CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Rheaply, a resource exchange platform helping industry-leading organizations better visualize, quantify, and utilize their materials and resources, today announced the beta launch of estimated embodied carbon avoided reporting. This new addition to Rheaply’s platform will allow organizations to contextualize and better understand the environmental impact of resource exchange. This development was made in part by funding from Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund and Solve Innovation Future (the philanthropic venture vehicle associated with MIT Solve) and a partnership with WAP Sustainability, a team of sustainability professionals with deep industry experience as life cycle assessment practitioners.
As defined by WAP Sustainability Consulting, embodied carbon refers to the greenhouse gas emissions associated with raw material sourcing, supplier processing, and manufacturing of items. With the new carbon reporting feature, Rheaply is translating users’ actions on the platform to impact on embodied carbon. Supporting Rheaply’s methodology is the understanding that the recirculation of an item via the Rheaply platform displaces the purchase, and the attributed embodied carbon, of a new item. Equipped with the ability to estimate the amount of embodied carbon avoided through reuse, Rheaply users will gain unprecedented insight into the environmental impact of resource exchange efforts within their organizations.
Going forward, completed offers on Rheaply for listings that contain weight and standard category data will be included in a report about the organization’s estimated embodied carbon avoidance. This empowers individual admin users to contextualize the impact of exchanging resources as an environmental benefit, measured in kg of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent).
“Because organizations tend to have more physical assets, they are uniquely positioned to make a great impact by embracing material reuse and incorporating it into their overall carbon emissions targets,” said Dr. Garry Cooper, Jr., CEO and co-founder of Rheaply. “Not only will organizations who take this step be able to take charge of understanding their emissions, but they will also help normalize reuse on a broader scale, serving as an example of how we can all reuse to help our planet.”
“Solve Innovation Future funds entities that take seriously their work toward solving the world’s most pressing problems—and because of this, we are proud to partner with Rheaply. This new technology will support organizations who want to have a measurable impact on greenhouse gas emissions, and will simultaneously enable Rheaply’s customers to function more efficiently. Through this dual focus, Rheaply demonstrates that driving impact is just good business,” added Casey van der Stricht, Principal, Solve Innovation Future.
“Helping organizations understand the carbon impact of their decisions is paramount to what WAP Sustainability does every day. We are thrilled to have partnered with Rheaply to bring LCA-based [life cycle assessment-based] embodied carbon data to the platform," said William Paddock, Managing Director of WAP Sustainability. "We are excited about the positive impacts that can come with understanding embodied carbon impacts in reused vs. new materials and applaud Rheaply for its leadership in this space.”
This news comes just months after Rheaply’s announcement of funding received from the City of San Francisco and the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance (CNCA) to build an online exchange for building products and other resources. In the coming months, Rheaply will continue to overhaul the city’s existing virtual warehouse to bolster a robust reuse economy that creates value and public benefit from surplus government materials.
To learn more about Rheaply’s new estimated embodied carbon avoided reporting, please visit rheaply.com/resources/blog/embodied-carbon.
About Rheaply
The Rheaply platform is a cloud-based resource exchange technology application for connecting people and organizations with resources, improving reuse outcomes and catalyzing the circular economy. As the only market solution that combines an asset management system with an online marketplace, Rheaply’s platform enables organizations to exchange materials and resources more effectively, eliminating unnecessary waste and spend. To learn more about Rheaply, visit rheaply.com or follow @RheaplyInc.
For career inquiries, contact careers@rheaply.com.
