Testimonial - eXalt

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eXalt has been supported by Sami since last year in building its climate strategy. Why did you choose Sami?

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Since our founding in 2018, management has been committed to running an ambitious CSR policy, particularly around managing and reducing our CO2 emissions. That's why eXalt decided, as early as 2021, to measure its carbon footprint. This allowed us to make progress on our impact and put the first decarbonisation levers in place. But the company wanted to invest even further in this topic by creating a Head of CSR role, reporting directly to the executive committee. That's the position I've held since the start of 2026.

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At the same time, our teams wanted more detailed, more precise support, with greater granularity in our greenhouse gas emissions results.

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Finally, we wanted to become autonomous in calculating our emissions. That's an important issue for us, and we needed a partner capable of supporting us through a process of internalising carbon measurement.

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Is that what made the difference with Sami?

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Yes, Sami's internalisation pathway -with substantial support at the start, carbon accounting training for me, and coaching on our first semi-autonomous carbon footprint - convinced us.

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We also knew your consultants know our sector very well, which we knew would help us gain precision.

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Finally, Sami is a partner of BNP, who referred us to you. That gave us confidence from the outset.

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What did the first carbon footprint carried out with Sami in 2025 make possible?

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It brought all our teams on board. Sami did a great job of this, simplifying and raising awareness. Our staff were able to get used to the methodology and quickly build up their expertise.

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That's essential, because it's what now allows us to carry out our carbon footprint in-house, quickly and calmly. I joined a team that was already prepared, and at the same time, I was trained in the Bilan Carbone® methodology alongside Sami's teams.

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Why did eXalt decide to commit to an ambitious climate strategy?

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As I explained earlier, this is something driven from the top of the company, ever since it was founded. It's a standard we set for ourselves first and foremost.

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From a regulatory standpoint, we're required to carry out a greenhouse gas emissions assessment every four years.

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But we've committed to doing it every year, because the main pressure today isn't regulatory, it's commercial. Our clients and other partners are asking for more and more detail, both on our carbon impact and on our ability to reduce our footprint and set ambitious reduction targets, such as an SBTi trajectory. Meeting these demands is both a motivating factor and a major competitiveness issue. So we needed Sami to help us go beyond the legal framework.

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Do you feel significant pressure from your business partners, the large accounts you work with, for example?

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Yes, we support many large accounts in Tech & Digital, Financial Markets and Engineering, and some of them are subject to CSRD. That reinforces the need for us to be more precise in the carbon results we provide them. These clients are increasingly demanding, and we're happy about that!

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Is that also why eXalt decided to work with Sami on an SBTi trajectory?

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Our goal is no longer just to carry out an annual carbon footprint, but to set a scientifically aligned and ambitious emissions reduction trajectory. We know how demanding an SBTi commitment is, so before committing definitively, we needed to know whether we were genuinely able to formalise an SBTi trajectory.

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That's what we worked on with Sami over the course of several workshops.

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And what's your decision?

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We're going to formally commit to the SBTi process. In practice, this means first signing our letter of intent, which formalises our entry into the programme. At the same time, we're finalising our target-setting work with Sami: our carbon footprint has been completed, and we're now defining our short, medium and long-term reduction targets.

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It's the work carried out throughout 2026 with Sami that allowed us to settle on this trajectory with confidence. We didn't want to commit lightly: our absolute priority remains avoiding any greenwashing, so if we formalise an SBTi approach, we intend to stick to it. The challenge is real for us: as a services company, we're already relatively low emitters, which makes defining an ambitious and credible reduction trajectory all the more demanding.

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More broadly, starting from our initial carbon footprint, Sami helped us turn a regulatory obligation into a genuine strategic lever. We needed to reach a new level of maturity on this topic. It was the right time to do it, and Sami was the right partner.

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Which reduction levers are you prioritising?

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Among the key actions, we're focusing on responsible purchasing policy (suppliers account for 15% of our scope 3) and reducing travel, particularly air travel, among our staff. Even though our group is based in Europe and North America, air travel still represents a small share of our trips but a significant share of the emissions linked to our business travel. More broadly, it's our entire mobility policy that needs to be optimised.

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What do you take away from Sami's support and platform?

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The consultants' work is sharp. They're experienced, available, and genuinely committed - there's no greenwashing on their part. We also really appreciate that they're not afraid to challenge us; that's exactly what we were looking for when we sought out experts.

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For our next carbon footprint, Sami is going to help us factor in the impact of AI. The consultants have been transparent about the methodology used, as well as about the limitations that currently exist around the carbon footprint of AI.

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As for the platform, what stands out to us is its simplicity, its ease of use, and the ability to process data collaboratively. That's essential for a multidisciplinary team like ours, to make data collection easier.

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In 2026, you're semi-autonomous in calculating your carbon footprint, with some support from Sami's consultants. Why did you want to bring this capability in-house?

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There's a financial benefit, certainly, since we carry out a carbon footprint every year. But that wasn't the main driver. Our goal is to build skills, understanding and responsiveness so we can meet our clients' increasingly precise expectations. They're now asking us for details on emissions by category, on the impact of our engagements, soon on the impact of AI, and so on. It became necessary to build up expertise and maturity.

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And this move toward autonomy also allows for much more constructive exchanges with Sami's consultants.

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What's the strategic value of a climate approach for a company like eXalt?

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We haven't yet calculated the ROI of our commitment. But what's striking about this approach is that we're aligning ourselves with our clients' expectations while also securing the long-term future of our business.

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Beyond that, it's a cross-functional commitment that has consensus within the company. It's all the more motivating to work in this role when staff care about environmental transition issues and get involved both personally and professionally.

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So even though we don't yet have the perspective to measure the financial value of our climate approach, we have no doubt about its essential strategic value.

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