia/Biphobia, as paid days of commemoration. We encourage Persefonites to use these days to celebrate, honor, learn, and reflect. We provide Persefonites with educational resources to learn more about the importance and impact of these days and ways they can take action. We provide similar resources in support of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth in recognition of their cultural significance in the United States. We also offer these days as paid company days of commemoration for our US employees.

Persefoni’s Employee Handbook

All Persefonites are required to read and acknowledge our employee handbook, which is home to a number of key policies:

  • Equal Employment Opportunity Policy
  • Paid Holidays
  • Paid Parental Leave
  • Reasonable Accommodation
  • Policy Against Harassment, Discrimination, & Retaliation
  • Breastfeeding Accommodations
  • Voting Time Off

Our Paid Parental Leave policy offers 12 weeks of paid parental leave to all parents, inclusive of all gender identities. It can be exercised by anyone anticipating the birth of a child or the placement of a child for adoption or foster care. Information on Persefoni’s key employee benefits are available on our Careers page.

Near-term priorities

We are continually evaluating ways to advance inclusion, equity, and diversity within our company, including implementing a voluntary self-identification process that will enable us to assess and report on a variety of diversity metrics.