D-Carbonize: a new approach to reducing the carbon footprint for companies in Aix-Marseille

A Belgian start-up sets up in Marseille with the support of Provence Promotion

D-Carbonize, a Brussels-based climate tech start-up supported by Provence Promotion, joined the ZEBOX accelerator in Marseille in May 2024. Co-founded in 2021 by Grégoire Talbot and Frédéric John, the company recently entered into a partnership with TEAM Henri-Fabre via the PRACCIIS programme, which accelerates industrial projects associated with the industry of the future. The company’s carbon footprint calculation software, Carbon Cockpit Scan, which is one of the first to be certified by the French national environmental transition agency ADEME, is available to members of PRACCIIS to help them decarbonise their activities or integrate decarbonisation measures from the start of a project. In an event held on June 20, 2024 at TEAM Henri-Fabre, the start-up was awarded the Invest in Provence award by Provence Promotion in the presence of Anne France Jamart, the Consul General for Belgium in Marseille.

When Provence Promotion connected D-Carbonize to the Aix-Marseille-Provence technology ecosystem, nobody could have predicted how quickly the pairing would blossom. On June 20, just weeks after the official launch of their project in Marseille, the company’s leaders, Grégoire Talbot and Frédéric John, led a forum on decarbonisation organised in partnership with TEAM Henri-Fabre, an association dedicated to technologies for the industry of the future based in Marignane outside of Marseille. The event brought together around fifteen companies to introduce them to D-Carbonize’s pioneering Carbon Cockpit Scan software, a next-generation tool that makes it easy for companies to evaluate and reduce their carbon footprint.

“Carbon Cockpit Scan helps companies take the first step towards quantifying their greenhouse gas emissions. We then offer solutions for decarbonising their activities. We can also help large international companies as we have experts capable of aggregating a large number of complex data points from various locations in France and abroad,” explained Grégoire Talbot, the CEO of D-Carbonize, before handing the presentation over to the company’s COO, Frédéric John, for a workshop on the main principles of decarbonisation. This involved a customised demonstration of the tool with a TEAM Henri-Fabre company that had agreed to collect data using Carbon Cockpit Scan in advance and present the results.

What brought this ambitious start-up to Marseille?

D-Carbonize is a company that seeks to implement positive change in the world, and it already has official international certification as a B Corporation for its social impact, sustainability, and environmental performance standards. Provence Promotion met with D-Carbonize at a trade fair in Barcelona in 2022. After several months of discussions and a tour of the territory, Grégoire Talbot and Frédéric John recognised the opportunities and market potential in France, which convinced them to set up in the Aix-Marseille-Provence metro area.

“Our presence in Marseille reflects our ambition to expand in the French market. The area is home to a large industrial basin, major companies, industrial stakeholders, and a multitude of suppliers. We want to build a team and have a strong impact on the local ecosystem to help reduce the area’s carbon footprint,” said Frédéric John.

Provence Promotion mobilised a number of local companies and organisations on behalf of D-Carbonize, including CMA CGM’s ZEBOX accelerator and the TEAM Henri-Fabre technology platform, which both enthusiastically welcomed this new, innovative, and high-potential start-up into their networks.

To mark their entry into the community of companies supported by Provence Promotion, the agency presented Grégoire and Frédéric with the Invest in Provence award. Anne France Jamart, the Consul General of Belgium in Marseille, also applauded the Belgian company, saying: “I’m delighted to count you among the new Belgian companies based in the Bouches-du-Rhône. You represent innovation and entrepreneurship and stand alongside other Belgian companies who have also made this choice with the help of Provence Promotion. Congratulations!”

In the space of two years, D-Carbonize has carried out more than 200 carbon assessments at all levels: Scope 1 (direct emissions by the company), Scope 2 (indirect emissions related to what the company uses and purchases), and Scope 3 (emissions related to activities up and down the company’s value chain). D-Carbonize now has 70 clients worldwide supported by 22 experts. With a range of possible new partnerships already under consideration, the company hopes to hire another 15 or so people in the territory over the next three years.