Normative: How to Measure & Manage Carbon Emissions

Measuring emissions accurately can help to solve compliance challenges, but also enable credible decarbonisation.

Normative was founded in 2014 and describes itself as "the world's first carbon accounting engine". 

Sebastien Blanc is CEO at Normative, with more than 20 years of experience in tech and experience scaling businesses. 

Sebastien shares his expertise with Sustainability Magazine.

How do you see the ESG landscape today?

Despite all the attention on net zero, most companies are still early in their journey. For over 90 percent, the focus is on the basics: building a first carbon inventory, preparing initial disclosures or setting preliminary targets. For CEOs and CFOs, the question isn’t yet “how do we decarbonise at scale?”- it’s “what’s our baseline, and how does this fit into our strategy?”

I understand that hesitation. Running a company means making trade-offs with limited budgets and relatively short investment horizons. But the reality is that without robust data, it’s impossible to set meaningful targets or build credible roadmaps. The first step isn’t bold pledges, it’s getting the carbon accounts right.

Why is carbon accounting urgent now?

I’ve spent my career building technology companies, I did it in many different industries, but climate change is the challenge I am most drawn to. It is, I believe, the defining challenge of our generation and it’s no longer abstract. In recent years, extreme weather has cost Europe more than €160 billion. We need to re-engineer our world to operate within planetary boundaries, and this is a business responsibility as much as a societal one.

For businesses, the challenge starts with visibility. Carbon isn’t like cash, you can’t see it in a balance sheet or a P&L (yet!). Most of it is hidden deep in supply chains, where emissions are often 10 to 20 times larger than a company’s direct footprint. That makes them the biggest blind spot in corporate decision-making. Without accurate carbon data, leaders are effectively steering blind on their largest risk and opportunity.

The leading carbon accounting platforms - Normative being one of them - exist to change that. We build carbon accounts with the same rigor as financial accounts - reliable, auditable and actionable, so leaders can see their true carbon costs and make the strategic decisions that cut emissions and strengthen competitiveness.

What prevents companies from measuring emissions?

The main challenge is the lack of clear, consistent rules. Carbon accounting today is fragmented: multiple databases, regional frameworks and the GHG Protocol that doesn’t always align with how business leaders run their business. Even amongst experts, there’s no consensus on how to calculate critical categories like Scope 3. Should it be spend-based averages, supplier-specific data or product carbon footprints? Ask ten specialists, and you’ll get ten different answers.

Regulation adds to the uncertainty. The EU’s revisions to CSRD, for example, have created more ambiguity than clarity. Many companies are postponing efforts while they wait for clear direction. That leaves each business to invent its own standards, making carbon accounting slow, manual and costly.

The outcome is predictable: too much effort spent on methodology debates, not enough on action. Just as financial reporting needed GAAP and IFRS to standardise practice, carbon accounting needs a framework that is rigorous, decision-relevant and widely trusted. The difference is we don’t have 150 years to get there.

What is the first step a company should take towards carbon accounting?

In spite of the challenges, carbon accounting has come a long way. Today, companies can work with specialist credible platforms -  Normative being one of the leading ones - to produce carbon accounts that are consistent, reliable and auditable, data that will stand regardless of how regulations evolve. This creates a trusted system of record that leaders can use not only for compliance, but for strategic decision-making and growth. Think Netsuite of Carbon accounting.

The next step is making this process faster and more efficient. Companies need to build inventories that are detailed enough to guide real decisions while also accumulating the history needed to track trends over time. In an age of AI, much of the visualisation and scenario planning can be automated, but only if the underlying data is robust.

Too often, RFPs emphasise dashboards and scenarios while underestimating the hard work of getting quality data. Our experience shows the reverse is true: once you have a high-quality carbon inventory, AI can generate the visualisations as needed. The companies that focus on speed of building a high quality data set will be best prepared to act and compete in a decarbonising economy.

What is the one piece of advice you’d give to a company just starting?

Don’t wait for perfect data or final regulations. Pick a partner who has a track record in building outstanding data and start with the best inventory you can today. Once you can measure, you can manage, and every quarter you delay, you’re leaving both risks and opportunities on the table.