Get to know our CEO and co-founder Rachel Delacour, and why she decided to pour all her energy into building carbon management software.
Tell us about your climate journey
After the acquisition of my first company BIME Analytics, I was enjoying my new-found spare time by spending it with my kids and in nature. While walking on the beach with my son, he asked me when the land we were standing on would become submerged because of rising sea-levels. I was astonished by his awareness of climate change – but also by my lack of response.
Out of curiosity I started to dive into the research on climate change, and read the IPCC report for the first time. The findings were quite scary. I hadn’t realized just how severe the effects of climate change could be, and how quickly our window of opportunity to limit climate change is closing. But I couldn’t just sit on the sidelines and hope for the best when I could see the impact climate change would have in my lifetime, and in the lifetime of my kids. So I decided to put all my energy into finding a solution… Sweep.
Why did you create Sweep?
One of the biggest barriers to effective climate action is how complicated and burdensome it can be to get accurate carbon data. With my background in business intelligence software, I knew there was a better way of doing things than carbon accounting on spreadsheets. My co-founders and I started brainstorming a carbon management platform that could meet the needs of the big players in the corporate and finance world. A platform that could streamline data collection processes, facilitate collaborative climate action, and provide real-time feedback so companies can adjust their strategy and keep on top of their targets.
And that was the birth of Sweep. Our mission is to empower companies and financial institutions to drastically reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and accelerate the transition to a green economy.
What does solving climate change look like to you?
There is no single solution to climate change. No silver bullet that can stop global emissions and undo the damage we have done to the planet. But there are millions of solutions that can help get us there. We need to all pull together and coordinate action on a global level to implement these solutions, and move away from human activities that are incompatible with a green future.
For me, a climate-friendly future is one where every facet of our lives is in tune with nature. Each individual, each business, and each industry is mindful of their consumption of resources and their impact on the planet. Ultimately, that’s our goal at Sweep. We decided to target large companies and financial institutions because we see them as the biggest agents of change, but our hope is that we can also influence their employees (and their friends and families) to be more eco-conscious. And through network effects, we’d like to see climate action cascade down entire supply chains, industries, and eventually the entire economy, so we can build a low-carbon world together.
What’s your favorite book?
I always love reading the work of Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, the founders of [37signals](https://37signals.com). I’m a big fan of these entrepreneurs. Every book they’ve put out has so many learnings about how to build a business, from mastering the product development process in “Shape Up”, to getting the most out of employees in “It Doesn’t Have To Be Crazy At Work”. Their way of re-envisioning how businesses should be run and how we should live our lives has definitely been a huge source of inspiration for me.
I’ve also learnt a lot from their weekly newsletter. I think it’s super powerful to follow an entrepreneur over the course of their life and read their content on a regular basis to see how they are evolving. I always look forward to seeing that email pop up in my inbox.
Jason and David: if you’re ever in France let’s meet for a coffee!
