Duration: 26:05
PART 1 — Analytical Summary 🚀
Context 💼
This session features Yanikers, a climate resilience expert at Brussels-based consultancy Echoes, and Fred Gillson from Froma, an Odoo implementation partner. They showcase how to integrate continuous carbon monitoring into day-to-day operations using Odoo, with a real-world use case from the construction sector. Instead of treating carbon accounting as a once-a-year report, the talk demonstrates how to embed it directly into ERP workflows so managers can track, compare, and act on emissions in real time. The demo uses the community module My Company CO2 (described as the “big brother” of Odoo ESG introduced in v19).
Core Ideas & Innovations 🧠
At the heart of the approach is a clear data maturity ladder that starts with “spend-based” estimates and progressively upgrades to higher-accuracy “activity-based” and product-specific data—directly inside Odoo. Initially, companies can link general emission factors to their chart of accounts to get a quick, spend-based footprint. From there, they refine the dataset by associating vendor-specific monetary factors (e.g., kilograms of CO2 per euro spent with a specific supplier), and ultimately move to physical, quantity-driven emission factors (e.g., per cubic meter of concrete) at the product level. When available, suppliers’ actual CO2 per invoice line can be ingested via e-invoicing.
The team shows how standard Odoo processes—matching bills to purchase orders, leveraging stock moves, and using analytic accounts for projects—become the backbone for carbon calculations. Emission factors are pulled from recognized databases (e.g., IPCC, ADEME, EXIOBASE), and a dedicated sustainability tab in accounting helps assign them systematically. The system recomputes the footprint automatically from journal entries, minimizing manual effort and ensuring no double counting. Role-based access ensures governance: accountants can edit CO2 values at invoice level, while carbon consultants curates the emission factor library.
How It Works in Practice ⚙️
Using a construction example, the presenters begin with real-time dashboards showing emissions per project, split by phases, compared against targets. They start with a “cheap and dirty” spend-based methodology—sufficient for a rough, fast baseline. Next, they upgrade data quality by adding vendor-specific monetary factors (derived from suppliers’ sustainability reports using CO2-per-revenue ratios), which already reduces uncertainty (e.g., from ~80% to ~40%). The major step-change comes from activating quantitative emission factors at the product level: Odoo uses PO matching and product catalogs to compute emissions per quantity (e.g., per ton, kilometer, or cubic meter). Vendors can be compared on CO2 intensity for the same product (e.g., concrete grades) to steer procurement choices. At the top of the ladder, supplier-provided CO2 values per invoice line are captured (from XML/PDF e-invoices) and override computed estimates for maximum precision.
Impact & Takeaways 💬
By integrating carbon calculations into Odoo—rather than exporting data to spreadsheets or external forms—organizations save months of manual data collection and refocus their time on reduction actions. Managers get live visibility across projects, can set and track targets, compare vendors and products on CO2 performance, and generate yearly GHG Protocol-aligned reporting “in one click.” The approach supports CSRD-aligned disclosures if configured properly.
The presenters position My Company CO2 as richer for medium-to-large organizations (more APIs, finer granularity, more EF touchpoints, and even printing CO2 on customer invoices), while Odoo ESG in v19 provides a native, integrated alternative with similar foundations. Implementation typically involves 2–3 days of ERP scoping, 2–3 days of business and emission factor analysis, and 2–3 months overall for rollout, training, and change adoption. The big advantage is not just better reporting—it’s continuous, data-driven decision-making that reduces the risk of missing decarbonization targets.
PART 2 — Viewpoint: Odoo Perspective
⚠️ Disclaimer: AI-generated creative perspective inspired by Odoo’s vision.
Sustainability should be part of the daily workflow, not an annual afterthought. Embedding carbon metrics into purchasing, inventory, and accounting lets teams act on facts the moment decisions are made. That’s the essence of Odoo’s philosophy: one integrated platform where complexity is hidden behind simple flows.
I’m happy to see the community advancing this with modules like My Company CO2 and the new Odoo ESG app. When the ecosystem collaborates—consultants, customers, and open databases—data quality improves, uncertainty drops, and the whole community benefits. The real win is when a project manager can choose a greener vendor in seconds because the data is right there, inside Odoo.
PART 3 — Viewpoint: Competitors (SAP / Microsoft / Others)
⚠️ Disclaimer: AI-generated fictional commentary. Not an official corporate statement.
Odoo’s embedded approach to carbon accounting is pragmatic and appealing, especially for SMBs and mid-market firms. Real-time alignment with purchases, invoices, and projects meets teams where they already work, making adoption smoother and putting sustainability into operational context.
For large, regulated enterprises, the challenge is scale: rigorous data governance, traceable audit trails, standardized emission factor management, and advanced scenario modeling across Scope 1–3 are critical. Integrations with enterprise data lakes, strong master data stewardship, and compliance-by-design controls are table stakes at the top end. Still, Odoo’s UX and the speed at which teams can move from spend-based estimates to activity data is a differentiator worth watching.
PART 4 — Blog Footer Disclaimer
Disclaimer: This article contains AI-generated summaries and fictionalized commentaries for illustrative purposes. Viewpoints labeled as "Odoo Perspective" or "Competitors" are simulated and do not represent any real statements or positions. All product names and trademarks belong to their respective owners.